About Us
The story of animaT1D begins in the summer of 2023 at a pediatric endocrinology clinic. At her daughter’s appointment, Molly mentioned the lack of educational material for neurodivergent children with T1D. She was then connected with Radhika, a physician in the same group.
On obtaining feedback from the local community of neurodivergent children with T1D and their families, short visual stories emerged as a popular format for instruction. A search revealed that there was nothing out there in that format for T1D, and therefore, Molly and Radhika expanded their target audience to anyone interested in learning about T1D. They also realized that making animation videos was an expensive undertaking.
So, with a grand vision and no funding, they taught themselves animation and here we are!
Molly’s bio
Hello! My name is Molly Barry. I am a speech-language pathologist, Wilson dyslexia practitioner as well as the mother of a wonderful daughter who is autistic and has type 1 diabetes as well. I attended the University of Oregon, first as a student-athlete and then later to complete my Master’s degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences.
My journey with Animat1d is both personal and professional. I observed when my daughter was very young that visual and multi-sensory tools for learning were powerful for her. When type 1 diabetes showed up in November of 2019, I became acutely aware of the need to understand and manage this chronic condition and also noticed there was a lack of comprehensive educational materials in a visual format. After a conversation with my daughter’s endocrinologist, an idea was born. I am honored to journey with Radhika to help create this resource.
Radhika’s bio
Hi! My name is Radhika Purushothaman. I am a pediatric endocrinologist practicing in Portland, Oregon USA. I completed my training in pediatric endocrinology in 2009 and have been taking care of children with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and other endocrine diagnoses ever since. Portland has been my home since 2013, where I take full advantage of all that the Pacific Northwest has to offer.
I believe that knowledge is indeed power. Understanding a concept demystifies it and removes the uncertainty around the new and unknown. That was the driving force to starting this website: to empower the viewer with knowledge and understanding about type 1 diabetes and remove the anxiety to some extent.