Nurses with disabilities

Jolie, BSN · Jun 1, 2005

I'm sorry for the challenges you face on a daily basis. As a former nurse manager, I can tell you that any worthwhile manager or administrator would be bending over backward to find a way to help you succeed. You are a known quantity. Your work is most likely very well-done, and to try to find a replacement for you would be a c**pshoot at best. But most managers and administrators are very short-sighted, and fail to see past the immediate moment.

As much as I hate to suggest legal intervention, because it gets everyone's dander up, it may be your only option. If your condition is considered to be a disability under the ADA, your employer may have to make accomodations for you. Perhaps a consultation with a local labor attorney would be in order. Best of luck to you!

Lucy4 · Jun 1, 2005

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. There is a website (government site) with information regarding ADA and job accomodations. I don't know the web address off hand but you should be able to find it very easily with a search engine. Have you thought about working in a more "clean" area at your present place of emplayment. I was thinking of a clinic or ambulatory care area. Infusion care is another area you could look into. The hours would more than likely be better and perhaps less physically taxing. I worked agency for a little while at a Kaiser infusion center and found it to be a nice change from staff nurse. Also is a relatively clean area. Just some ideas. Good luck.

grannynurse FNP · Jun 1, 2005

I am a nurse/NP with over ten years of experience who was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder a few years ago. Although my disorder isn't immediately visible, it has impacted my life dramatically. Some days are better than others, and my health is no longer predictable.
Since that time my ability to handle my workload has stayed the same but I have been out sick more often. I have requested accomodations regarding my schedule and have been refused. I work in very conventional huge medical center that does not think proactively.
I am looking at different work options. Can anyone suggest any good resources specifically for nurses with disabilities...given the shortage of nurses these days, I'm sure that there must be some debate and thinking concerning nurses who are good at their work but must cope with a disability.

I am also a disabled nurse. The fact that your facility is unwilling to accomodate your disability may be a violation of bot5h your state and federal law. I suggest you look into that, inside of just giving up and going somewhere else.

Grannynurse

sharona97, BSN, RN · Aug 22, 2007

Hi Granny,

New to this site too! Really loved your response about proactivity and GOOD working nurses. I am on SSDI and look towards every day that I can go back to work and not get fired because of a non-diagnosed pertussis for 4 months that has caused me severe resp complications. Hope to keep in touch!!

Sharona97

PNP2004 · Aug 22, 2007

After reading your post I just want to say "good luck" and "hang in there". I have been in your shoes and wish I had better advice to give you. The replies you have recieved so far however seem to cover all I am thinking which is "fight and/or move on". In my own experience I did fight back. I read up on and learned everything I could about ADA law and my rights. I contacted my employee advocate at the hospital where I worked. When I was fired anyway I appealed the decision with the hospital and filed a grievance against my boss. I kept records of everything.... meetings, calls, conversations, etc. Eventually my termination was overturned and I returned to work but not in my former role. I was put in a back room in a "new position" in a "new department" that was made up of me, myself and I. After 6 months that position was done away and so was I, only this time they could say it had nothing to do with my disability. I would have started the fight all over again if it weren't for a friend sitting me down and asking the obvious, "Why are you fighting so hard to prove yourself to and work for people who are so underserving of your time and talent?"

If I could change one thing about what happened - I wish I would have fought back sooner. I trusted that these people would follow the rules and the laws. I had not come to terms with my new diagnosis at that time and I honestly felt "less than worthy" and "a burden" and so I felt obligated to put up with whatever extra work, higher level of scrutiny, unreasonable restrictions and demeaning treatment they could come up with. I was naive and by the time I realized that my boss was not interested in seeing whether or not I could do my job - she simply wanted me out of my job - it was too late.

Definitely fight and protect your rights but also remember in the end that if you can't change them - you might not want to keep working there among them. It took months to un-do the damage to my health after my experince ended. it took 2 years to repair the damage to my self esteem and confidence. I am happier now working among people who respect what I can do and don't give a damn about whether I have narcolepsy or not.

I hope you find a solution at your current job and if not then I wish you the strength to walk away and find a new one.

Good Luck

woody62, RN · Aug 23, 2007

Hi Granny,
New to this site too! Really loved your response about proactivity and GOOD working nurses. I am on SSDI and look towards every day that I can go back to work and not get fired because of a non-diagnosed pertussis for 4 months that has caused me severe resp complications. Hope to keep in touch!!
Sharona97

I've been disabled for 19 years. Try going back to grad school twice. First time I had to drop out to take care of my parents. The second time I got a bunch of clots. Now I just put one foot in front of the other. I'm afraid to take a refresher course because SSA could consider me capable of being able to work. Go figure.

Woody

sharona97, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2007

i "heard" you can work up to 900 hours a year and continue with SSDI???? Any thoughts?

Sharona97

woody62, RN · Aug 24, 2007

i "heard" you can work up to 900 hours a year and continue with SSDI???? Any thoughts?
Sharona97

I checked with a retired Social Security Administrator. Because the refresher course is a semester long, requiring 40 hours a week of both theory and clinical, he told me that if I successfully completed it, the SSA could consider me capapble of working full time, without me even having earned a penny. I was in a graduate nursing program with clinical hours. Because I could arrange my own clinical time and take breaks when necessary, the SSA didn't view it the same. He advised me to volunter. I am licensed in NYS. I was licensed, here in Florida, until 2000, when I allowed my license to laspe. If you know my first name, you can visit Florida's website and behold my license is listed as REVOKED. I inquired and they told me that is how they list all licenses that laspe. To reactivate me Florida license, I must submit a completed new application, I must submit my NYS state board scores (which they all ready have from 1980) and $242 plus my finger prints. I haven't made up my mind yet, if I want to go thru all of that all over again. And I have to have the six CEU hours within six months.

Florida is so worried about someone attempting to be licensed. But they rarely catch the frauds who wokr as doctors. Or the people who claim to be nurses, who are not. Go figure.

The 900 hours. I got something in the mail about a partnership in returning me to gainful employment. At 62, with my health problems-insulin dependent diabetic, hypertensive, seizure disorder, s/p L4-5, C4-5,5-6,6-7 lam, asthma bipolar disorder, long leg brace, impaired left hand and use of it, I kind of have taken myself out of the working market. Unless the cost of my living goes up too much.

Woody:balloons:

sharona97, BSN, RN · Aug 24, 2007

Thanks Woody for the info. I was licensed in FLA for ahwile too. They are strict with the mandatory CEU's: Domestic Violence and HIV, right? Western Schools offers cheap quick CEU's that are very good. WesternSchools.com might be helpful to you. I guess it's what in your heart and soul. And beleive me, I know that changes day to day if not hour to hour. I had a hard time with some things I saw in FLA; yiu are right their is alot of fraud. You sound like you want to nurse but the red tape has u down. Don't blame u for that. Keep thinking and I'm going to check on MN rules for the work hours. One SS worker told me he is in a wheel chair and can still work.

woody62, RN · Aug 24, 2007

Thanks Woody for the info. I was licensed in FLA for ahwile too. They are strict with the mandatory CEU's: Domestic Violence and HIV, right? Western Schools offers cheap quick CEU's that are very good. WesternSchools.com might be helpful to you. I guess it's what in your heart and soul. And beleive me, I know that changes day to day if not hour to hour. I had a hard time with some things I saw in FLA; yiu are right their is alot of fraud. You sound like you want to nurse but the red tape has u down. Don't blame u for that. Keep thinking and I'm going to check on MN rules for the work hours. One SS worker told me he is in a wheel chair and can still work.

I believe a lot of us could return to useful work but our peers seem to stack the cards against them. Too many of our peers, I believe, kid themselves into believing that we are making much to do about nothing. On one hand they encourage us to seek out work and on the other, they put roadblocks up, unwilling to make the necessary adjustments.

Woody:balloons:

sharona97, BSN, RN · Aug 25, 2007

Hi Woody,

Whoah,sensitive subject eh? Was I not doing my job as I gave CPR to a less than 2 month old infant dying in my arms, who apparently had a viral strain of pertussis? And was the Doctor in my opinion, thinking out of the box to test me for pertussis for 4 months as I worked until I collapsed AT WORK?

All I can say to health professionals and any others is: You never know when you can get sick and until it happens to you please don't judge me. If "they think I'm crying wolf, I say let them cry.

Thanks for the input! Don't give up. There are still so many great professionals out there, they just have to find you.

Being sick then with complications is one thing and dealing with it is a whole other ballgame.