A reflection on living and working with Type 1 diabetes

November is National Diabetes Month, a time when communities across the country seek to bring attention to the disease. Living with diabetes involves acquiring new knowledge and developing skills to self-manage a life-long condition. Diabetes affects about one in 25 people in Scotland, including Gray’s Mobile Art School Co-ordinator, Ray Downie, who shares his experience managing the condition.

I was diagnosed Type 1 diabetes in 2011 after a rapid onset of illness which led me to be hospitalised, and then diagnosed whilst in the high dependency unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary - all in the space of one week.

It was quite a shock to take in and took quite a bit of adjustment but over time, it’s become part of my daily life and it’s something I just get on with.

I monitor my blood glucose through an arm scanner and inject insulin up to five times a day – and any time I eat.

Once you learn how to manage your diabetes you can go back to doing everything you love, but it is a sharp learning curve and feels abnormal to begin with.

It is an added pressure to keep up with able-bodied people – I am constantly evaluating what my blood sugar is, when I’m next due medication, and how the current activity is affecting my blood sugar levels. To look at me in my role you wouldn’t know how many medical decisions I am always making.

In my role as Gray’s Mobile Art School Co-ordinator, I have a busy schedule and manage our outreach project to connect schools across Aberdeen and beyond.

The Mobile Art School is an entity which is unique to Gray’s and I’m proud to be able to offer these experiences.

Our custom-built Mobile Art School vehicle is equipped with state-of-the-art creative tools, and in October alone, we visited four different schools across the region to lead different taster sessions.

I recently recruited a new student volunteer team for the Mobile Art School, and have nine volunteers who help deliver workshops within high schools across Aberdeen and Shire. Many of the volunteers are students at Gray’s School of Art, so the workshops provide a great opportunity for pupils considering art school, to talk to current Gray’s students and to get an idea of how different art school is to school SQA art education.

It also gives the student volunteers invaluable experience which benefits their Creative Futures module and for which they’ll be recognised and appreciated with a volunteering certificate.

The team are all so enthusiastic and talented - every volunteer is given the opportunity to plan and lead a section of the workshop and their creative responses to the tasks are impressive, engaging and inspiring. Two volunteers recently supported a life drawing session, and the class really enjoyed the tasks they came up with. This included drawing a self-portrait on a bit of paper taped on their own face, and incorporating an image from their camera roll into the still life set up.

I feel so energised by my own practice and understand the value of being a creative, so I strive to take a fresh approach to the workshops and recreate the vibe of the art school within their classroom. I create engaging tasks which introduce new techniques and artists, such as screen-printing images of iconic works by Sarah Lucas and Chris Burden.

At Gray’s we are encouraged to let our interests outside of fine art inform our practice.  I love music so I always put a playlist on which encourages a positive vibe and creates a discussion about our favourite artists, musicians, books, films, and anything else which inspires us.

I need a lot of kit for the workshops but the most important is my wee blue bag which contains my insulin kit and glucose to counteract a hypo.

Before I end, I want to share a bonus random fact about how I manage my condition: Every night when I take my long-acting dose of insulin I doodle on my body with a marker pen to remind me that I’ve taken it – most people just log this in an app or diary, but I prefer a creative approach. 

I hope by opening up about my condition, I can inspire others and help them realise that they can still reach their potential, despite managing a health condition.