Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

by Rebekah Taussig

In some ways, “special accommodations” insist that the current setup is just fine, thanks. They cling to the idea that only a few outliers can’t fit into the mold, ignoring the fact that even those who can make it work might be better off with a more flexible model. The very notion of “special accommodations” relies on the belief that really, there are only a few who don’t slip easily into the narrow mold of a nine-to-five schedule, five days a week (clock in! clock out!), getting “sick” only a specific number of times each year, recovering from giving birth and being ready to separate from a newborn baby in a predetermined set of days. So many of us agree to these rules, even as we know we don’t thrive there. We’re rewarded when we fit tidily into the parameters set before us, so we pretend, mask, and go along with it as best we can. Those who simply cannot fit are highlighted as outsiders who need something extra to make it work. Instead of looking at the larger, varied collection of humans on a team and creating a structure that accounts for their real experiences, needs, desires, and motivations, so often work systems prefer to dispense the smallest portions of flexibility to the ones who simply cannot fake it any longer (or put up the biggest fit and have a lawyer to back them up). I’m glad employers are required by law to dispense those small portions of flexibility. It’s an invaluable change. It’s also entirely limited by the larger environment—the larger cultural v...