Transmitting Insulin: The Design and Look of Insulin Delivery Devices as Technologies of Communication

Abstract

In this article, we examine how insulin pens and pumps – two major devices for delivering insulin, the anabolic hormone used to treat Type 1 diabetes – are designed to conceal and fashion insulin delivery around their appearance as key communication technologies. Insulin pens and insulin pumps transform the aesthetics of insulin delivery away from the medicalized appearance of syringes toward that of beautiful technological artifacts. They both hide and draw attention to their status as technological artifacts and their medical use through a set of desirable, though sometimes incongruous, device aesthetics. Deliberately marketed around their resemblance to pens or pagers, insulin delivery devices are examples of skeuomorphs that “materialize the metaphor” of writing instruments and telecommunication tools into their design. We analyze how diabetes education and marketing materials present insulin delivery devices through skeuomorphic performances of use that uphold norms of concealment in diabetes self-management in conditions of social and medical surveillance. Drawing on patents, educational and marketing materials, and our own experiences with these devices, we argue that the skeuomorphic design of these devices morally regulates the embodied performance of diabetes. 

Creating Greater Safety in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Spaces

“…The survivor-centered approach sets out to minimize the possibility of re-traumatization, and ensure that survivors of violence are able to access appropriate, good quality health care, legal services, and psychological and social support. The survivor-centered approach emphasizes the voices and experiences of abuse and violence survivors, in an effort to address the societal issues of violence and oppression (Rentschler et al, 2022). In a society in which survivors are all too often pushed into the shadows, the survivor-based approach champions their perspectives as the key to understanding violence prevention and repair.…”

“…The survivor-based approach also stresses the dire need to examine systemic and structural facets that contribute to violence, abuse, and trauma, zooming out from the typical case-by-case examination of individual occurrences. In doing so, the survivor-based approach seeks to establish a holistic framework of how, when, and why abuse and violence occur in an effort to end larger patterns of violence, and to redirect the onus of violence off of the survivors and victims and onto the systemic failings that perpetuate harm (Rentschler et al, 2022). This theoretical framework is unique in how it exists in multiple dimensions: encapsulating the spirit of micro-level social work by uplifting survivor voices, engaging mezzo-level social work by leveraging the healing power of intimate community care, and examining the need for systemswide change on the macro-level.…”