My multiple sclerosis (MS) was diagnosed 40 years ago in August. I never kept my MS a secret, but I didn’t go around advertising it, either. I’ll bet, for the first 20 years or so, very few people at work knew I lived with the disease.
When my MS stuck, I was working as the news director of a large radio station in a major U.S. city. I managed about 50 people and, because I didn’t know what turns the disease might take, I thought I should be upfront with everyone. I told them I didn’t expect MS to impact me right away and it shouldn’t indirectly affect anyone who worked for me. I think I said something like, “It’s not a big thing.”
Four months later, I was fired. I’ll probably never know if it was because of the quality of my work or my MS.
Fortunately, a friend in the news business (who knew I had MS) hired me to work in his newsroom. I’m lucky. That company saw me as an asset, not as a liability or a medical time bomb. I worked there full time for a little over 32 years, until I retired.
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Many people with MS are not as lucky as me. National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) was in Ocrober. But, despite 75 years of observing NDEAM, and despite 30 years of Americans living and working under the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act, many of us — far too many — still have problems being hired or staying employed.
Oh, the government is talkin’ the talk. For NDEAM the U.S. Labor Department rolled out a bunch of social media tools, a suggested news release and several other public relations items on its website. It has even created a slideshow with 31 ideas for celebrating NDEA Month each day of the month. Day No. 1 was “put up an NDEAM poster.” Day No. 16 was “solicit an NDEAM proclamation.” (The White House issued one, FWIW). But is this really walkin’ the walk?
I regularly see complaints and concerns on social media groups from people whose employers won’t give them simple accommodations (sometimes it’s as simple as a parking spot near the entrance) or who are fired shortly after they disclose their disability or who can’t find a job because of their disability. The government proclamations and public relations just aren’t doing enough. Talkin’ the talk but NOT walkin’ the walk.
A place to go for workplace disability help
An organization that seems to do a very good job of helping people in the workplace is the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) at West Virginia University. It’s one-stop shopping for a ton of useful information about workplace accommodations and disability employment issues. The JAN website has a large library of accommodation articles and publications plus a robust search engine. Best of all, JAN offers one-on-one guidance to both workers and employers via phone or internet. And all of this is free!
JAN is where I’d turn if I were to have a disability issue at work again. In fact, I wouldn’t wait until an issue arose. I’d check it out now and I’d suggest you to it, to. Be ready with facts in hand should you ever need them.
By the way, I have a whole chapter about revealing your MS in my book, We’re Not Drunk, We Have MS.
(Featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay).
(A version of this post first appeared on the Multiple Sclerosis News Today website).
