Depending
on the chronic illness, you may have to make the decision whether you are
telling people at work about your medical condition. Also, you may have
to cope with the perception that your co-workers are beginning to believe
that you are unable to do your job or you have become incompetent to do
your job.
There are no easy answers to these issues. It is important that you devote serious thought and attention to how much information you want to share with your co-workers regarding your health. The problem-solving exercise that is presented in another section can be very useful when you are considering the pros and cons of sharing your health status with co-workers and the amount of information you want to provide to co-workers.
For example, if you have visible physical symptoms, you will probably want to share some information with your co-workers because people will wonder what is wrong with you. It is probably better to provide them with information yourself rather than allowing people to come up with their own ideas because you are not saying anything. Also, if you have symptoms that vary in intensity, co-workers may be able to notice when you are having a "bad symptom day." Perhaps providing co-workers with information about what they can do when you are having a "bad symptom day" or just feeling comfortable telling co-workers "I'm just not having a great day today." Again, it is probably better to provide some information rather than giving people the opportunity to draw their own conclusions because you are not telling them anything. People will notice when you are having bad symptom days, whether you try to hide it or not.
Questions to ask yourself:
1.
Do I have visible symptoms that co-workers will notice (you will need to
explain these in some
way)?
2.
How do I think my co-workers will perceive my ability to work if I share
this information?
3.
How is my chronic medical illness affecting my ability to perform my duties
at work (if it is not
impairing performance, perhaps you want to consider NOT sharing this information)
4.
What would be the benefits of sharing my health status with co-workers?
5.
What would be the risks of sharing my health status with co-workers?
6.
How much detail do my co-workers need to know?
7.
How much of this is due to me feeling like I have to share this information,
because I don't want
to have to say to my co-workers that it is none of their business?