#ableism in the work place

Today, while sitting in a shaded outdoor common space on my college campus, comparing sets of blood test results from the last year to see if there was anything I wanted to bring up with my doctor, I overheard a snippet of conversation between two middle aged women. What stood out to me was the woman who said, clearly in praise, “I know she’s suffered extremely, but she comes to work and she does her job!”

This is a kind of violence.

Now, maybe you’re reading this thinking What?? Sounds like the lady is a badass, good for her! Or maybe you’re thinking Why are you complaining? I would be appreciative that my coworker was doing her job despite hardship! Everybody has problems, I have problems, but I don’t bring them to work with me!

So before I break this down, let me tell you a little bit about two of my coworkers with disabilities: for context, there are other people at my place of employment with disabilities but I am most familiar with “A” and “B”’s specific circumstances, so they’re who I’m going to talk about here. Both coworkers I am discussing here are white, straight, cis women. I am not going to give any specifics that might make them identifiable, but I will say that “A” is in a skinny young adult with an autoimmune disorder; and “B” is middle aged, plus-sized, and has multiple disabilities. “B” is required to be provided with a chair so that she can sit periodically and has restrictions on how much weight she can lift; “A” has not requested or received any accommodations, although she does miss work periodically when she has bad flair ups. My manager has told me multiple times that she hates seeing “B” sit down because she thinks it “looks bad,” and both she and other managers have frequently harassed “B,” telling her that they need to see her doing more, threatening to stop allowing her use the chair (despite the fact they are required by company policy, and I believe law, to provide this accommodation), and writing her up for sitting down, claiming she is using her chair “too much.” All this is despite the fact that she was moved, against her wishes and to her disadvantage, by said managers from a position that allowed her to accomplish tasks while sitting (and to use a mobility aid while performing tasks while standing), to a position which makes it so that sitting in accordance with her doctor’s directions makes it more difficult for her to accomplish her assigned tasks; she also has less ability to use a mobility aid. “B” frequently expresses concern that she will be fired, and frequently goes longer than she is supposed to without sitting or lifts significantly more than she is supposed to (impacting her health), because she is afraid of being written up, or having a customer complain she was not helpful enough. My other coworker, “A” frequently works while visibly suffering from flair-ups and explains at length to myself and other managers that she is trying to get her health stabilized so that she does not inconvenience anybody, and because she wants to be a good employee. My manager praises “A,” except when “A” does have to miss a period of work because of her condition, and then, despite the fact that “A” always brings in documentation showing she was not only having a flair up, but was receiving treatment, my manager writes “A” up because her absences are “too much at this point,” and “beyond what we can reasonably excuse.” This is only the smallest possible example of the harm done by praising someone for “coming to work and doing her job.”

This mentality focuses on a valuing of human life based off of how productive and convenient a person is, and it’s something I see prevalent in classroom and employment settings (both as the affirmation, as well as the inverse “I know X is going through a lot, but they’re attitude is terrible, they’re just not doing a good job!”). Essentially, the value assigned to a person as an employee (or as a student) is based on how much they are able to do despite disability (or other barriers), and is framed through a lens of personal convenience (ie “I’m not ableist, I just don’t want to get stuck doing all the work because they can’t”). At its core, I believe the idea that this mentality stems from ableism, neoliberalism, and capitalism.

Disabled people, especially disabled women, are under constant surveillance; there’s a great article by Sharon Dale Stone called “The Myth of Bodily Perfection,” where she discusses the idea of bodily perfection and points out that morality is generally tied to ability, and that people (especially women) are likely to conceal disability if they can. This is because of capitalist ideas of productivity, as well as neoliberalism; anyone who is not appropriately productive, who can’t come to work and do their job, must just be lazy, must not be trying hard enough. “Model” disabled figures, such as the woman I overheard be discussed on campus, are used to prove this; if she can do her job, why can’t someone else? What is overlooked is not only that people have different needs and abilities and not everyone can come in every single day and meet/exceed expectations (or that the additional burden of trying to do this may not be desirable, and shouldn’t be enforced), but it overlooks the actual lived experiences of this “ideal” figure: what is it costing her to fill this role? Why is she put in a position where she has to? Furthermore, why are you blaming those who cannot do it? While it may be inconvenient for you to “pick up the slack,” rather than blaming your disabled coworker, maybe ask why your employer is setting you both up to fail–why is your coworker being asked to work beyond their ability, and why are you? Why is the workplace not setup to accommodate for disability?

This also ties into another of Stone’s points: that we imagine individuals are “totally able or totally disabled, with no in-between,” and that disability cannot be concealed (418); essentially, in the hegemonic imagination if someone is disabled they should not only experience the same amount of disability at all times, but should be completely (and visibly) disabled. The employed disabled figure is something of a paradox: while neoliberal Model Minority figures exist, those with visible disabilities must either be able to achieve this status, or be viewed as unemployable; this comes out in sentiments along the lines of “Well, if they were able to do x,y,z task last week, they can do it today!” and “All I’m saying is if they can’t do the job, they shouldn’t work here!” With invisible disabilities, it largely comes out as a complete refusal to believe the person in question is disabled; this doesn’t always mean a specific belief that the person is lying, but rather a refusal to engage with, on a meaningful level, the idea that a person who “looks” healthy and normal has real limitations that impact their ability to do things, and is not just “being lazy” when they can’t do something.

So what’s the solution to this? Ultimately, what I want is good allyship. Think critically before you speak. Ask yourself why is it so important to you that your coworkers, who are “suffering extremely” are also meeting your standards of productivity. Look for ways to make your workplace or classroom more accessible. And above all else, try to find ways to build solidarity; instead of praising the woman who is working despite suffering, ask what you and others can do to alleviate the suffering.