The Type 1 Action Foundation was founded in 2016 by Daniel Phelan, an attorney and former professional baseball player with Type 1 Diabetes, to better protect the rights of people with Type 1 Diabetes and to help those being discriminated against because of their Type 1 Diabetes. Prior to the Type 1 Action Foundation, many people with Type 1 Diabetes who were facing legal issues related to their diabetes had very few places, if any, to turn to for help, and many could not afford to hire a private attorney to represent their interests in diabetes related legal matters, such as obtaining necessary and reasonable accommodations for their children to safely manage their diabetes while in school. Daniel started the Type 1 Action Foundation to solve those very problems and, for the first three years of his career as an attorney, and prior to joining the global litigation practice group at a major law firm’s NYC office, Daniel was the first attorney in the United States to successfully focus a law practice on protecting the rights of people with Type 1 Diabetes, and effectively changed the landscape for how people with Type 1 Diabetes are accommodated in schools and in the workplace through disability discrimination matters under the Americans with Disabilities Act in United States District Court, and through special education hearings in schools.

Today, in an effort to help a greater number of people in the Type 1 Diabetes community, the Type 1 Action Foundation is focusing more on educating the Type 1 Diabetes community about their rights and the laws protecting them, as well as providing a variety of resources to the Type 1 Diabetes community to assist with things such as filing discrimination claims with various government agencies, obtaining reasonable accommodations at school or at work, or drafting a comprehensive medical management plan to ensure that your child’s diabetes is safely managed while at school. Over the past few years we have also developed an extensive network of local attorneys and law firms around the United States who we are able to connect people to if legal representation becomes necessary. Once we refer someone to any of our network list of attorneys, we make ourselves readily available to assist with providing any needed Type 1 Diabetes resources.

While our main focus has always been protecting the rights of the Type 1 Diabetes community, we also aim to empower the Type 1 Diabetes community. On this end, Daniel regularly keynotes conferences around the country, speaking about his experiences playing professional baseball with Type 1 Diabetes in an effort to empower others in the Type 1 Diabetes community to never let their diabetes hold them back or get in the way of their dreams, whatever they may be.

In 2019 we also began a partnership with the AFYA Foundation to accept donations of people’s excess diabetes supplies, which the AFYA Foundation then donates to people all over the world who either find themselves in an area struck by a natural disaster, or who don’t otherwise have access to clean supplies.

The Type 1 Action Foundation is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization.