Holding down a stable job in the current state of the economy is never going to be a simple task. When you throw having a chronic illness into the mix, being able to stay in work can become even more difficult. It is a sad state of affairs, but there is still a lack of understanding around chronic conditions and discrimination against those that have them is still very prevalent in professional settings.
If you are worried that your illness could cause you to lose your job, then this guide should be of some use to you in the coming months. Below are some useful things you can do to help ensure you can keep working and supporting yourself well into the future.
Raise awareness
One of the biggest problems when it comes to discrimination of any kind is that those who discriminate are people who tend not to know anything about the people they are derogatory to. Raising awareness of the facts and figures around chronic illness can help to dispel the myths and misinformation that cause discrimination. Some of the useful things to communicate to the people you work with might include:
- A chronic illness has no one cause and can be brought on by a complex array of both physical and mental problems.
- Chronic illnesses have long latency periods- meaning that you might not feel the effects of the symptoms until many months after the onset of the illness.
- When diagnosed with a chronic condition, this can cause immense psychological stress.
- Chronic illness can be socially isolating if the person doesn’t have a proper support system at work and home.
Smash the drug tests
Many people with a chronic illness will use multiple medications to cope with the pain caused by their condition. Alongside these prescribed medications, many will also use cannabis, either to smoke or to use in oil form, for the healing effects of the THC and CBD present.
If you are required to do random drug tests at work, then this can become an issue, especially when your employers might not understand just how important cannabis is for your pain management. To get around this issue, visiting the Urinator website and purchasing some fake urine for your test, which will come out clean is a safe and preferable option.
Join a union
The final way you can help to ensure you don’t lose your job because of your illness, or indeed any unfair treatment by your employer is to join a union. If you are not already a member, doing some research into the reasons why you should join a union will help you to see why it is such a good idea.
Being part of a union means that you will have a network of support who will be able to give you legal guidance and representation should you have a dispute with your boss. Unions are also great at making sure employers don’t discriminate against you and keep workplaces safe for everyone employed there.
