From 12 to 18 July, Australians residing with diabetes, alongside their carers, researchers, well being professionals and clinicians, did one thing highly effective. They mentioned, out loud and with out apology, the one factor they’ve at all times wished folks knew. Below the theme Stronger Collectively, the Dwelling Out Loud marketing campaign gave 2 million Australians a platform that was fully their very own.
What made the wall of voices so highly effective was not simply the variety of declarations, however the breadth of who was talking and who was listening. Folks residing with diabetes used their needs to talk on to the group round them, together with to family and friends who’ve by no means absolutely understood the every day load, to well being professionals who see the medical image, to researchers, to the medical trade, to pharmaceutical firms and to the federal government. These weren’t simply private statements. They had been acts of advocacy, calling for higher entry, fairer funding, much less stigma, and extra understanding from the very folks with the facility to behave on them.
What made it much more outstanding was that the dialog ran each methods. Well being professionals, clinicians, researchers, and allied well being employees stepped up alongside these residing with the situation, including their very own needs to the wall. When organisations past the diabetes group, together with the neuroendocrine most cancers group, spoke up in regards to the sudden hyperlink between their situation and a diabetes prognosis, it bolstered one thing this marketing campaign has at all times believed: diabetes hardly ever comes alone, and each voice that surrounds it issues.
Collectively, these declarations didn’t simply increase consciousness. They mapped the total, complicated, and interconnected actuality of residing with diabetes in Australia, and despatched a transparent message to each determination maker who encountered them that this group is organised, knowledgeable, and prepared for change. Here’s a look again at what we achieved collectively.
This Nationwide Diabetes Week, over 600 Australians accomplished the sentence “I want folks knew…” and added their voice to the wall.
From folks newly identified to those that have lived with diabetes for many years. From carers and fogeys to researchers and clinicians. From sort 1 to sort 2 to gestational diabetes and past, each sort had a voice, and each voice had a spot. Here’s a number of the desires we acquired:
The dialog doesn’t cease right here. We’re nonetheless amassing needs to showcase on the Worldwide Diabetes Federation Western Pacific Area (IDF-WPR) Congress in Melbourne, and we need to take as many Australian voices with us as doable.
If in case you have not but shared your want, it isn’t too late. Full the sentence “I want folks knew…” and submit it via our on-line type or share it on social media utilizing #DiabetesOutLoud. Chosen needs can be featured as a part of Australia’s presence on the IDF-WPR Congress. Add your want.
Dwelling Out Loud was not only a digital marketing campaign. It reached Australians of their cities, on their drive to work and thru their radios.
The marketing campaign made worldwide, nationwide, state and native information all through the week, with Australians residing with diabetes sharing their tales throughout tv, print, digital, and radio, reaching almost 4 million Australians.
The week was previewed with a narrative that ran nationally on Win regional TV information with an interview with Perth Diabetes Centre’s Tayla Dyson, who lives with sort 1 diabetes, and Diabetes Australia’s Group CEO Justine Cain.
It was adopted on Saturday, 11 July, with an opinion editorial by Ms Cain within the Weekend Australian Journal, which additionally options within the Qantas Journal. Ms Cain instructed readers: “I want folks knew that diabetes is a really severe continual situation that may develop for a lot of completely different causes, and that the people who reside with it are inspiring and resilient.”
Lara McSpadden, WNBL champion, Blue Circle Collective Ambassador and sort 1 diabetes advocate, headlined the nationwide media launch, describing what it means to signify Australia with diabetes. Ms Cain and the director of Endocrinology and Diabetes on the Melbourne Kids’s Hospital, Professor Fergus Cameron, had been additionally interviewed. Lara’s story was broadcast by 9News and 10 Information throughout the nation on afternoon and 6pm information bulletins, reaching 1000’s of Australians with a message that diabetes by no means must be a barrier to success. Lara and Ms Cain had been additionally featured within the Herald Solar.
Monday, 13 July, kicked off from 5am with FM and AM radio information tales throughout each state and territory on capital metropolis stations and all through the areas. All through the week, Diabetes Australia’s Ms Cain, Nicole McMahon, Hannah Jackson, Minke Hoekstra and Deanne Minniecon had been interviewed for program chats on business and ABC stations together with Adelaide’s FiveAA, Bathurst, Canberra, Wollongong Wave FM, Sydney, Newcastle, Darwin, Alice Springs, Perth’s 6PR, and West Gippsland. Deanne’s Saturday morning chat on SRN regional radio community was broadcast by 47 stations round Australia.
A member of Diabetes Australia’s Well being Skilled Advisory Council, Dr Konrad Kangru, spoke with ABC regional presenter Susan-Graham-Ryan and later within the week with ABC Tropical North’s Rob Kidd in regards to the significance of recognising even gentle signs, getting common well being checks, and the doable issues that may develop with diabetes.
7News on-line explored the hidden well being challenges Australia’s prime athletes handle behind the scenes, shining a lightweight on on a regular basis realities that elite performers navigate alongside their diabetes, together with Blue Circle Ambassadors Lara McSpadden and Lachie Kennedy.
In Western Australia, Lucy Woods spoke overtly about breaking the stigma of diabetes via social media. Her story featured in The West Australian as a part of a state-based unique that put actual lived expertise on the centre of the dialog.
The Gippsland Occasions instructed the extraordinary story of James Griffiths, a proud Wangaaypuwan man and Blue Circle Collective Neighborhood Advocate from Sale, who misplaced his sight, his kidneys, and the profession he was constructing to sort 2 diabetes, earlier than discovering a brand new goal in archery and setting his sights on the Paralympic Video games. James’s story resonated with editors round Australia and was revealed on-line within the Herald Solar (Melbourne), the Day by day Telegraph (Sydney), the Adelaide Advertiser, the Courier Mail (Brisbane), and NT Information (Darwin), in addition to different regional newspapers. You’ll be able to learn extra about James’s story beneath.
Ken Johnson and Minke Hoekstra instructed Hobart’s Mercury newspaper about Ken’s dedication to reside a wholesome life after his sort 2 prognosis and efforts to attain remission. Ken’s story, “How a sort 2 diabetes prognosis set this 77yo on the trail to a marathon” was republished in Melbourne’s Herald Solar, Sydney’s Day by day Telegraph, and the Cairns Submit.
The Adelaide Advertiser featured Lara Wilson, a younger lady residing with sort 1 diabetes who channelled her data gained via residing with a continual situation to assist kids and fogeys on the Adelaide Ladies’s and Kids’s Hospital college, happening to win the Nationwide Trainee of the Yr Award in 2024. Now finding out to be a instructor, Lara’s message was: “I want folks knew what number of further choices I make on daily basis due to my diabetes.” Lara coaches tennis and volunteers a number of instances every week on the Flinders Park Tennis Membership.
Channel 7’s nationwide well being editor Jennifer Bechwati interviewed Shalisse Thompson and revealed to a nationwide and worldwide viewers for the primary time that Shalisse’s Dad, Lance Thompson, died eight years in the past, aged 40, from diabetic ketoacidosis, brought on by dangerously excessive glucose ranges. Lance was identified in his late 20s, and was a revered and common skilled rugby league participant for the St George Dragons and later Cronulla. Shalisse’s want was easy and devastating: “I want folks knew diabetes could be life threatening.” Her story reached audiences on 7News Australia (on-line), MSN, the West Australian, and the Day by day Mail UK.
Socials had been buzzing all through the week with over 450 folks utilizing #DiabetesOutLoud or #NDW2026 on Instagram, Fb and X. We additionally noticed an extra 200+ needs submitted via the net type, which continues to obtain submissions main into IDF-WPR Congress.
Past particular person voices, the marketing campaign impressed collective motion. There have been over 150 downloads of the marketing campaign toolkit belongings, exhibiting robust uptake of the sources throughout the group. Diabetes Credentialled Educators, well being practitioners and their clinics constructed their very own bodily wall of needs, inviting sufferers to jot down and pin their declarations for all to see. An enormous shout out to the PDC Well being Hub for his or her standout contribution over the week.
Amongst tons of of highly effective declarations, this one stopped us in our tracks:
James Griffiths, a proud Wangaaypuwan man, Blue Circle Collective Neighborhood Advocate and aspiring Paralympic archer, is aware of higher than most what diabetes can take from an individual. Identified with sort 2 diabetes at simply 19, he misplaced his sight, his kidneys, and the profession he was constructing, all due to a situation he was by no means warned about. After surviving kidney failure and present process a kidney-pancreas transplant, James rebuilt his life with extraordinary dedication, discovering a brand new goal in archery and group advocacy. He has been concerned with the Sale to Sea Incapacity Kayak Problem, served on advisory boards, and chaired the Wellington Entry and Inclusion Advisory Group. At this time, he continues to pursue his archery ambitions whereas utilizing his lived expertise to drive change in his group. His want carries the total weight of a life reworked by diabetes and a dedication to make sure the illness doesn’t outline his future, or the futures of others.
The declarations we acquired lined each nook of the diabetes expertise. They spoke to the every day actuality of managing a situation that by no means switches off, challenged the stigma that too typically follows a sort 2 prognosis, celebrated what is feasible in sport, management, and life with diabetes, and known as for higher entry, improved know-how, and extra understanding.
Collectively, they painted an image of a group that’s resilient, decided, and able to be heard. Not statistics; these had been many distinct, highly effective, and particular person voices.
If talking up felt like the start of one thing, the Blue Circle Collective is the next move.
Our group of Ambassadors, Advocates, and Advisers makes use of lived expertise to affect coverage, form analysis, and drive actual change for the diabetes group throughout Australia. We’re recruiting Advocates now, searching for people who find themselves prepared to show one declaration into lasting advocacy. Categorical your curiosity.
To everybody who shared a want, posted a tile, tagged #DiabetesOutLoud, shared the marketing campaign with somebody they love, or just listened; thanks.
To our Blue Circle Collective Ambassadors Lachlan Kennedy, Lara McSpadden, and Warren Bingham, who led the way in which with braveness and generosity; thanks.
An enormous thanks to the gifted photographers Nick James Fraser, Yvette Scott, and © David Kelly/Copyright Company, 2026.
To the two million Australians residing with diabetes on daily basis, this marketing campaign was at all times for you. We hope final week felt like what it was: a second the place Australia stopped, listened, and heard you.
The voices don’t cease right here.
#DiabetesOutLoud #NDW2026
