Case Study: How is Type 1 Diabetes Represented in Films, TV Shows and Video Games?

In media like video games, films and television, representation of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) plays a significant role in shaping the audience's perception. T1D is a chronic autoimmune disease where the body no longer produces insulin, requiring continuous management and monitoring of blood glucose levels (NHS, 2024). The treatment for diabetes can be through administering insulin by using medical devices such as insulin pumps, insulin pens, and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) (NHS, 2024). As the condition makes an appearance within said media, research highlights the importance of how including accurate, sensitive and well-informed portrayals can impact an audience's attitude and behaviour towards the medical topic (Rowbotham et al., 2020). However, when it comes to the appearances of T1D, it remains limited and dramatised. This misrepresentation may not only affect the audience’s perspective of diabetes, but also how the own individuals living with diabetes view themselves and their condition (Frazer and Walker, 2021).  As T1D is lifelong and requires continuous management, the audience’s knowledge of the condition is vague, and when the excuse of consuming high amounts of sugar leading to a diabetic diagnosis is joked about within media, the differentiation of T1D and Type 2 diabetes (T2D) starts to blur (Stelling, Diabetes UK, 2024). This can raise concerns about the potential risk for stigma and misinformation to arise, reducing empathy from the public. This literature review will examine how T1D is represented across video games, films, and television, making use of the interdisciplinary research to identify the common themes, strengths, limitations, and areas for further investigation. 

In video games, representation of T1D is often judged by how well it fits into the game's mechanics, system or choice, which means that the authenticity of the lived experience, is secondary to entertainment. This theory is brought on by the concept of serious games, which are designed for another primary purpose other than entertainment, such as educating diabetics, which is due to the nature of the condition requiring extensive education about self-care and management (Joubert and Guillaume, 2019). A study by JMIR Games on MyDiabetes (Novak, 2023) highlights that creating game-based environments can assist in simulating real life decision making, build confidence for individuals with T1D, create familiarity with daily management tasks, as well as build an appreciation for a better understanding of T1D within the outer audience. However, there are conceptual limitations for serious games such as, finding a balance between the entertainment and the education, ever evolving diabetic medical advances, and the difficultly of integrating a new educational model into an already established program (Joubert and Guillaume, 2019). Therefore, while educational serious games hold a great promise for the T1D community, especially for teaching those who are young or newly diagnosed, these types of games only represent a fraction of the industry. However, other digital platforms, such as social media displays a contrasting picture to video games. In the book (Un)doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture (Frazer and Walker, 2021), Individuals living with diabetes discuss how they use online spaces to share their personal experiences and challenges. These personal narratives combat the inaccurate representations that are showcased in other media by prioritising the authenticity and lived experience. As emphasised by these individuals (Frazer and Walker, 2021), narratives about chronic illnesses are continuously shaped through media; Video games and other media could represent disability and chronic illness more meaningfully and inclusively. 

Film represents T1D by having the symptoms of hypoglycaemias (the experience of extreme low blood sugars, which include symptoms of, dizziness, sweating, shaking and confusion (NHS, 2017)) to enhance and create a dramatic atmosphere, focusing on the inaccuracies about the condition. Research shows that out of thirty-nine fictional films screened for T1D representation, thirteen of them passed. In the same study it was found that when these portrayals did occur, they relied on dramatic or crisis orientated narratives (Sandid et al., 2024). These narratives have depicted T1D through an intense lens of experiencing medical emergencies such as seizures, comas or loss of bodily control, which mainly serve to boost the emotional tension of the film, rather than convey the realistic lived experience. These portrayals reinforce the risk that people living with T1D are constantly one step away from a crisis. These depictions can shape the audience’s perception of diabetes as being unpredictable and dangerous, despite the major advances in diabetic devices such as CGMs and insulin pumps, which monitor the condition, as they remain absent from the current on screen portrayals (Sandid et al., 2024). Television follows similar patterns when compared to film. Various inaccuracies have been identified across different television shows. An example of one of these inaccuracies was identified by a journalist who discussed the good and the bad of T1D television portrayals, this example was that a higher sugar intake, whether identified as a meal, snack or special occasion, was the main cause of receiving a diabetic diagnosis (Stelling, Diabetes UK, 2024). This type of inaccuracy within television narratives uses diabetes to generate an unsympathetic view from the audience, presenting diabetic characters as victims of their own actions. When looking at different diabetic perspectives, the overall agreement is that these portrayals tend to moralise the chronic condition and position diabetic people and their bodies as places of abnormality or higher irresponsibility (Frazer and Walker, 2021).  Although there are more upcoming and occurring television shows like The Babysitters Club (Shukert, 2020) which are depicting more accurate and realistic lived experiences of T1D (Annenberg, 2025), such examples continue to remain uncommon within the industry. Therefore, leaving a gap between the diabetic lived experience and its virtual representation. 

Across these medias, there are several patterns that emerge. Crisis-driven and dramatic framing is prevalent among them, with media depicting severe hypoglycaemia, collapses or medical interventions (Sandid et al., 2024). Another consistent theme discussed across the medias is inaccuracy. Due to the oversimplification of diabetes being caused by excessive sugar intake, the boundaries between T1D and T2D are blurred together (Stelling, Diabetes UK, 2024). Overall, underrepresentation is widespread when it comes to T1D, even in media where cases of the condition could be prevalent (Annenberg, 2025). Arguments have been made that diabetes as an illness is often framed through a higher moral lens that emphasises responsibility and discipline (Frazer and Walker, 2021). Consequently, when media has portrayed diabetes through a dramatic lens, it is then reinforced as a description of failure or fragility. The current gaps in literature remain significant. Audience reception is under researched; this means that little is known about how different portrayals can influence understanding (Rowbotham et al., 2020).  Therefore, across films, television and video games, representation of T1D remains inconsistent, limited and shaped by the longstanding cultural narratives that prioritise the drama over accuracy. Film and television disproportionately depict crisis scenarios and outdated glucose management approaches (Sandid et al., 2024). These kinds of portrayals can be seen to reflect cultural assumptions about chronic illness, repeating the insights of diabetic individuals who contributed to (Un)doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture (Frazer and Walker, 2021). Whose work highlights that diabetic portrayals are never neutral, that they are often shaped by the cultural meanings which inform how illness is understood socially. 

Overall, this literature review has identified that representation of type 1 diabetes in video games, film and television remains inconsistent and limited, often prioritising drama and entertainment over an accurate lived experience. While serious games within the video game industry showcase high potential for developing engangment and empathy through interactive educational games, they have remained as a small fraction of the industries, where the lived experiences of chronic conditions are rare. Although film and television portrayals of T1D are considerably more common than in video games, these depictions often depend on a dramatic, crisis-driven narrative, exaggerating hypoglycaemias, and framing T1D through an unpredictable, life-threatening lens, even with the modern diabetic technologies of insulin pumps and CGMs existing. These portrayals contribute to the confusion between T1D and T2D, adding to the harmful stereotypes and stigmas that reinforce T1D individuals as irresponsible, fragile or at fault for their own diagnosis. As highlighted by individuals with diabetes, such portrayals mold the public's perception of diabetes and the ways in which diabetic individuals view themselves. The demand for these crisis driven roles and narratives reinforce the perception of being diabetic as a personal fault rather than a manageable chronic condition. Gaps in literature have also been identified, particularly research in audience reception and the social impact of media portrayals, addressing these gaps can benefit researchers and designers as they can consider how representation can influence the public audiences understanding on chronic conditions when creating their own narratives. Having this collaboration between producers, designers, researchers and T1D individuals has the potential to create more accurate and inclusive depictions, helping to reduce the stereotypes and stigma to improve the overall awareness of diabetes. 

Reference List 

Annenberg, U. (2025) New study shows that prevalent health conditions and diseases are nearly absent in popular entertainment programming. Available at: http://annenberg.usc.edu/news/research-and-impact/new-study-shows-prevalent-health-conditions-and-diseases-are-nearly-absent. 

Frazer, B.C. and Walker, H.R. (eds) (2021) (Un)doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture. Cham: Springer International Publishing (Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83110-3. 

Joubert, M. and Guillaume, A. (2019) ‘Videogames in Diabetes’, in Y. Reznik (ed.) Handbook of Diabetes Technology. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 111–117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98119-2_10. 

NHS (2024) What is type 1 diabetes?, nhs.uk. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/type-1-diabetes/what-is-type-1-diabetes/. 

NHS (2024) Treatment for type 1 diabetes, nhs.uk. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/type-1-diabetes/treatment/. 

NHS (2017) Low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia), nhs.uk. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/low-blood-sugar-hypoglycaemia/. 

Novak, D. (2023) JMIR Serious Games - A Serious Game (MyDiabetic) to Support Children’s Education in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Iterative Participatory Co-Design and Feasibility Study. Available at: https://games.jmir.org/2024/1/e49478/. 

Rowbotham, S. et al. (2020) ‘30+ years of media analysis of relevance to chronic disease: a scoping review’, BMC Public Health, 20(1), p. 364. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8365-x. 

Sandid, L.M. et al. (2024) ‘Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Movies: The Hollywood Effect’, Kansas Journal of Medicine, 17(6), pp. 139–141. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17161/kjm.vol17.22385. 

Shukert, R. (2020) Watch The Baby-Sitters Club | Netflix Official Site, Netflix. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81005407. 

Stelling, M. (2024) Let’s talk about diabetes representation in film and TV, Diabetes UK. Available at: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-us/news-and-views/lets-talk-about-diabetes-representation-film-and-tv.