TALKING ABOUT DIABETES

A new website, An Oral History of Diabetes, features the e-collections of 50 people diagnosed with diabetes between 1927 and 1997. They talk with passion and humour about their daily lives, providing a unique oral history of diabetes during the 20th century.

The website provides full, unedited recordings, short audio samples, written summaries, full transcripts, and ways of locating sections of the interviews that cover particular topics.

Most participants agreed to talk about their experiences because they felt they had benefited from past research and so were glad to contribute to future research. Their audio recordings provide a resource for historians, healthcare professionals, people with diabetes, and anyone interested in exploring the human aspect of living with diabetes. Together, they provide a unique historical overview of treatments and medical developments during the 20th century.

An Oral History of Diabetes is based at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism; it is funded by the Wellcome Trust and run by Professor David Matthews, University of Oxford.