In this first‑person narrative, the speaker, who lives with narcolepsy, recounts how their employer’s “unlimited PTO” policy initially allowed them to attend frequent medical appointments but later became a point of contention when they requested vacation time. HR never informed them about their legal right to intermittent FMLA, and when the company demanded a strict 9‑to‑5, Monday‑to‑Friday presence with no exceptions, the speaker was terminated from their role. They secured an internal transfer to a different team in another city, continued to perform their job, and filed an EEOC claim that they ultimately did not pursue, fearing retaliation and believing the issue had resolved itself. Reflecting on the experience, the speaker criticizes the HR department’s lack of knowledge or willingness to apply disability‑accommodation laws, recognizing that their personal workaround may have left systemic problems unaddressed for other employees. The story concludes with the speaker’s current work helping companies improve accessibility and disability inclusion, turning personal hardship into a professional calling.
Chapters
You know, I, I have experienced some discrimination at work as well for my own disabilities, not even neurodivergence. I have a physical disability. It's narcolepsy. It wasn't always called that. I've been misdiagnosed, but I was working somewhere, one of those employers that has the wonderful perk of unlimited PTO. We know how that goes. There's unlimited. Well, so here's what I was running into. I was using my unlimited PTO to, you know, pop out for my doctor's appointments when I needed to. I was getting testing, I was seeing different specialists and bouncing all around. I felt like I had a doctor's appointment once a week. And so I was using unlimited PTO, no big deal, got my work done. Then I needed to actually go on a vacation, take a few days off and visit some family and went again to the boss and unlimited PTO and, but you've taken off so much time recently and I don't know about this one. So then I'm like, well then what's the point of unlimited PTO then? So I go to HR and we, we start start talking about, um, you know, what, what else can we do here if this isn't working? This is about the time I learned on my own about something called intermittent FMLA. HR never once mentioned this to me, that this was a benefit that was entitled to me by law, that if someone with a disability, I could take advantage of FMLA. Instead, they fired me. They said that they needed someone that could be in that role Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, every day, every week, no exceptions. And I said, well, wait, I can do that, but I I don't get to take PTO anymore? And they said, no exceptions. We need someone here 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, no exceptions. And I took that conversation for what it was, and I put in an internal transfer to another team. So when they released me from my position, I had another position to go to in that same company, different, even different city, different department entirely. And I learned through all of this about the EEOC and FMLA and ADA and all of those laws and things that I felt like maybe my HR team should have known about, or maybe should have better talked to me about, because our whole interactive process conversation was them asking me how far away from the worksite did I live and how far of a drive was it to get to my doctor's appointments and how, how much time would I need to take away was the extent of the interactive process. Nothing about my needs, just how far away did I need to travel from the worksite to go to my doctor's appointment and then come back. We've, we've have these experiences where people with neurodivergence, with disabilities, are not treated fairly. Again, I'm someone, I can complete my work. I was able to transfer to another team with no problem, complete my work for that team, and continue with the company. I filed an EEOC claim, but I never pursued it because I did stay with that same company in a different department, and I didn't want to rock the boat. Um, you know, I felt like that situation had handled itself. I switched to a new team. The new team was understanding. I had a great manager. She was wonderful. Um, and I thought the situation resolved itself for the better. But then getting more into the work that I'm doing now with people with disabilities and neurodivergence, I realized that solving that situation for myself by transferring teams, I maybe made the problem worse for other people. I had an HR department that didn't know the law or either chose to not act on the law, and that could be at a detriment to a bunch of other employees in the future. And, you know, I look back and I, I wish I gone through with that EEOC claim and really made them make some changes in their policies, in their HR departments. But it was a big company, and I thought, you know, my voice would be silenced. And so I, I went my own way. And this is the work I do now, is trying to come into companies that want to make a change and want their workplaces to be more accessible. So I found my calling in this work.
