Renza Scibilia: 'I never wanted my diabetes to become anyone else's burden'

Type 1 on 1 | Diabetes Stories

When it comes to diabetes advocates, few are held in such regard as Renza Scibilia. And rightly so, as for more than two decades she has travelled the world to ensure the voices of people with diabetes are not only acknowledged, but listened to and understood by everyone from world-renowned healthcare professionals to pharmaceutical bosses.
Diagnosed in 1998, Renza’s activism started out through the Diabetonic blog, published from her desk at home in Melbourne, Australia. But such is her determination and motivation to create meaningful change, she is now Director of Community Building & Communications at Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF), Head of Advocacy at #dedoc°, and in her spare time (when she’s not baking or on a plane), she runs a health consultancy.
As much as Renza works hard to makes sure she has a seat at the table, she works even harder to ensure that there are seats for the rest of us too, shaping outcomes for everyone who has been forced through lived experience to cruelly understand what it really means to live with type 1 diabetes.
'When insulin has been around for 100 years, lack of access should not be happening,' she told me. 'It’s perfectly ok to feel overwhelmed by the personal burden of type 1 diabetes and what we are living with, but I do also feel the weight of what type 1 diabetes is on a bigger scale. Sometimes I think it’s ok to feel hopeless because of that, because in many ways it’s what drives me.'
This generous and heartfelt conversation is such a treat, and a reminder of the power we collectively have for change when the right people are shaping the conversation.
CONNECT WITH RENZA:
Take a look at Renza’s blog, Diabetogenic.
Follow Renza on X.
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