Diabetes UK’s forerunner, the Diabetic Association, was set up in 1934 by novelist HG Wells and Dr RD Lawrence – both of whom had diabetes. The radical charity they founded aimed to ensure that everyone in the UK could gain access to insulin, whatever their financial situation.
In addition, the Diabetic Association (which became the British Diabetic Association in 1954), challenged accepted ideas of how people should be treated. Along with its founder RD Lawrence, the Association campaigned for a national health service and believed that people with diabetes should take an active role in managing their condition. In effect, this means we were promoting a patient-centred approach a good 50 years before the idea caught on across the NHS.
In 1939, the Diabetic Association set up the first diabetes voluntary self-support group. This has now grown to a network of more than 400 local voluntary groups, which provide support and information to people with diabetes across the UK.
The British Diabetic Association was renamed as Diabetes UK in 2000. Our distinctive new identity will help raise the profile of the organisation as the leading diabetes charity in the UK. Our new name, quite literally, puts ‘diabetes’ first, and the hummingbird symbolises balance and control – vital for people with diabetes who have to regulate their blood glucose levels.
To make a donation to Diabetes UK now:
http://uk.sitestat.com/diabetes/website-uk/s?muchloved_donateinmem&ns_type=clickin
Visit Diabetes UK:
http://uk.sitestat.com/diabetes/website-uk/s?muchloved_dukhome&ns_type=clickin