Because I am weak...

... And I cannot handle....

I was talking with a colleague today about my own procrastination in posting sick leave for work missed due to an asthma attack I had last week after being in a room at my office where the levels of rubber and latex particles were so high that even after doubling my allergy medication and leaving a HEPA air purifier in the room over night and then sitting practically on top of it, I was coughing and wheezing within minutes of stepping into the room.

My superviser and her supervisor are well aware of the issue. I was relocated for 3 months while the carpetting was replaced on our floor of the building. They required me to complete "Request for Reasonable Accomodations" paperwork and provide documentation from my treating physician that such special treatment was necessary. I was annoyed by the extra effort I was required to exert, but my doctor provided the perfect explanation. I could die if I was exposed to latex and rubber.

So, while I'm doing everything I can and the reasonable accomodations are not met ~ keep in mind, I'm not the one who made this into an ADA legal issue ~ why should I have to use MY time to recover when I become ill.

My colleague, not meaning to be insulting, said something about me being weak and unable to handle the conference room and that was why it should come from MY time.

But the more I think about this, the more infuriated I become.

There is nothing about me that is weak.

I put in another six hours of work following the asthma attack, consuming nothing but albuterol and Zen tea, in order to complete and polish a presentation that needed to be given the following day at an outside meeting. Granted, the following day, after all the albuterol and wheezing, I had no voice, I couldn't stand because my back muscles were so sore from gasping for air and things just wouldn't stay still either from dehydration, lack of oxygen or lack of food or some combination. It took me two days to recover. The fact that I have an IgE mitigated allergy that causes a very severe immune response ~ inability to breath, anaphalactic shock ~ does not make me weak. The fact that I live with it, through it, makes me strong.

And the fact that I put such attention to my work and do so much to try to lessen the effects of this immunological response despite the ignorant, insulting and, frankly, illegal acts of my employer, make me extraordinary.

Weak, my ass.