Archive for the 'BOOK - Women Work and Autoimmune Disease' Category
A reporter was interviewing me about chronic illness and working. She was very surprised when I said, “The single most important factor that helps a chronically illl person continue to work is to work in a flexible environment.”
She asked me what “evidence” I have to support this. (Have you noticed how popular that word [...]
Living with chronic illness isn’t easy, under the best of circumstances.
And working can seem like it makes it tougher.
But the alternative is usually worse.
It was a dear friend’s 60th birthday party. And, once again, my body was in revolt. I was feverish, tired, nauseous – with numb feet and awful balance (multiple sclerosis [...]
Here’s a question I get frequently but you wouldn’t have heard 20 or even 10 years ago: Is self employment the best option for people living with chronic illness?
It seems that most employed people dream of working for themselves. It certainly sounds freeing and creative, doesn’t it? No one makes a more compelling case for [...]
Last week, I spoke at a conference called, “Impairment Without Disability” at the Mayo Clinic. It was targeted to help physicians and supervisors understand what they can do to help people with impairments stay at work (SAW) or return to work (RTW).
In the world of Occupational Medicine — (the field is actually called the Association [...]
Take a minute to ask someone, anyone: “Do you know what the Americans with Disabilities Act is?” Most likely you’ll hear Yes.
Now ask, “What does the ADA do?” Maybe you’ll hear that it protects people with disabilities from discrimination. Funny how many people, with and without disabilities, know about this Act but don’t really [...]
Are you living with a chronic illness and under 40?
If you’re saying, YES, regardless of how debilitating or not your symptoms are, now it the time to take stock of your future in the workplace. Don’t wait until your hand is forced and you have no choice.
I know because that’s what I did. At age [...]
Check out the very useful information in The New York Times, Patient Money column, Protecting Your Job When You Live with Chronic Illness by Lesley Alderman.
And, yes, there are several quotes from me.
On reading this, a client emailed to let me know that she’s worried that now that I’m famous, I wouldn’t have time for [...]
Chronic Illness demands that we stay flexible, like wire coils. If we don’t we can crash and burn, can’t we?
It was 2:00am when I woke with a headache & felt like I was burning with fever. I was convinced it was the H1N1 virus (aka swine flu). As I lay in bed, too tired to [...]
Fifteen years ago, I stopped working for two years when ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis, chronic illnesses, made working — and even leaving the house — difficult. With two children in elementary school, a husband with a demanding job and disabling disease, work became the added burden I couldn’t carry.
Tell me. Does this sound familiar? [...]
Recently I experienced, yet again, how hard it is to work and live with waxing/waning chronic illness.
And this just reinforces why I think that that working is the smartest thing I can do for myself.
When we traveled to California to visit friends, I knew it would tire me. The time change and long flight [...]
