Hi! I'm Ciara.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was seven-years-old in 1992. The sugar-rim on that half-full glass, however, is that since my mom is also T1D (oddly enough, also diagnosed when she was seven-years-old...), she recognized my symptoms super early, so I didn't have to spend much time in the hospital during my initial diagnosis. The concepts weren't too hard to grasp or adjust to either since I'd grown up around my mom and her life with diabetes. While honestly, it'd be the most awesome if neither of us had diabetes, I think having it "together" has made it so my mom and I understand each other on a totally different level - and that's...  #T1Dlife

I haven't always been great with my diabetes, in fact, I've been really awful to myself about it over the years. I am definitely not "perfect" now, either. But like, "progress, not perfection," right?

But like, "progress not perfection," right? 

The thing is, I'm showing up more for myself and my health these days after spending So. Many. Years. in denial about, avoiding, and hiding my diabetes. It was like a shame-riddled Peter Pan complex.

So, yeah, that wasn't great. It didn't feel great and it was definitely 
not great for me.

Anyway, likely more on that in a later post. 

So, fast-forward to now: I live in Seattle, WA where I'm a graphic designer and motion graphics designer for the City. I live under the overcast sky and Space Needle with my darling pug, Porter, my sweet (but not pre-sweetened like me 😉) partner, and sometimes his tiny human, my "bonus babe."

The thing that has really helped me start paying more attention to my body and begin to accept my diabetes is burlesque. But... what? You may have questions. I get it.

The thing that has really helped me start paying more attention to my body and begin to accept my diabetes is burlesque. 
Yep. Burlesque. It was something I tripped over and fell in love with shortly after moving to Seattle, where the community is immense and full of diversity and extraordinary talent. Sure, the burlesque community as a whole has its share of issues, too, but in general, it is a very accepting and supportive community and one that (usually) celebrates all different types of bodies.

Getting involved in burlesque threw me into new situations where I needed to love and be more accepting of my body. Sure, the obvious: part of burlesque often includes being on stage, in front of an audience, in some state of undress. For me, a diabetic with an insulin pump, that meant loving my body enough to be comfortable in it (with or without clothes), but also loving my disabled body enough to be comfortable showing the scars on my stomach from over ten years of infusion sites as well as my current infusion site at the time of any performance. Then, when I decided to get a CGM, that also meant learning to show off rather than hide my "robot parts." (When you're down to pasties and a g-string, there's only so much clever camouflaging you can do anyway!) But this also got me thinking... If I have these gadgets that get me through, why should I be ashamed? I mean, why should anyone with any disability be ashamed anyway?!? Because fuck ableism that's why. Truly. All bodies are good bodies; some just need different things to work their best.

Because fuck ableism that's why. Truly. All bodies are good bodies; some just need different things to work their best.            

And I think that's the biggest lesson I've learned. And it's a practice. It's not something that always comes easily every day. The other lesson is that I have this great opportunity as a "public figure" to encourage thoughtful questions and the dialogue that follows. I can shine a light on common misconceptions and raise awareness and activism.

Since "coming out" as a diabetic burlesque performer, I've already met four other local performers who are T1D!

I hope I can help make this invisible illness a little more visible and continue to learn about and love taking better care of my amazing (part robot) body.