July 29 - returning to work

I went back to work 4 months after the a stroke, which I know now was too soon. When I returned my employer asked what I needed for accommodations. At that time, I could only think of one thing. Even though I know now that the ADA provides provisions for things other than physical needs, I only think about the physical then. I asked for and was given an ergonomic assessment of my work area.

If you’ve never had one, I suggest doing so. You can use this information (https://ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/Documents/Computer%20Workstation%20Ergonomics%20Self%20Assessment%20Checklist.pdf) but it was nice to have a professional do one. It turned out to be fairly simple, they adjusted the height of my chair and moved my monitors closer to me and adjusted the slant a bit. I added a wrist rest for the mouse and keyboard. I already had a foot rest for proper alignment of my legs and feet.

As time when on I requested a few additional things which weren't approved by HR. Before I left for my surgery I had set up an office at a site which was closer to my house. When I was on TDI, the co-director moved my computer to another staff member. When I went there to work one day, I found that it was gone. She said she forgot to tell me. I requested a new one but it was denied.

I was working 10 hours a week and knew that I could work for more if I were able to work from home. I could vary my time working and I would not have to drive 20 minutes there and. back. Driving at that time was very challenging cognitively and energy wise. Even though the Executive Director has said this was ok, HR denied this request also.

If I could go back to work now, I would have more ideas. I will discuss these further after giving you some information about recovery.

Recovery from a stroke is different than recovering from an injury. I can only speak about my experiences, though.

I’ve been told that for stroke, recovery is a medical term only. and that the abilty to rebuild your life is a more accurate term To use. After a stroke you can quantify how much phys function you gain. Walking with assistance of a cane, for example. They could test the strength in my right hand as opposed to my unaffected left.

Only I can assess the level of numbness and pain I feel in my face and hand. doctors ask the patient to give a level of 0 -10 for the pain. And apparently I was the only one who could tell when I was ready for work and how much I could tolerate. My doctors wrote the orders for what I felt I was ready for. I don’t know how or why I determined that I could do back for a total of 10 hours per week, spreading them evenly in 3 days per week.

For my rotator cuff recovery it was very different. I knew at the beginning when I could start to move my arm, when and how long to do physical therapy and what the expected recovery time was- 4-6 months.

Erroneously, some doctors and other medical professionals may say that the recovery time for a stroke is 6 month to a year. After that, “they” say the patient will make no significant gains or improvement. I can attest that this is absolutely not true. The Brain is an amazing organ. Stroke destroys parts of the brain. But the Brain is an amazing organ. The Brain has the ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections after trauma. This is called Neuroplasticity. Early in my stroke and aphasia journey I learned about neuroplasticity and it gave me hope. I know that it takes lots of repetition in order to change the brain but it is so work it. Even after years the Brain can make new pathways so you can perform tasks that you couldn’t before.

With what I know now, I would have a different answer to what accommodations I would like to request should I be able to work or volunteer again.

some accommodations would include:

1. ergonomic assessment of work area

2. varied assignments; computer work interspersed with physical

3. ability to take breaks in shorter intervals

4. work from home or hybrid

5. enhanced text to speech and speech to text software (reading and writing)

6. speaker phone / options for video calling

7. noise reduced office or workspace

8. oversized monitors

9. the option for videotaping presentations verses doing them face to face

10. editing software

11. Written meeting agenda and detailed notes afterward

12. permission to videotape or record meetings

I‘m sure if I gave myself more time I could think of many others.

For now, I’ll just ask, if you were to be given some assistance at work, what would you ask for?

until next time…..