If you’re having difficulty, please let us know, but don’t feel you need to hide your moods. Before working on accommodation, a workplace first needs to create an environment in which people who are bipolar are comfortable disclosing their mental illnesses. Bipolar Disorder: What Employers Need to Know about Work Accommodations by Dr. Di Ann Sanchez | Jan 20, 2014 | HR Compliance , Talent Management The Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended (ADAAA) comes into play since bipolar disorder is listed among the conditions that are presumed to be a disability under the law. Your email address will not be published. Employers can provide general non-discrimination training for employees so that they are aware of what does and doesn’t constitute legally protected differences. I consider our strange behaviors to be just like skin color. Gifts of the Storm: Creativity and Bipolar Disorder, Two Lesser-Known Forms of Bipolar Disorder: Cyclothymia and Bipolar Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified, How To Talk To Someone Who Has Bipolar Disorder. However, one of the most important changes to the workplace that would accommodate chronically ill employees of all types is to end the confusion between part time and temporary employment. Lastly, people with binge eating disorder regularly lose control, eating vast quantities of food in a short amount of time without feeling the need to purge or exercise excessively. At some point, I’d love to get a lawyer to do a guest post about the law specifically. As I investigate various accommodations available under education and disability law, I'm not sure two weeks is enough time for me to prepare. Here are some problems that might arise at work for employees who suffer from depression and anxiety disorders, along with some accommodations that might be effective: Attendance and tardiness problems. For some people this will be an afternoon here and there, and for others it might include weeks while they seek more intensive psychiatric treatment. This can be a bit of a slippery slope, if it leads to the situation in which we are working all of the time, but the ability to move some work around to nonstandard hours can be helpful in some situations. Further, they need to be willing to ignore signs of mental illness that do not themselves impact performance (I will discuss cases where performance is impacted in future installments). Accommodating Employees with Bipolar Disorder. I would love to be able to work consistently and now have the Earth swallow me whole when the depression hits. Disability laws can be very complicated, vary from state to state and even change over time, and if we don’t know our rights, people can often take advantage of us. Source; PubMed; Authors: Carol … Unfortunately, accommodation for mental illness is still in its infancy, if one can even call it that. Unless we are having a severe hypomanic episode or a manic episode, we will usually be perfectly intelligible while doing this. However, this undermines the principles of accommodating mental illnesses. During the last week of school prior to winter break, I met with the "team" to discuss my 10-year-old son, Bob (now in 4th grade), his diagnoses (bipolar disorder and ADHD, possible high-functioning Asperger's), and his eligibility for services under an IEP or 504 Plan (blogged about here). For employers, it provides ideas on steps that can be taken in order to proactively comply with the law and the requirements of social justice. Because the symptoms wax and wane on their own, and children’s bodies change as they grow, managing medication to ensure continued stability is a complex and ongoing challenge. They “mark” us as bipolar (the Greek meaning of “stigma”), but don’t do anything more. In a workplace environment this is not only a fear of social rejection but fear of harming their careers and even of losing their jobs. This first discussion, then, will deal with the problem of stigma and how it affects bipolar people at work. It is analogous to the kind of discrimination that people might face for being of a certain race or a certain religion in the workplace. I feel that there should be something written clearly that states what the employer is expected to accommodate with if the employee would like to avail of these supports or accommodations then that is something that should be up to the employee. Again, the independent insurance came to my rescue. Applicants need to know whether or not they will be welcomed in the workplace, as they are making an important decision about their futures, too. Employers committed to accommodation need to consider how to ease the process of disclosure. The other thing is you will need a note from your doctor confirming you have a mental illness. It is surprisingly difficult in some workplaces to use the telephone in a private manner, but without the ability to do so, we cannot both take care of our therapeutic needs and maintain our privacy. We can move the heaviest parts of the work to points in time when we are most effective and get the most done. It’s not uncommon for students who learn and think differently to also struggle with anxiety.They might worry a lot or be withdrawn at school. (Hint: if you’re a lawyer and you’re reading this, please e-mail me! Because my restrictions are medically necessary I can remain on disability for up to 4 years. All Rights Reserved. Recognize that bipolar people have strange behaviors that do not affect functioning when subclinical, and be accepting of those behaviors. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Bipolar disorder affects mood, but it can also have an impact on stress levels and thinking ability. Bipolar disorder, as well as being a mental illness, is also a disability. Perhaps the most important accommodation for most bipolar people is flexibility in work schedules. We want to welcome you as a part of our diverse work environment.” (I will discuss ways of monitoring employee moods in future installments, but one thing not to do is to ask bipolar people if they are okay every time they are at all symptomatic). The more proactive the provision of this information is, the better. “Would you discriminate against me if you knew that I have bipolar disorder?”, kind of lets the cat out of the bag. The independent insurance company worked with my amazing medical team and decided the alternate schedule was not only a reasonable request, but a necessary request. Depending on the severity of the condition and needs, there are different ways to handle this complete inability to work. Required fields are marked *. Be aware that not all people with bipolar disorder will need accommodations to perform their jobs and many others may only need a few accommodations. We might like to pace, sit awkwardly, or, when depressed, read with our head in our hands. They wish that they could find part-time work that was permanent, so that they could work flexibly without work always piling up. Because bipolar disorder is often a periodic disability, flexibility in schedules is one of the most important accommodations that we can have. This saved my job. So many bipolar people I have spoken to have made the same comment. Also, the degree of limitation will vary among individuals. Employers are also required to reasonably accommodate that individual, including conducting an interactive dialogue to determine what accommodations … By following these steps, it is easier to create a work environment in which bipolar people feel comfortable. This can be done in a number of ways, such as by putting together a memo that is sent out annually, by putting up a sign on a prominent bulletin board, by sending out a letter or by simply announcing it at a staff meeting. Anxiety disorders are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and may make you eligible for accommodations to help compensate for … Because bipolar is effectively a periodic disability in most cases, there will be times when we can work at full effectiveness (and sometimes more-than-full effectiveness, thanks to hypomania) and there may be other times when our work will be impaired or it is impossible to work entirely. Bipolar disorder causes severe mood swings that can make learning, working, or other aspects of daily life difficult to perform. The C… That's pretty standard. You’re welcome, and thank you for the comment. You just need to know that bipolar doesn't equal accommodation. When we are a little hypomanic, we tend to talk fast. The accommodations you need will depend on your job and how your condition affects you. Stigma constitutes social disapproval of mentally ill people simply for the fact of being mentally ill. Maybe I’m asking too much. In these cases, the goal is to find ways to make up lost work when possible. One thing to note here is that part-time doesn’t mean contract or temporary work. If another employee complains that a bipolar worker is acting strangely, but the bipolar person has not disclosed to that employee, then employers should not disclose on the bipolar person’s behalf. My oldest son, Bob, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD. It is so important to know the leave laws for your state, and the way your company handles disability claims. Bipolar employees may need increased sick leaves. Because the company is so large they have outside sources handle their disability requests. I would love to be able to take care of myself, financially, emotionally and work at this job and not worry that every time a depression flares up that I will lose my livelihood and job that I really enjoy. These aren’t ways that people normally behave, but they aren’t functionally relevant either. Individuals with bipolar disorder experience significant shifts in their energy, mood, and the ability to think clearly. You…. This means that employers have an obligation to not discriminate nor harass someone with bipolar disorder. One problem that a lot of full-time bipolar people face is that it is difficult to get therapeutic and psychiatric appointments outside of work hours. To qualify for protection under the ADA, your situation must meet the following conditions. The following is only a … In other words, bipolar people are sometimes quite functional, while at other times, their functionality is impaired. It is protected in the United States under the Americans With Disabilities Act, while in Canada it is protected under provincial Human Rights Acts. After all, discrimination from an immediate supervisor can be just as bad as discrimination from an employer, and most of us don’t want to get into HR battles because only our employer but not our supervisor are committed to accommodating us. Only recently has there been research focusing specifically on children and adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder (Frazier et al., 2001; Fristad, Goldberg-Arnold, & Gavazzi, 2003; Kowatch et al., 2000). People with bipolar disorder may develop some of the limitations discussed below, but seldom develop all of them. In fact, the constant anxiety of trying to hide my bipolar ticks was a large part of my decision to go public three months ago. For employees, it provides ideas on the kind of accommodations to request in the face of well-meaning employers who might not otherwise know what it is that we need. This provides employees with job security and peace of mind, and provides employers with a stable work force. I think something people without mental illnesses don’t quite appreciate is just how much work it takes to hide these ticks. A lot of the time, we conflate these two. Several things need to change in order to improve this situation. Bipolar disorder (once called manic depression) is a medical condition which affects the brain, causing extreme mood changes – someone with this disorder may be very ‘high’ and over-excited or very ‘low’ and depressed, often with periods of normal moods in between. For example, if you have bipolar disorder, you might not realize that your habit of sending lengthy emails rather than answering your supervisor’s questions directly and succinctly is causing confusion. As with most situations with illness, it is often best to make sure that the workload is somehow shifted around during the time that the person is ill, rather than have the person have exactly the same amount of work when they get back as they would have had if they had never been ill at all. This would need to be done by mutual consent between the employer and employee, as to simply insist that a bipolar employee move to part time with less pay would be discriminatory. Bipolar disorder, as well as being a mental illness, is also a disability. Therefore, one very important accommodation is allowing for time for bipolar employees to see their physicians and their therapists. After all, if my employer doesn’t tell me that they are open to mental illnesses in the workplace, I have no way of knowing that they are. The ADAAA expanded the definition of disability; now bipolar and other mental disorders are specifically listed in the statute and accompanying regulations as disabilities. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. I have been in a stressful, demanding workplace for the past seven years. For many people with bipolar disorder, a quiet and relaxed workspace can help them to maintain regular schedules which can improve overall functioning. I had been diagnosed with clinical depression at 19 and recently diagnosed as Bipolar II. What’s the schedule like? Without that information I would have been fired, lost my insurance, and would have had to take on a multinational company alone. As a result, one option is for bipolar employees to reduce their workload and move to part-time, half-time or eight-tenths time work, depending on the severity of their illness and the type of positions (these are only examples; there is no reason why any fraction could not be used). Others may have a few per year, in which case, more leaves may need to be added to what is standardly available. Many bipolar employees may appreciate the ability to move to part-time work that suits the severity of their condition. A good example of this is the speed and enthusiasm with which we talk. Documentation should state the specific psychiatric disorders as diagnosed. This is why stigma is overtly discriminatory; further accommodations will go beyond simply fighting stigma. If a job can be more easily broken into smaller projects that can be distributed according to our efficiency, then that can really improve our effectiveness. There are a few easy steps to take when doing this: Be as proactive as possible in letting all employees know that the workplace is welcoming of mental illnesses and that accommodations are available.Provide this information at all levels, including supervisors and during the hiring process. A page buried somewhere on the HR website that was obviously written by lawyers makes it look like our employers are just trying not to get in trouble, not that they want to integrate us into the work environment. It is written both for employers and for employees. Maybe Canada is working on something and I just don’t know about it but there are so many days where I wish to be at work but honestly just feel like I can not be there. If scheduling can be done in such a way as to work around the less functional periods, people with bipolar disorder can have their functionality effectively maximized if not completely restored. If this becomes unwieldy, though, it might be better to move to part-time work, which I will discuss below. There are others, too. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the odd employer out there who genuinely does want to accommodate employees, which is why I wrote this article. It would also be a good idea to have everyone who supervises other workers do the same with those under them. Workplace accommodations and job success for persons with bipolar disorder . I need to make a quick note here about confidentiality. Another part of accommodating therapeutic needs is allowing bipolar employees to use the telephone to set up or change appointment times. An Australian study recently showed that four in ten bipolar workers do not disclose. Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map | Warnings and Disclaimer | Privacy Policy. modified school arrival, shortened day, scheduling of core content during the student s most alert time, reducing homework and extending deadlines, providing notes, allowing longer or more frequent breaks, allowing exercise or other movement due to sleep impairment or to sedation of medications. For jobs where there are tasks that must be done at a fixed time, one possible way to handle the situation is to create the ability to trade off tasks with other people on the team or at the workplace. This is part two of a series. Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act requires schools to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate all students, including those with a learning impairment. Having a way or place for bipolar employees to both make and take private phone calls is very important and usually very easy to accommodate. However, none of these things actually affect our functioning at all. What is needed then is for employers to proactively make it clear that people who have mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder, feel safe revealing their mental disorders. When you have bipolar disorder, ask for accommodation. Second, many bipolar workers do not even know what accommodations to request. However, this provides quite an opportunity for accommodation. In today’s discussion, I will deal with something that is not exactly an accommodation at all, but a prerequisite for accommodation. Workplace accommodations and job success for persons with bipolar disorder Workplace accommodations and job success for persons with bipolar disorder Tremblay, Carol Horton 2011-01-01 00:00:00 Objective: This research seeks to identify job characteristics and workplace policies conducive to the job success of individuals with bipolar disorder, and to examine the interactions between … It shows that too many bipolar workers are not comfortable revealing their condition. As the culture changes, what appears reasonable will change. 1. Part three, which is on emotional support, can be found here. Mentioning it verbally at a staff meeting is best (don’t do it individually, because that starts to look like you suspect something). For many of us, it is even impossible, especially in jurisdictions in which care is state sponsored, and therefore we have little control over the schedule. They also don’t appreciate just how much anxiety arises from the worry that they may not have been successful in hiding these ticks. I know from my own experience that I haven’t known what will happen when I disclose, and so for the most part I haven’t. How to make this work will depend heavily on the position. Thank you for this. In other words, they are obliged to take up to moderately difficult, active steps in order to ensure that people with bipolar disorder are able to perform their jobs. I have discussed the subject of stigma before. After all, accommodation is impossible unless employees feel comfortable disclosing. I have no way of asking, either. Many would be quite willing and even happy to take a proportional pay cut if it would allow them to hold down a job that they could handle effectively given the condition. Stay tuned next week for the next installment! It is protected in the United States under the Americans With Disabilities Act, while in Canada it is protected under provincial Human Rights Acts. The goal here shouldn’t be just to meet some legal requirement; the goal should also be to have us believe you. Part one, which discusses disclosure and stigma can be found here. I work for a large multinational company that had provided me with an alternate work schedule for 2 years. After all, it is impossible to get more proactive than that. They’re just “ticks”, so to speak. In practice, most employers have very little idea of what to do, would consider most accommodations unreasonable, and have very little incentive to do so in the first place. The diagnosis should be made by someone with appropriate professional credentials, be specific, and reference the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-5 or whichever edition was current at the time of diagnosis). After all, if people don’t disclose or don’t feel comfortable just being bipolar in the workplace, then there is no foundation on which to build bipolar accommodations or any foundation will be especially weak. If bipolar people need more extensive time off, it can be handled under existing leave of absence provisions, though the number of leaves of absence may ultimately need to be increased, depending on the severity of the condition. They may hesitate to participate in the classroom, make frequent trips to the bathroom or the nurse’s office, or even refuse to … Part three, which is on emotional support, can be found here. 1. Bipolar employees may need access to a telephone that can be used privately. During this time I have had three different Managers. Almost by definition, though, employers don’t know which employees have undisclosed mental illnesses. It is in many ways easiest when we work on projects that are done over a period of time. There are general workplace accommodations that need to be put in place in order to ensure that people with bipolar disorder feel comfortable disclosing so as to get the accommodations they might need. Employers are not only obliged to ignore bipolar disorder when considering hiring decisions, but they are obliged to provide what are called “reasonable accommodations” for people with bipolar disorder. January 2011; Work 40(4):479-87; DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2011-1259. Perhaps the most important accommodation for most bipolar people is flexibility in work schedules. Treatment of bipolar disorder in childhood has followed a downward extension, utilizing protocols similar to those designed for adults with bipolar disorder (Ryan, 2003). There are general workplace accommodations that need to be put in place in order to ensure that people with bipolar disorder feel comfortable disclosing so as to get the accommodations they might need. I would love to have a work atmosphere that was supportive of me and make accommodations like the ones you’ve mentioned. How Bipolar Disorder Affects Cognition and Learning Bipolar disorder is a chronic, lifetime condition that can be managed, but not cured, with medication and lifestyle changes. Bipolar people may not disclose during the job interview process (and they are in no way required to do so), but it will make them much more likely to disclose once hired if they were told at some point in the selection process. I think many employers believe that they are only required to protect disabled workers who actively disclose their disabilities. People can work on salary and not work from nine to five daily. As our employment environment becomes increasingly inequitable, employers have less and less incentive to accommodate us. That’s really great to hear that it worked out. There are two laws that are designed to protect bipolar students in the classroom. I decided, about year 3 to make it known that I have been suffering with depression. There are a number of possible accommodations that might be appropriate, depending on the situation: Part one, which discusses disclosure and stigma can be found here. Like skin color get a lawyer to do a guest post about the law specifically and Related not. Causes severe mood swings that can make learning, working, or other aspects of life... 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