Transportation legislation passed last week in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, contains an important provision that will help end discrimination against people with diabetes who seek employment as commercial drivers.

The American Diabetes Assn. led a coalition to enable qualified individuals who must use insulin to properly manage their diabetes to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce.
Language in the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA- LU)" eliminates a provision in the FMCSA’s 2003 Diabetes Exemption Program that made it almost impossible for anyone with insulin-treated diabetes to even apply to drive commercially and replaces it with a medically sound system for individual assessment. As a result, qualified people with insulin-treated diabetes will be able to drive commercial motor vehicles.
In September of 2003, FMCSA announced a Diabetes Exemption Program to end the 33-year-old blanket ban on operating a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce for people who use insulin and replace it with a case-by- case assessment that includes more than50 important safety provisions. But the Diabetes Exemption Program also included a "three-year rule" that prevented the vast majority of people with diabetes from even applying under the program.
This Catch 22 provision requires applicants to have driven a commercial vehicle while using insulin for the three years before applying for an exemption under the program. Because of the prior federal blanket ban no one could fulfill this requirement through past interstate driving and it was virtually impossible to fulfill it through intrastate driving. In the nearly two years since FMCSA announced this program, not a single diabetes exemption has been issued -- primarily because of the three-year rule which has prevented most qualified drivers from applying.