Let's End Diabetes Stigma (With Comedy).
Join the Spoonful of Laughter movement, a disruptive, out-of-the-box initiative focused on ending diabetes stigma by:
- Gleefully educating about diabetes
- Cheekily correcting stereotypes and stigma
- Encouraging curiosity instead of judgment
Diabetes stigma hurts, but together we can end it.
Let's laugh stigma off the stage.
Comedy can rewrite the story of diabetes stigma.
Comedy is a fun and engaging way to promote new cultural narratives and social change.
Laughter helps increase awareness and support of messages and issues, form deeper connections with our audience (YOU!), and break down social barriers to stimulate sharing and discussion.
Together we can lead people, giggling, into a kinder and more joyful future.
What is diabetes stigma?
Diabetes Stigma and Stereotypes
Diabetes stigma is the exclusion, rejection, prejudice, shame, blame, and discrimination that people with diabetes unfairly experience. It can be external, coming from other people and society, or it can be internal, meaning an attitude we hold about ourselves.
Diabetes stigma stems from the idea that poor choices and unhealthy behaviors cause diabetes. This belief oversimplifies a complex biological condition and overlooks key factors such as genetics, a person’s environment, and socioeconomic context. As a result, people with diabetes experience misplaced judgment and blame. (Yan, 2021)
How Diabetes Stigma Hurts People with Diabetes
Diabetes stigma is associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and diabetes distress. It can affect people’s self-efficacy and disrupt diabetes management routines, leading to worse health outcomes.
How Diabetes Stigma Impacts Everyone
Diabetes stigma doesn’t just affect those with diabetes. It can block awareness and prevention efforts for everyone else and play into harmful stigma and stereotypes about other health conditions.
How We Can End Diabetes Stigma Together
People with diabetes aren’t a punchline, but comedy can help us push back against harmful stigma and stereotypes and invite everyone to help us bring an end to stigma.
Together, we can transform the social narrative and rewrite the story on diabetes stigma for a brighter, more joyful future.
How Healthcare Professionals Can Help End Diabetes Stigma
Diabetes stigma in the healthcare setting is all too common and can have an outsized negative impact on people living with diabetes.
On the flip side, healthcare providers can also be the most powerful agents for positive change by committing to creating a stigma-free clinic.
HCPs can find helpful resources and language guides for creating a stigma-free clinic at dstigmatize.org and can demonstrate their commitment to ending diabetes stigma by signing and sharing the Pledge to End Diabetes Stigma. (Anyone, including non-HCPs and organizations, can sign!)
Meet the Spoonful of Laughter comedians
Kelsey Bascom
Kelsey Bascom is an American writer, actress and diabetes advocate. She is best known as the creator, writer, and lead of the web series MONDAYS, which received over 12 million views on YouTube and is based on her personal experiences as a young woman. Her work was nominated for Best Webisode in the HollyShorts Film Festival. She is currently in post production on QUARTER, an independent feature film that she wrote, stars in and is co-directing. It’s a coming-of-age comedy (featuring Ali Wentworth, Brooke Shields and Raven Symoné) about a young woman living with Type 1 diabetes, who's about to turn 25, as she deals with the ups and downs of her blood sugar levels and the ups and downs of her personal life. Kelsey has been written about in Forbes, People Magazine and Deadline and spoke on a panel at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Kesha Carter
Kesha Carter is a dynamic force in the world of diabetes advocacy, blending her unique talents as a comedian, personal trainer, and flight attendant to inspire others living with the condition. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at a young age, Kesha has never let her diagnosis define her. Instead, she has turned it into a powerful motivator for her advocacy, using her platform to encourage others to take control of their health, laugh in the face of challenges, and stay active.
Justin Eastzer
Justin Eastzer, also known as “Diabetech,” is a storyteller and content creator specializing in diabetes tech, lifestyle and news. After being misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Justin turned to TikTok for answers. Thanks to the support and knowledge of the diabetes community, he was correctly diagnosed with LADA (type 1.5) after encouragement to pursue an autoantibody test. With his background on Hollywood productions and as a Tech YouTuber, Justin now shares his journey and insights through his Diabetech YouTube channel, podcast, and social platforms. Follow him at @diabe_tech on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and listen to the Diabetech podcast on all major platforms.
Ashley Monique
Ashley Monique is a San Francisco-based comedian who delivers wry and sometimes dark humor with a disarming, earnest energy. She is a regular at the San Francisco Punch Line and Cobb’s Comedy Club, and she has opened for Melissa Villaseñor, Josh Johnson, and Roy Wood Jr. Offstage, you can find her grossly overthinking her last social interaction. Online, you can find her on Instagram @trashleymonique. Photo Credit: Jim McCambridge
Sam Morrison
Sam Morrison recently moved to Los Angeles after coming up in the New York comedy scene where he was a club regular and staple of the Brooklyn comedy scene. In 2023, he was named a New Face at the Just for Laughs Festival, made his television debut on Late Night With Seth Meyers, performed on Comedy Central, and his solo show Sugar Daddy played Off-Broadway for 14 weeks, extending three times and receiving Outer Critics Circle and Off Broadway Alliance nominations. He performed in the 2024 Netflix is a Joke Festival and has performed in the New York Comedy Festival five times, being selected for Best of New Talent in 2019 and headlining in 2023. He is also a Stand Up NBC Finalist, has performed on The Drew Barrymore Show, appeared on Watch What Happens Live, Howard Stern, Tamron Hall, and was a staff writer on Season One of Bravo’s Blind Date.
Help us deliver the punchline
See the impact of stigma
Diabetes stigma impacts us all. Read and watch stories from the community to see why we are fighting to end diabetes stigma.
Sign the Pledge to End Diabetes Stigma
Demonstrate your commitment to ending diabetes stigma and discrimination today.
You can sign, your friends and family can sign, and your organization can sign, too!
Visit the dStigmatize Resource Library
Learn more about diabetes stigma and the simple actions you can take to become an ally and advocate. Help bring an end to harmful stereotypes and shame.
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Brighten your feed by laughing diabetes stereotypes and stigma off the stage.
