We know that Autoimmune Diseases can turn your world upside down just when you’re hitting your stride in your career. When this happens, there are resources to help you understand and negotiate your options.
I’m sure if I hadn’t been so stubborn about accepting the severity of my illness and the long haul ahead, I might have sought some help when I was let go by one employer or demoted by another, or simply struggling to continue to work when I wasn’t feeling well.
While working with Rosalind on this book, I learned about the Job Accommodation Network. Thank goodness for the Internet. You don’t have to leave your house to learn about how to get help. Just go online on-line and click on http://www.jan.wvu.edu.
The Job Accommodation Network is a “free consulting service designed to increase the employability of people with disabilities by: 1) providing individualize work site accommodations solutions, 2) providing technical assistance regarding the ADA and other disability related legislation, and 2) educating callers about self-employment options.”
To my taste, this is a pretty technical site. Nonetheless, I’d recommend it as a resource if you really need to understand your rights, and need help getting accommodation assistance. You can find a great deal of information about what employers are required – and not required – to do. You’ll see guidance for your employer, too.
I found the Searchable Online Accommodation Resource (SOAR) most the most interesting area of the site Here you can find a link to listings of different illnesses and conditions to find out what kinds of accommodations have been made to people with various illnesses. Here are just a few examples.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: An operating-room nurse with chronic fatigue syndrome had difficulty rotating schedules. She was accommodated with a permanent day schedule.
Don’t be like I was. If you need help, check out JAN and see if there might be something there for you.
Joan
Hey that is really awesome!
I got canned for being sick. i figured i probably could have sued them for that, but it’s not my way. and anyway i was still living in denial as my kidneys went about their failing and every other part of my body fell apart (lupus).
i decided to work for myself in 1994 (less than a year after getting the boot), so that i could control my own schedule. i am a musician, so that works. i realize not everyone has those options. SO i’m really happy to see folks addressing this.
most of us really do want to work, and will sabotage our health in trying. thanks for helping.
Carla – You’re so right when you say “most of us want to work!”. Most people look at people with chronic illness and think – “Oh she doesn’t WANT to work – she’s lazy/unmotivated – whatever” But in fact, it’s more often the work place – the environment or boss or job itself – that makes working so very difficult. Rosalind
Carla, I too was canned one year, back in 1995. It happened 2 days after I returned from disability. Like, you, I was sure it was an HR no-no, but did not take action. I’d made so many worthwhile contacts through that job that I decided to stay ‘friendly’ so I could leverage those contacts instead of alienating them.
I’m glad you found something you could do from home. In the chapter in our book about self-employment as an option for women with AD I wrote about one of my clients, also a musician, who started her own teaching business after being in bed for 18 months. She was relieved to realize she did not have to get a job and that should could support herself, and her 2 children.
Sometimes, we are fired- by our bodies or our bosses – and it’s good to know we have alternatives. Thanks for sharing your inspiring story.
Joan