Workplace Accommodations for DID Systems
(Summary) Navigating work with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) can feel overwhelming—but you don’t have to do it alone. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects your right to privacy about your diagnosis and your right to reasonable job accommodations. From flexible schedules to quiet spaces for grounding, understanding how ADA protections apply to dissociative disorders can make employment more sustainable and supportive.
I’ve talked recently about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how your DID or OSDD is protected under this law. This law offers two important legal protections. The first is your right to choose whether or not you share knowledge of your disability with an employer or potential employer. The second important legal protection is your right to accommodations.
A job accommodation is “any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities.” Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations as long as this does not cause undue hardship for the employer. Assuming the changes that would help you to work around the limitations of your OSDD or DID are not unreasonably difficult for your employer, you are entitled to those changes. Ultimately, the employer gets to decide what those accommodations are, but if you decide you would benefit from having some, it is a good idea to have some suggestions ready. The ADA National Network website suggests asking yourself the following questions:
- How does my disability impact the main tasks of my job?
- What do I most need as far as support, equipment or changes in order to do these main tasks?
The ADA National Network offers examples of accommodations. For managing treatments and medications, potential accommodations could be:
- a flexible schedule to allow for appointments
- more frequent breaks for medication
- allow for the use of a water bottle during work hours
- a part-time schedule until the medication plan stabilizes.
So what might accommodations for OSDD or DID look like? Given the wide array of triggers and behaviors that tend to accompany OSDD and DID, I’m going to just pose a couple of possibilities with again reminding you that I’m not attorney so my suggestions could need some tweaking:
- A quiet place to recover from a flashback or panic attack, where you can do deep breathing, grounding exercises, visualization, or jumping jacks or whatever coping skills you utilize.
- Perhaps you change to a job that doesn’t require you to interact with customers face-to-face if men trigger panic attacks or flashbacks. You might do work stocking shelves or some other work that limits your interactions with others.
- Have written or pictorial instructions, checklists, or flowcharts to help you if uncontrolled switching is a problem and an alter who doesn’t know the job is stuck fronting for a bit.
There’s one very important thing to know about requesting accommodations at work: you will need to be prepared to share at least some information about your disability.
This is an excellent resource for identifying accommodations which might help you at work: https://askjan.org/a-to-z.cfm