Finding Your Lane

Advocacy at Work · May 28, 2026 · 28m

There’s a pattern I keep noticing with the advocates I interview.

Almost none of them set out to become one.

Scott K. Johnson is a perfect example. He’s lived with type 1 diabetes since the age of five, back when it was still called juvenile diabetes, before we understood that this autoimmune condition can strike at any age. He didn’t grow up planning a career in advocacy. He just got to a point in his young adult years where he was wrestling with the emotional weight of living with a chronic illness, couldn’t find the resources he needed, and decided to start talking about it.

He started a…