Let me preface this by saying, I am extremely fortunate to be working a fully remote job where I am able to manage my environment and generally be as I am without too much trouble from that.

It’s, of course subject to changes and the whims of my ‘leaders’ but its pretty great for now, and has been for five years.

I have been to the office exactly twice. Once to pick up my equipment, and once for a two-day all staff social that took me a week to recover from.

My new boss wants to have quarterly in-office strategic cheerleading sessions. I cannot imagine many scenarios where I will feel my disability more, and do not want to go. Not just because of the discomfort, but because I understand the setback that will come from my team seeing me spaced out and weird. Because I know I will not be able to participate the way my new boss desires, and I need to figure out how to regain the standing that I am sure to lose from this ‘day of connecting with others’

  • sevan@lemmy.caEnglish
    8·
    10 days ago

    I would check to see what the process is for requesting workplace accommodations at your company and then see if you can get your doctor to provide the appropriate paperwork saying that you cannot participate in large group activities or that you need to be 100% remote.

  • lifeinlarkhall@lemmy.world
    4·
    10 days ago

    Yeahhh I can’t think of much worse than those kinds of team building days or whatever they are.

    Is it a big group?

    Does your new boss know of your disability? I’d be honest about your recovery time after social events and maybe (if it’s in your capacity) agree to one a year, not quarterly!

    I just don’t get those kinds of things, if it’s not vital information and people are performing their jobs without attending these things, they really shouldn’t be mandatory. If some people get something from it then by all means, run them, just don’t make them compulsory and penalize people who a) don’t get anything from it whether disabled or not and b) obviously where it actually has a negative affect, recovery time and so on due to disability.

    You’ve been in the job for 5 years so you’re obviously good at your job and I really hope your new boss can see that that’s what matters!

  • Arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineEnglish
    2·
    10 days ago

    That sounds super awful.

    I’m navigating something tangentially related: worrying about how my reduced ability to mask combined with an increasingly stressful (for everyone) work environment is reflecting on me. I want to ask for a few things for people to be understanding about, but I feel like I might have to disclose and I don’t want to do that.

    Have you disclosed at work/do you have formal accomodations?

    • TerdFerguson@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      10 days ago

      Oh my god, that is so stressful to be considering. I really get it… and I have disclosed at work, mainly at first due to a moral dilemma. I had a couple separate occasions where teammates were feeling a little salty and throwing the word ‘retarded’ around to express their dissatisfaction with this or that. I was able to deal with it pretty optimally, and it has stopped (at least when I’m around.) I couldn’t let that go by unchallenged and so that outted me.

      I don’t have any formal accommodations, I have requested some in the past and basically was answered with ‘figure it out yourself’.

      I am slowly moving toward the ‘IDGAF what others think of me’ attitude that I really want… its a process.