STORIES
Taylor Efford Is Changing How We See Life With Diabetes
Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 25, the actress, comedian and influencer is challenging stigma, making medical devices visible and speaking openly about the harder days.
At a friend's wedding, Taylor Efford was walking arm in arm with another member of the bridal party when the photographer stopped them. Instead of adjusting their pose, the photographer asked about the medical device visible on Taylor's arm.
“Do you guys want me to edit out whatever's on the back of her arm?” Taylor recalls the photographer asking.
For Taylor, an actress, comedian, and influencer living with type 1 diabetes, the moment reflected an assumption she's spent years challenging: that medical equipment is something to conceal rather than an ordinary part of someone's body.
Since her diagnosis, she's used her public platform to challenge diabetes stigma, advocate for greater representation of people with medical devices like insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, and help others understand the daily realities of living with the condition.
A diagnosis that changed her perspective
When Taylor was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2020, she was 25 and had no family history of the condition. She hadn't even realized type 1 diabetes could develop in adulthood. Getting answers had been difficult, too.
With COVID-19 restrictions changing how healthcare was delivered, much of Taylor's early care happened over the phone. She couldn't bring family members to appointments and had sought medical attention several times before receiving the bloodwork that ultimately led to her diagnosis.
“I had gone three times before getting a blood test, saying, ‘I think something's really wrong,’” she recalls.
Once diagnosed, Taylor had to learn how to manage insulin, food and blood sugar while confronting misconceptions she'd once held herself. As she began to understand the daily demands of the condition, she gained a new appreciation for others living with diabetes.
There are people working so hard to survive and still showing up the way everyone else is,” she says. “It amazed me, and now I get to be part of that team.
She began sharing her experiences online, including the parts of diabetes management that most people never see.
Challenging the assumptions behind diabetes stigma
Speaking publicly about her diagnosis also exposed Taylor to misconceptions about diabetes. Although Taylor had been an avid runner before her diagnosis, she encountered assumptions that diabetes was somehow the result of personal choices.
I think the internet's pretty quick, when they hear diabetes, to blame the individual,” she says. “It must have been your fault. Why didn't you just eat better? Why didn't you just stop eating sugar?
According to Diabetes Canada's 2024 Social Experiences of Living with Diabetes in Canada report, 86 per cent of respondents with type 1 diabetes and 69 per cent with type 2 reported experiencing blame or shame because of their condition.
Taylor also points to the casual jokes about diabetes that remain common in popular culture. Coming from a comedy background herself, she's struck by how readily a serious chronic illness becomes a punchline.
Changing how diabetes is represented
Taylor's advocacy has also reached the beauty industry. Through her Diabetic Aesthetic project, she's encouraging brands to feature people wearing insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors in their advertising. She wants people with diabetes to see themselves represented as fashionable, attractive and confident, with their medical devices fully visible.
Taylor's advocacy has caught the attention of beauty brands, including Vichy, which featured her on product packaging. But some of the most meaningful responses have come from people living with diabetes themselves.
“I get messages saying, ‘You gave me the confidence to wear a dress to prom and not hide my pump,’” she says.
For Taylor, partnering with Diabetes Canada is an opportunity to give back to a community she cares deeply about.
These devices represent all of your hard work to keep yourself healthy, and there's no reason you should feel the need to hide them,” she says. “They don't make you look any less cool, any less fashionable. They're proof of all of your hard work. All of your strength.
“Every time I get involved, I end up learning something new,” she says. “It's such an amazing opportunity to give back to a community that really deserves the world.”
Finding strength in the middle
Taylor's confidence and humour are central to her advocacy, but she worries that the resilience of people living with diabetes can sometimes obscure just how difficult the condition is to manage.
Even people close to Taylor assumed she'd finish her recent half-marathon, without fully appreciating how diabetes could complicate the experience, regardless of how strong and capable she appeared.
Taylor calls this complicated reality “the middle.” Too often, she says, conversations about chronic illness fall into two extremes: celebrating extraordinary resilience or focusing entirely on suffering. Neither captures the full experience of living with a condition that can be exhausting, frustrating and painful, but also allows for joy, confidence and accomplishment.
I think we wear it so well that sometimes people forget that it's still hard,” she says.
I want it to be true that it's sad, but I want it to be true that it's still a wonderful life,” she says.
As she continues her advocacy, Taylor wants to speak more openly about the messier parts of living with diabetes, including the days when there's no uplifting lesson to share. Resilience doesn't mean every difficult experience needs to become something positive.
You can just have a hard day,” she says. “We don't have to fish out that silver lining.
What’s powerful about Taylor’s advocacy is that she’s helping change how people with diabetes are seen, creating space to show up confidently, medical devices and all," explains Shusmita Rashid, Executive Director of Change the Conversation, Diabetes Canada's national initiative to address diabetes stigma. "Her work to challenge stigma through media and advertising strongly aligns with Diabetes Canada and the representation we champion through events like the Pump Couture Fashion Show.
This Diabetes Awareness Month, join Taylor and Diabetes Canada in challenging misconceptions about diabetes. Visit diabetes.ca to learn more about Stop the stigma. Learn the truth.