Thursday, June 14, 2012

Accommodation Activism

I once met a chemically-sensitive woman online who believed she had the right to work at the career of her choice and she had the right to accommodation where ever she went.

OK. I can understand that. In a perfect world, that's how it would work.

She was an office worker with years of experience and education in her field. Unfortunately, every office she went in had employees who wore perfumes and other scented products, copy machines, felt pens, janitorial products, etc. Did this stop her? Nope. She'd apply for the next job, get it, start having health issues, and immediately demand accommodation. If it was slow in coming (and it's always a slow process), she'd contact the EEOC and file complaints. Subsequently, she'd have to quit, go back on disability, lay low until disability ran out, and then she'd start the cycle again.


I have to applaud her fortitude and her desire to affect change, one office at a time, but I don't know where she got the energy to constantly want to fight someone. I don't know why she'd want to put herself in a situation that would compromise her health, over and over and over again. I don't know where she found so many jobs that didn't do a background check or required references from all her previous jobs.  Certainly she'd eventually run out of offices to harass. Well, last I heard she moved to another city.


I'm not sure if she was in denial, stubborn, ignorant, or just an extrovert. I suggested many times to find another career or find a way to work from home, but she claimed she had a right to work in an office like everyone else.  Hey, I've worked in an office. What's the attraction???

OK. Whatever. Have fun. It wouldn't be my kind of fun. One bad accommodation experience was enough to last me a whole lifetime.


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