In recognition of International Women’s Day, I wanted to share my perspective on managing a career while living with a chronic illness. I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Arthritis (IA) in 2021, and it took me a long time to fully understand and adapt to my condition. In short, IA is caused by an overactive immune system, affects the joints, making them swollen, painful, and stiff. Approximately one-third of the UK population lives with a musculoskeletal condition, with women being disproportionately affected and more likely to develop these health challenges.
Being diagnosed at 25 was a huge shock, even though my mum developed Rheumatoid Arthritis in her late twenties, you never believe these things will happen to you, until they do. The journey to a diagnosis was half the battle, what doctors initially thought was an injury had me out of work for a month and after seven months and countless specialists, I was officially welcomed into the arthritis club (no badges though, boo!).
What followed was a difficult period of trying to keep up with my life, including my work, while adjusting to a body that simply couldn’t keep pace. Work demands increased, but my ability to meet them decreased, and life quickly became overwhelming.
I left my job, tried new roles, but still struggled to find a balance between pursuing a career and managing my health. The process of explaining my condition to every potential employer, often receiving mixed responses which was both frustrating and disheartening. In interviews, I was asked how many extra days off I’d need, which felt awkward, and companies that claimed to be “flexible” often offered little real accommodation, just the standard 8-hour day with no other options. True flexibility felt rare and unattainable.
On top of job challenges, the application process itself is exhausting. Even with an up-to-date CV, there’s the need for cover letters, lengthy online forms (which often don’t work properly), tests, interviews, and more. For someone with a musculoskeletal condition, this cycle is not only mentally draining but physically painful. And after all that effort, getting an automated rejection email felt crushing. Meanwhile I was also trying to juggle weekly specialist appointments, managing medication (including self-injections every weekend), keeping a pain diary to track flare-ups, and trying to live a normal life. Being in pain everyday understandably made me grumpy and I was one more job application away from insanity.
It took me a while to stop pushing my body to feel like it’s old self and try and adapt. Realising a full time job was probably not going to work for me, I searched for part time roles in my field. Whilst the number of options were reduced, sadly so was the pay, luckily I managed to find myself a few roles to apply for.
Somehow my search led me to Atkinson Moss where I was given an opportunity to become a marketing manager. Both Angie and Graham were super understanding and asked what kind of schedule would work for me, letting me choose my hours to reduce the strain on my hands and even allowing me to start later in the day so I don’t get crippled by the morning work rush.
I have my own equipment that enforces better hand movements and I know if I ever need time to go to medical appointments, they’ll happily trust me to juggle my work around it.
Although there have been strides toward equality and disability rights, from my experience, there’s still a long way to go. Women’s healthcare doesn’t feel as modern as the age we live in. So often I find male doctors dismissing my pain and calling me emotional just telling me to not use my hands (how I was supposed to do that is still a mystery to me). There is very little support for those who want to pursue a career but are held back by a health condition. The harsh reality is that it’s often not our health conditions that hold us back, but rather the perception of others who fail to see us beyond our conditions. Disabilities are not a one-size-fits-all challenge, each individual has their own unique needs and strengths. It saddens me to witness the negative stereotypes surrounding disabled people in the workforce. When we’re working, we’re labeled as “slow,” “weak,” or “difficult,” but when we’re not, we’re unfairly assumed to be exploiting benefits that, in reality, are incredibly hard to obtain. These misconceptions need to change.
When we celebrate International Women’s day and push for accelerated action I hope we don’t forget about those who are facing health barriers.
For this year’s IWD campaign one of the accelerated action points is “helping women and girls make informed decisions about their health” and whilst being informed is one part of the process, let us not forget that helping women have options when it comes to health is also just as vital.