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An annoying disability issue for work at home (Getting a doctor's note)

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femmelf:
Hi there.

I fortunately have a job, and support myself while being disabled without taking benefits from anyone and only the physical help I absolutely need. I mostly just tough through it. It's difficult and painful for me to walk but I do it with a walker or sometimes a cane when I'm feeling better. I can sit just fine mostly as long as I don't mess up the nerves involved. Permanent nerve damage from injuries is fun. Basically the doctors can't seem to do anything about it. I refuse to take opioids because those things are addictive and had bad side effects for me. I was offered a neurectomy but that would leave me without feeling in a good portion of my leg(s). So, I would not be able to feel it if I got hurt there..... This would be bad if I got a cut or infection I could not feel and shaving your legs is hard enough as it is without worrying if you cut yourself without feeling it. So, no thanks.

My work is letting people keep working from home if they are within 30 miles, but I am a little further out than that. Like 40 or so miles away. My immediate supervisor thinks this is BS but there's nothing they can do. It's a stupid rule and the managers are not budging. She says if I can get a doctor's note that might work though, because then it would justify why they would let me do it and not everyone else. That's kind of crummy of them, but ... Basically I am being told I need a doctor's note for a reasonable accommodation. Weird how before this I was always just being the good girl and not making a fuss for anything but now they do this so they can justify not letting everyone work from home too. I don't want to be disabled and I want to work (what else am I going to do with myself?) but it would be just a million times easier if I didn't have to walk around and could just sit in my chair at home and work instead of trekking in all the time. It's just so stupidly weird that literally half my office is working from home but the one girl who uses a walker can't because she lives 10 miles too far away. Honestly I think everyone is sort of looking at this and silently calling BS in their heads but they dare not say anything.

My issue is that my doctors just don't seem to want to do anything anymore from my perspective or declare me just disabled or whatever with a note so people will shut up and let me work. It's been 7 years going on 8 years and I have been good about all this. I've tried fixes and they just don't work. Physical therapy, injections (they won't tell me what kind but a "nerve block" under fluroscopy (like an X-ray movie) does not seem to help and that swelled up), and everything basically just does not help overall.

I do not know what to say to get a doctor to just give me a stupid doctor's note to let my boss let me work from home like I did during COVID. I don't want to get government benefits or anything. I just want to be able to do my job without a bunch of pain. I just feel like instead of helping me, I go to doctors and end up paying hundreds of dollars of copays to be told there is something wrong with me some type of (chronic neuropathy and nerve damage in a bunch of nerves they name off) but they do not suggest other treatments anymore. I wonder why I go. It's expensive and I can't afford it for what feels like no result.

TL:DR: If I lived 10 miles closer to work, I could work at home like everyone else. I don't live 10 miles closer to work so I need a doctor's note to work at home like everyone else, who isn't disabled. How do I get my doctor to write me a note so I can show it to my boss and the managers will let me keep working from home? Don't want opioids. Don't want handouts. Just want to keep working ... from home like half my office does already.

eerr:
Find someone to forge it.

femmelf:

--- Quote from: eerr on September 06, 2023, 08:48:18 pm ---Find someone to forge it.

--- End quote ---

Yeah... I'm gonna have to say no on that one for obvious reasons. They'd check on it too to make sure it came from the doctor's office. Morally objectionable too. Sounds too much like fraud or something. Just, no thank you.

Maximum Spin:
Man, wow. I really respect that sense of pride.
Does the doctor's office or equivalent you use offer any kind of telehealth system? It sounds to me like a major problem you have is that, talking to doctors, they get distracted trying to push you into stuff you don't want because that's what they're used to people asking for. It might help to be able to describe exactly what you want in a message, in a really clear text format, so it's impossible to misunderstand.

Quarque:
Sounds awefully frustrating. Could you describe in more detail what you asked from your doctors and how they responded?

It is possible that they're unwilling to declare you "disabled", but they found out you have chronic neuropathy and nerve damage. If a doctor is willing to write a declaration that just states exactly what they found, it may be enough for management to let you work from home.

How is the job market? Would it be worth looking for a better employer?

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