Having a hard time at work because of your depression symptoms? ADA – American Disabilities Act may help you.
I received a phone call from a dear friend recently. During the course of our conversation she revealed to me that she had been diagnosed with bipolar depression five years ago. The conversation went something like this:
Rozanne: “I’m so surprised. I really had no idea.”
Friend: “No one knows. I think I’ve only told about five people so far.”
Rozanne: “Only five people know that you’ve got bipolar depression?”
Friend: “Yes. It even took me a long time to tell my therapist.”
Rozanne: “Why?”
Friend: “I was too ashamed. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was crazy. When my therapist finally found out about it, she got after me. She told me that I had a physical disorder and that it didn’t have anything to do with my testimony or my intellect or with anything that I’d ever done. She told me that I had a disability.”
Rozanne: “That’s right. Serious depression is considered a disability.”
Friend: “I didn’t know that. In fact, I almost lost my job because of my depression. My psychiatrist had been working with me, trying to get my medications balanced. Over the last six months the medications have made it increasingly difficult to think, affecting my cognitive thought processes. It took twice as much effort to do half as much work. Finally, my boss counseled me and told me that if things didn’t change I’d lose my job.”
Rozanne: “Oh, no! What did you do?”
Friend: “I called the ADA (American Disabilities Act) Hotline. They told me about the Family Leave Act, which allows me to take up to twelve weeks off of my job. I found out that when I return to work, I’m guaranteed the same position at the same wage. I’m using it to get medications right and to figure out what I want to do next. I also realized that I had some short-term disability insurance, which provides me some income during this time. When I told my boss about it, he was shocked. He said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me this a year ago? We could have helped you!’ I told him that I was too afraid that he’d think he had an unstable person on his staff. I didn’t think he would understand, but I was wrong.”
Unfortunately, my friend’s experience is not unusual. Most people today that suffer from serious forms of depression are too ashamed to let people around them know what they are facing. The old myths about depression are out there, alive and well…
If you are dealing a serious form of depression, it would be well worth your time to find out if you can get time off to heal via the provisions found in the ADA – American Disabilities Act.
