I’ve written about needing an oar to keep swimming. I offer those oars to people when I can — as a career coach focusing on people with chronic illness. And, I gotta’ tell you that at least once a day, I talk to someone who is drowning just trying to get to work, never mind getting the work done.
In rare moments — when I have nothing else to do (like when I’m meditating or falling asleep… and that can be the same)– I try to calculate my own “lost income” over 30 years of living with chronic illnesses. Unfortunately, this goes nowhere .. I haven’t a clue how to figure it out. But I’d guess it’s a lot of $$$.
In an Op Ed piece in The Boston Globe, Ranch Kimball, chief executive of Joslin Diabetes Center (Boston, MA) wrote: “…more than half of all Americans have at least one chronic illness…” “The Milken study pegs the total cost of these diseases on the national economy at $1.3 trillion annually for treatment and lost productivity.”
This article naturally focused on cost of health care dollars. Needless to say, I’m focusing on the real elephant in the room: a chronically ill person’s PRODUCTIVITY. Why don’t employers, large and small, realize that this is a problem, there are things they can do about it and they’ll save $$!
Many of my clients (professionals & executives with chronic illness) are climbing a career ladder and they aren’t nearly as productive as they could be if they were in a different environment. Too many call me when they’re already underemployed (or unemployed) and demoralized. Their high potential was wasted because they couldn’t keep up.
I figure if you’re reading this, you’re with me in that you care about the cost to the individual. I firmly accept that business is about other factors. But if only they’d take their heads out of the sand and they could look for creative approaches that make good business sense.
Rosalind
Sherril Johnson says
So how can we help them to pull their heads out?
Rosalind says
Not sure. Would love to know other’s ideas?????
Julie says
Heads out of what? lol…jk. But seriously, the only approach I have found effective in my situation, sadly, is to force things through my company’s ADA office. Even now, when I place any sort of question about doing something that they are not being forced to do, I get a very angry “That is an essential function of the job, you must do it or you will be fired”. Super environment, right? The problem is that because I am being forced back to work due to my financial situation, and am not yet at full time, I can’t look for work without risking the disability payments that are making up the difference of my salary. In addition, today my doctor told me that it is a blue-eyed miracle that I am working as much as I am, and that she isn’t sure that she would be willing to authorize anything more than another six hours per week (still below the full time that my employer is expecting me to work up to).
I believe that it is more than possible for a disabled and/or chronically ill person to be a very productive member of a team, but illness doesn’t seem to be accepted as good of an excuse as ‘my child is sick’ or ‘I need to take my car in’ when it comes to a need for flexibility.
When I think of this idea and quandary I think back to my political science minor in college. One of my professors said (paraphrasing of course, my memory isn’t that good!), “You cannot legislate social change. Just because a law is created doesn’t make people believe in that law. However, part of the job of laws is to ensure that people are treated fairly, EVEN FROM THOSE WHO DON’T FEEL THAT THE FAIR TREATMENT IS CORRECT OR JUSTIFIED.” (my emphasis, not hers)
I hate to think that forcing someone’s hand is ever the correct solution for justice and equitable treatment, but is that all that we are left to?
Julie
Rosalind says
Sad but true, isn’t it? I don’t know your situation but too often waving the ADA creats even more animosity – because people feel forced into something. It can be especially tough with invisible chronic illness because disability is invisible. I imagine you’ve tried to work with your supervisor on this before going to the ADA office (you actually have one?) – but once you’re back to full time, another job is the best bet… but be strategic in what you look for.
Sherril says
I’ve gotten some ideas about things we can do, things that are being done: http://www.copower.org/ and http://www.thenthdegree.com/default.asp and http://www.thenthdegree.com/feisty.asp. Found these links on the one and only ChronicBabe.