This last question was an impossibility, as tempting as it was to not disclose, because although I do have an invisible disability the pandemic had forced my disability to be fully disclosed. And yet here I found myself face to face with my own barrier, staring into an abyss of questions: It is my job to provide therapy to build one’s skills and break down barriers so that anyone with any disability can contribute to society. As an Occupational Therapist, I have worked with people with disabilities and believe that everyone can be productive. My job search journey began full of hope I trusted and believed in humanity and I put myself out there in full vulnerability for workplaces to see. Given that the entire world had shifted to working online I figured that working from home would be an easy request to make…. After consulting my immunologist and family doctors, we concluded that moving forward, working from home was the only way I was going to be able to protect my health, and my life. I worked with children for more than 20 years, but when Covid struck I realized that schools were probably not the best place for an immunocompromised asthmatic such as myself and I resigned from my position with the Edmonton school board. Navigating the workforce as an immunocompromised person was a feat of its own even during the “good times” given the repeated, recurrent infections I contracted. You’d have to be a wizard to perfectly navigate a life of illness, work and society with any semblance of “normalcy”.
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