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Chronic PainArrow
Age 41-60
Interview CP31  

Interview CP31

Age at Interview: 41
Sex: Female
Background: Civil servant; single.
Brief outline:Low back pain following injury at work, 1991. Current medication: celocoxib (Celebrex) Past medication: other anti-inflammatory.


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Explains that the Disability Discrimination Act now means that employers have to make reasonable adjustment for people with disabilities.

 



The only thing I want to say about work really is how much of a difference it makes to me and the way that I deal with my own disability. That I am so heavily involved in disability policy and helping other people. That's not everybody's chosen way of dealing with their problem, but it works very well for me.

And although it might appear to some people to be immensely altruistic I'm also conscious of the fact that you don't do these things for other people if you don't derive pleasure from it. I certainly, and the fact that I've done that, that I've done this work for five years, has made me extremely knowledgeable about disability employment issues. And that's got to help, you know, that helps anybody's ability to deal with their own problems. They know what they're entitled to and they don't feel that asking for that is being demanding.  

It's not, you know, the Disability Discrimination Act enjoins every employer to make reasonable adjustment for their disabled employees. And it's very important to realise that reasonable adjustment is not special treatment. Reasonable adjustment only brings you up to a level playing field with your colleagues and that a refusal to make reasonable adjustment equates to expecting people to work in a dark room with the lights off. 

Having said that, with chronic pain conditions, and some other disabilities, I think very much, particularly in the chronic pain conditions. No adjustment can be made that actually puts me on a level playing field with my colleagues because I'm still in pain and because of still being in pain I have very limited stamina so that I am never going to be able to treat work in the same way that my colleagues do.  

So as much reasonable adjustment as can be made, has been made, but I think that some people in senior management, well across the department, and across all employees think once you've made the reasonable adjustment that's it. And it is all they can do. There is nothing more that they can do but my life is never going to be the same as other people's.  
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