The Voice provides accurate and reliable information for all diabetics, but information is not all we need—we also need action! The Diabetes Action Network, or DAN, empowers diabetics experiencing complications by supporting one another, by lobbying governments and corporations to serve us better, and by improving access to medical care. After all, our middle name is Action!
To keep Voice readers up to date on DAN’s actions on behalf of people with diabetes and complications, each If Blindness Comes special section will include the DAN Action Report.
Recently Voice editor and DAN board member Ed Bryant tackled one of the most important issues for blind diabetics: He wrote Medtronic Diabetes, maker of the leading insulin pump, about the need for an accessible insulin pump. Here is his letter, and Medtronic’s response.
Response From
Medtronic Minimed
October 11, 2005
Mr. Robert Guezuraga
President,
Medtronic Diabetes
Northridge, CA
Dear Mr. Guezuraga:
My name is Ed Bryant, and I am editor of Voice of the Diabetic, a national diabetes magazine that reaches more than 352,000 individuals. I need to talk to you about your insulin pumps.
Medtronic Minimed is, justifiably, a world leader in the design and production of insulin pumps. Yours is a quality product. It is needed. But, you are still ignoring a significant portion of your market.
The Centers for Disease Control states: “Each year, 12,000 to 24,000 Americans lose their sight from diabetes ... Diabetes is the biggest producer of new blindness among working-age Americans.” Over 18.2 million Americans have diabetes, as you know, and a significant number of them already have severe vision loss. More will no doubt follow.
I’m sure we agree a lot of these people ought to be using insulin pumps. Until we have an “artificial pancreas,” or a cure for diabetes, the pump is an excellent choice, for any insulin-using diabetic.
Did you know many blind diabetics successfully use insulin pumps? Although your products do not incorporate tactile markings or voice synthesized programming, every day, dozens of blind diabetics safely and reliably install, reload, program and use their insulin pumps without sighted assistance. They’re out there; ask, and they’ll tell you how they do it.
Now I’ve been told your firm doesn’t believe a blind person can safely and successfully use an insulin pump. That belief is incorrect. I can prove it. It is already being done.
My point is that a lot more blind and visually-impaired diabetics could benefit from your products, if you made it a little easier to use them. There are two ways you might do this. First, you could incorporate a speech chip, so instructions and screen numbers would be spoken, as is done on talking blood glucose monitors. Have you seen CDX’s SensoCard Plus glucose monitor? This talking meter is smaller than most non-speech-assisted devices; adding a voice does not mean adding bulk. It does mean improving product safety.
The second thing you could do is create audiocassette instructions designed for the non-sighted pumper. There are ways to explain a piece of hardware to a blind person; blind instructors use them; and such proper instruction would enable many more people to access your product. We, the Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind, would be happy to assist your creation of such an instructional audiocassette. Again, proper instruction increases product safety.
I would really like to discuss the above with you. I intend to publish this letter in Voice of the Diabetic, and I will certainly publish your response as well. On behalf of blind pump users, and those who should be, I await your response.
Sincerely,
Ed Bryant, Editor
Voice of the Diabetic
Board Member
Diabetes Action Network
National Federation of the Blind
On October 24, I received a response to this letter. Deanne McLaughlin, Communications Manager, called me from Minimed. She assured me “Minimed was definitely aware of the need to make their pumps more user-friendly, especially for the blind,” and that the company would “definitely be working on a new platform suitable for use by the blind and visually impaired.”
They haven’t started yet. She couldn’t give me any timetable for when it might happen.
We’ll be watching. The moment Medtronic Minimed, or any of their insulin pump making competitors, creates a product that truly addresses the needs of blind diabetics, the Voice will be there to tell you about it.
Readers: Do you have a suggestion about actions DAN can take to improve the lives of diabetics with complications? Have you taken action that you want to tell us about? Contact the Voice and let us know!