Interview with Siofra Kelleher

Welcome to another Thriveabetes interview. Today I'm with Síofra Kelleher, from Sligo. Síofra was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September 2010 when she was 10 and was diagnosed with Coeliac disease shortly afterwards. She is currently studying studying Business Information Systems in University College Cork and is now aged 21. 

In these two videos we cover a lot of the process of going through the Junior and Leaving cert with type 1 diabetes and also the process of applying for college.


You can find Síofra through her website and through her twitter profile.

Which says that she has a “passion for T1D MedTech and the #wearenotwaiting movement 💉 @Google '21 scholar @d1nowIE YAP member @MedicalUCC Accessibility Officer”

Part 1 with Síofra

In part 1 we talk briefly about her diagnosis at age 10 and her subsequent diagnosis of coeliac disease and how this impacts diabetes. In the second half of this video we talked about the process of applying for accommodations for sitting state exams as a person with diabetes and what those accommodations were. 

Part 1 with Siofra

Part 2 with Síofra

In part 2 we pick up the conversation at the process of applying for the DARE Disability Access Route to Education scheme and what the benefits are from this scheme with getting into college. We also touched on the benefits for people with diabetes on registering with your college’s disability support services.

Síofra also shared her experience as a member of the young adult panel with D1Now which aims to improve engagement between young adults with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and their healthcare providers and ultimately improve their self management and diabetes-related health outcomes. The D1 Now intervention is co-designed by researchers and young adults living with T1D.

And finally we talked about Síofra’s new adventure with the International Diabetes Federation IDF Europe Youth Leadership Lab; a network consists of alumni from IDF Europe Youth Leadership Camps and Labs (YLC/YLL) and aims to empower youth to become active advocates within the diabetes community in their countries and beyond through exchanges and pan-regional initiatives and activities.

Part 2 with Siofra

MORE INFORMATION

Reasonable (Special) accommodations for doing state exams: 

Reasonable accommodations at the Certificate Examinations RACE Guide 

Website for other State Examination Resources: https://www.examinations.ie/?l=en&mc=ca&sc=ra

About DARE Disability Access Route to Education

Disability Access Route to Education Application Information 2021

D1Now - research project on developing improved diabetes care for young adults

International Diabetes Federation Young Leadership Lab

Previous 2021 Interviews

2020 Interview Playlist

Featuring all of these people with diabetes:

Click here for playlist