Support From Employers, Colleagues, and Worker’s Compensation Boards – Jason

 

Jason worries about the stigma associated with chronic illness.

Written testimony

It’s very difficult to talk about. And, it’s something where I’m – yeah, it’s been hard for me to talk about it and reframe work arrangements. I did back in December when I went through like a severe bout of like burnout I should say, I ended up taking some unused vacation time and just like used that for some time off, and like it really stood in for like basically short-term disability. I wasn’t able to do – I had all these things that I wanted to do during those few weeks off but I wasn’t able to do them and I felt very, very bad. I did ask, like before taking this time off, to switch my role responsibilities and that seemed to help in the short term, but with the demands that the company that I work for has, I’m more or less doing the kind of thing that I was doing like going into December, and despite the commitment from the company to be accommodating and allow me to focus on a less stressful activity.

I:   And so what made the conversations difficult with your employer?

Well, one, like not being able to talk – like really know how to frame and talk about the health issues that you have for fear of stigma, not being believed. For instance, if someone were to tell their boss that they had like fatigue and brain fog it’s just – it just seems to me to be outside of the norm and something that just would not be taken very seriously. If someone has anxiety and depression, like similar – whether or not your boss reacts well to it or like how seriously they would take it, those kinds of symptoms on their own, like they do impact the person’s perception of you in the future. Those symptoms seem – like they associate those things with your personality and who you are, rather than like an illness that you’re managing.

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