A woman who has a cardiac condition that can cause fainting shared how she got even with her former workplace after they denied her accommodations.
Ableism in the workplace is not uncommon, even though, in U.S. law, it’s meant to be illegal. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should prohibit employers from discriminating against people with disabilities. Yet, it still happens all too often. According to the ADA, a study found “that people with disabilities experience both physical and social segregation at work.”
Per the Disability Statistics Compendium Annual Report for 2021, only 40% of disabled people are employed. By contrast, 70% of non-disabled people are in employment.
The 30% unemployment gap is, at least in part, due to ableism. Another study, “which involved sending mock job applications, found that those who disclosed disability (either spinal cord injury or Autism) received 26% fewer expressions of employer interest than applicants that did not include a disability disclosure,” according to the ADA.
One TikToker went viral after experiencing this type of treatment first-hand.
As she lip-syncs to Megan Thee Stallion’s “B.A.S,” Elizabeth shares her story via on-screen captions.
“When my manager denied me a chair for my disability, so I let them schedule me for 80 hours then quit,” she wrote.
Can a workplace really deny a disabled worker a chair?
According to Law Firm Eisenberg & Baum, “When a request for disability accommodation is simple, like asking for a chair to sit in, a shift change, or a change in lighting, it is up to the employer to show why the accommodation was denied and that granting it would have been unreasonable.”
The Grand Hyatt was once sued after it denied a desk worker’s request for a chair. The worker had a back impairment. The Grand Hyatt ended up settling. It had to fork over $85,000 and provide the worker six weeks of paid leave. It also had to provide the worker with a chair, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In the comments section of Elizabeth’s post, she revealed that the workplace in question was retail.
While the majority of viewers were horrified over what Elizabeth referred to as “foul behavior,” others were a little more divided.
Several commenters told Elizabeth that she should sue and argued that her revenge wasn’t enough.
One asked, “So instead of suing them you…. slightly inconvenienced them?”
@elizabeth_fabel foul behavior
♬ original sound – anfisa.pt2
The TikToker responds in a follow-up
In a follow-up video, Elizabeth says she has Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS), a cardiac condition that can cause fainting. The Social Security Administration considers it a disability. She also says that she had additional illnesses and a doctor’s note verifying that she needed accommodations at work. She adds that some of the less supportive comments on her initial TikTok were “insane.” She directly addresses them in the one-minute video.
“I’m not sure if you ever heard the word disability before, but some of you clearly haven’t” she says. “Fun fact, most of your body is actually on the inside, so the dysfunction of that would be a disability, and you wouldn’t be able to fucking see it. There you go. Also, yes, I know I could have sued, but I don’t have the time nor the energy.”
She adds, “I already have a new job […] and to the person that was like, ‘You’re never gonna handle a real job if you can’t stand […] retail,’ I already have a job lined up for after I graduate, and they will happily give me a chair as well as other accommodations.”
@elizabeth_fabel Replying to @Ashton (Lana’s version) ♬ original sound – elizabeth fabel
Elizabeth never named the workplace in question.
Elizabeth didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via TikTok comment and email.
