A substitute teacher always has a hard time wrangling their authoritative voice in a new classroom, but this sub took things way too far, targeting a diabetic student and punishing him for using «electronic devices» in class. Except, the electronics ringing in his backpack wasn’t a cellphone, but a lifesaving glucose monitor for the kid’s type 1 diabetes. 

All through grade school, I had a kid in my class with severe diabetes. Before I knew this kid, Mason, I didn’t fully understand the disease and just throught that diabetics got better snacks and could eat popsicles at any time of the day without their parents yelling at them. However, Mason’s diabetes was so severe that he needed to constantly monitor his sugar levels, poking his finger in class, taking readings, and often leaving for the day without notice. It was only then that I realized how intense and scary diabetes can be: It truly overwhelms your every moment. 

Like the boy I knew for years during K-12, the teenager in this next story struggled with a serious case of diabetes, and as expected, his fellow classmates, teachers, and admin knew what that entailed for the kid. But the substitute teacher, a small-minded man with an authority complex, didn’t know a thing about diabetes… Clearly. Luckily, the teen’s confidence saved his life because he defied the screaming adult in the classroom to take care of his medical needs, with or without his permission.