A few things first before I address the main topic here. Not necessarily. It's all about how you approach it. Anything, anything at all, can be good if you do it right. But that's the tricky part and why this forum exists! Ignorance is always a worry in any writing. It's just that medical conditions are some of the more sensitive subjects we can approach. Embrace the misunderstandings people have when you write! Challenge their preconceptions and try to put them straight with facts and reality. There will, of course, be those who don't care to be challenged, and so be it. Don't lose any sleep over those too stubborn to do the right thing. Oh well if they draw conclusions you don't want them to. Just focus on accuracy, be willing to accept criticism if you're wrong, and pay attention to what's really important. We can't control what everyone thinks. Absolutely! And we can educate those who don't have first-hand experience if we are passionate about accuracy. I think, when writing about chronic illnesses, those who don't understand should be our audience, or at least in a close second place. Odds are, with any illness or trouble, the afflicted will be a minority of our audience unless we market specifically to them through specialized channels. If we represent an illness or trouble, we have to do it as accurately as possible (sorry for repeating myself so much on this point) and we inevitably become educators. I think I've beaten this horse to death now... Absolutely. Now on to the main topic. A chronic illness would absolutely change my perception of a character. Not necessarily in a bad way, of course. There are a lot of things that come with them, physically, psychologically, and socially. I might be wrong in my assumptions regarding the particular illness but the inclusion of the illness would add numerous layers of information to a character that are implied rather than blatantly stated. It's a rather economic characterization tool. I would also see this character as a means for my education, as long as you had provided reasons for me to trust your information (and did provide accurate information). I know very little about diabetes but if you sounded trustworthy as a storyteller I would pick up this book to learn about it while enjoying a story. I've never read them or watched the movie(s?) but the Percy Jackson books/movie(s?) actually take a fantastical spin on ADD (or ADHD, not sure which). It's actually a symptom of someone having the blood of a Greek god in their veins (or they're the actual children of a god and a mortal; again, not sure). While it is fantasy, it gives an epic spin on a rather pervasive(?) issue among our youth. It gives them something to play with and, even if for a time, they can actually take pride in their condition. And with that, I think I'm out of steam on this. Hope some of this helps.
For me it was. I had to accept my "new normal" before I could adapt and move forward with my life. But I am speaking from personal experience and personal experience is very subjective. Maybe that is why. I don't care to speak about this further seeing as it's becoming pretty personal and I don't care to share the nitty gritty details of my life with people I don't know. I just thought I'd clarify why I felt how I did about it.
It's alright. I get weird delving into the specifics of my life sometimes. Most of the time it's not a big issue. I'm just under a lot of stress right now because I've been having issues with getting a follow up MRI set up. I get one once a year to make sure all's well. The staff in charge of scheduling made a big mistake on it so between that and having to reschedule for insurance reasons the first time it had to be moved, then just the general anxiety of the whole thing I've been a mess lately. So basically you caught me at a bad time.
