Workers with chronic health conditions
Working with a chronic health condition can be difficult and stressful. However, there are resources that can help guide you through making decisions that are right for you, and that can give you a wide range of support strategies and ideas to think about.
About eight million Canadians live with limitations to their daily activities due to health or other conditions. These limitations – or disabilities – may be permanent and experienced every day, or they may be “episodic.” Episodic conditions are long-term health conditions, often invisible, where symptoms can re-occur, fluctuate, or worsen over time.
People living with disabilities are less likely to be employed than people without disabilities. They often have to give up work temporarily or permanently and can struggle to return to work.
It is important to remember that health conditions do not necessarily lead to a disability. A disability is when the social and physical environment creates barriers for persons with health conditions. In the workplace, that means that support and changes or modifications to some job tasks can remove the barriers that create a disability.
Our tools – DCIDE and JDAPT – have been designed to support the employment of people with disabilities by addressing two important workplace challenges they often have at work:
- Should I say something about my health or support needs at work?
- What kinds of support can help someone having difficulties at work meet their different job demands?
DCIDE: Decision-Support for Communicating about Invisible Disabilities that are Episodic
The Decision-Support for Communicating about Invisible Disabilities that are Episodic (DCIDE) tool aims to help workers consider whether or not to share some personal health information with others at work. It was developed by research experts, people living with episodic conditions, and community groups.
Deciding whether to talk about a health condition or supports and accommodations at work is a complex decision for people living with chronic health conditions. For most people, it means thinking not only about their health and any difficulties they may be having at work, but also about their goals, their personal preferences - and what their workplace is like when it comes to supporting workers with personal needs. People may also experience stress related to making this decision – regardless of whether that decision is to say nothing or to share some information about their health.
There isn't one right answer, and only the person living with a chronic health condition can make the choice that is best for them.
The DCIDE tool has been designed to help you consider some of the key issues for you in making this decision by asking you to respond to questions in five different areas that are often important when deciding whether to share some personal health information with others at work. DCIDE summarizes your responses to the questions and provides you with tailored advice to help you think about whether or not to disclose.
DCIDE is different from other communication tools:
- The questions were developed for and with people living with a wide range of health conditions who work in different types of jobs.
- Questions are organized into five key topics that are important to workplace disclosure decisions. You are provided a summary of your responses to each topic. The summaries are then collected into an overall summary of your personal situation and concerns.
- The DCIDE tool links to other materials and resources that provide concrete strategies and suggestions for support that you can try on your own without sharing any health information, as well as supports that others can help provide.
JDAPT: Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool
The Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) is an award-winning, easy-to-use, online tool that helps workers and those who support them think systematically about the demands of a specific job and consider a wide range of practical support and accommodation ideas that could help better manage those job demands. It was developed and tested by research experts, people living with disabilities, community groups and workplace organizations.
The JDAPT helps the user to identify the parts of a job that may be difficult due to a health condition or conditions. Once these have been identified, the JDAPT will suggest a variety of strategies, supports and workplace accommodations tailored to the user's needs. As such, the JDAPT can help workers with health conditions and those who support them understand if supports or change may be needed at work and, if so, what kind of support or changes would help those with episodic health conditions work comfortably, safely and productively.
The JDAPT is different from other tools:
- It focuses on work demands rather than health symptoms or a diagnosis
- It guides you through a series of simple questions that ask about the physical, mental or “thinking” tasks of your job, job tasks related to working with others, and your working conditions.
- It provides a list of concrete support ideas relevant to your job’s demands and your needs, including things that you can do on your own as well as changes or accommodations you might have to discuss with someone at your workplace
- It focuses on work solutions, not your health or disability diagnosis or symptoms.
Free and anonymous
All ACED tools are available free of charge and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. That means this tool can be used and shared as long as IWH is credited as the source, the information is not modified, and the information is used for non-commercial purposes. Read more here.
All information entered into the ACED tools is anonymous. We do not collect IP addresses or ask for identifying information such as names or emails. The responses to DCIDE or the JDAPT are stored anonymously for 72 hours to allow for users to save a draft and return within that time. The responses are not accessed or saved and are automatically deleted after 72 hours. See here for more information on the ACED Tools and your privacy.
