Every year, the French Diabetic Federation receives 1,500 reports from people suffering from type 1 diabetes being excluded from certain professions, according to a report consulted by Franceinfo on Friday. The law, however, provides for a case-by-case examination.
A young man, a police officer, reports that he had to return his service weapon due to his diabetes, while another regrets not being able to become a car body worker in the gendarmerie even though he manages his disease very well with an insulin pump. Some professions are still prohibited to diabetics, despite the 2021 law that requires each individual case to be examined, according to a report from the French Diabetic Federation consulted by Franceinfo on Friday, April 17. The police, the army, aviation, and the SNCF are blocking access to people with type 1 diabetes, according to this source.
Every year, the French Diabetic Federation receives 1,500 reports of difficulties in obtaining a loan, a driver’s license, or access to certain professions that are “principally” prohibited to patients.
For the past four years, the law has required the examination of each case, but employers “fear a sudden unavailability of the employee due to a hypoglycemia problem,” explains Jean-François Thébaut, the president of the federation. Type 1 diabetes, which requires insulin, scares employers. The army, in particular, “always gives the example of a combat swimmer with an insulin pump, but it is not about claiming anything either.”
The French Diabetic Federation demands “simply respect for the law” so that the 300,000 French people with type 1 diabetes can access “jobs adapted to their illness” in the police, the army, or aviation.
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