On Tuesday Hunter schools and ­businesses will blow casual Fridays out of the water by hosting Type Onesie Day to raise awareness and money for type 1 diabetes. 

Students and employees will be encouraged to dress in onesies, a single sock or single glove.

Money raised from the day and a crowd-funding campaign will be ­donated to the Australian Artificial Pancreas Program, which the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle’s Dr Bruce King are developing. 

About 400 children in the Hunter and more than 122,000 Australians have been diagnosed with the condition in which the pancreas no longer produces insulin. 

Kate Ryan, whose son Jack has the condition, said type 1 diabetes often competes with type 2 for media attention, despite being life-threatening and commonly diagnosed in children. 

“Whenever the word diabetes is mentioned or is in an article, it’s almost always type 2,” she said. “It’s most commonly found in kids but adults are also diagnosed. The rate of type 1 in the Hunter is actually the highest in the country.”

While the disease is chronic and requires life-long treatment, children and adults can live normal lives if the disease is well managed.

“Having type 1 means constant insulin injections and monitoring of blood glucose levels; it means 10 finger-pricks per day,” Mrs Ryan said.

“And that’s a good day,” Allison Wyborn said, whose son Campbell also has type 1 diabetes.

Mrs Ryan said the artifical pancreas, which has just been approved for pre-clinical trials this year, would change her son’s life.

“It’s a monitor attached to an insulin pump that automates his dosages instead of the constant and painful ­monitoring and injections we have to do every day.”

Businesses or schools that would like to host a Type Onesie Day during Diabetes Awareness Week from September 13 to 18 should visit www.everydayhero.com.au/event/ typeonsieday