If you are living with a disability, you know the many ways that having a disability affects your life.  Something that you may not know is that living with a disability can put you at risk for developing other conditions, called secondary conditions.  These secondary conditions can affect your independence, quality of life and your health. Type 2 diabetes is one of these conditions.

 More than two million Canadians, including many persons with disabilities, have diabetes. Canadians living with diabetes are at high risk for a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness or limb amputation.  Eighty percent of people with diabetes will die from a heart attack or stroke.Diabetes is a disease that you need to take seriously.

There are two main types of diabetes.  Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented.  Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed and may develop as a result of lifestyle changes and other limitations brought on by a disability.  Diabetes also causes major disability.  Many people who have type 2 diabetes do not know that they have it and in many cases type 2 diabetes is diagnosed due to the presence of another serious condition. 

These pages will help you understand diabetes, learn how to take care of yourself if you have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, and suggest strategies you can use to reduce your risk of getting this serious disease