Hello Everyone

I would like to say this is a great community and has a great deal of useful information here.

I'm here today because I suffer from peripheral neuropathy(sensory radial nerve damage) . This was a result from an accident/surgery.

I know that a person can request reasonable accommodation under ADA from their employer. I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge about whether or not neuropathy would be considered something that is covered by the ADA.

I work in a manufacturing and things can be pretty repetitive as you can imagine. I work with a lot of older people and I'm the youngest one there and most expect that since I'm young that I must do all of the work and when I complain I'm the bad person. I'm stuck doing the same task all day while other employee are allowed to rotate between job task. This can be a bit much especially when I'm having a bad day due to my neuropathy.

My question: Is peripheral neuropathy covered under the ADA for reasonable accommodation?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.
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>>Below is a bit more information about how this happened and etc. I didn't want to bored anyone with it so I placed it at the bottom for anyone who wanted to know.
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About 5- 6 years ago I fell and handed on an outstretched hand. The impact of the fall made a hematoma/ganglion cysts on my wrist. The doctors tried every before resulting to surgery. By the time surgery was done the hematoma was entangled in the nerve and in order to remove it the radial nerve had to be cut. This left me with neuropathy of the sensory radial nerve in my hand/wrist.

Two EMG/nerve conduction test was done with 3 years apart and there was no change. They said it was the best it would get. Some days are okay and some are just horrible. I have numbness, sensitive to touch (the lightest touch sometimes can cause extreme pain), pain (sharp, stabbing, burning) and can't feel temperature in part of my hand.

Welcome Steven, I hope you can find some information to help with your condition here.

The ADA is a law, so it is subject to interpretations by lawyers, courts, etc. - so it's pretty hard to say definitively what is covered. But I think it is pretty well established that PN would be considered a disability.

The more difficult question is what the employer is required to do in the way of "reasonable accommodations". I would certainly think that they should be willing to offer you the same level of accomodation that they offer to older employees who may have trouble with long term repetitive jobs. But there's no guarantee.

You can do some Google searches to find out more info. When I did so, I came across one court case where an employee with PN was terminated because he was taking Gabapentin - which can cause drowsiness and carries a warning about driving while taking the medication. Since his job required him to drive, and the employer's auto insurance company refused to cover him - the courts said they were justified in terminating him.

Kinda scary, because that could apply to me, and probably a lot of others on this forum. Seems like just about any medicine you take has some warning about drowsiness on it - yet for many people they are perfectly safe..........

Bottom line is that the ADA sounds good but has a lot of holes in it. Once you disclose a condition to your employer, they may be very willing to help you - or they may use the information to try to get rid of you. It's a tough call to make.

Ragtop262 thanks for your reply. It can be difficult for people to understand it because they can't "see it".

The rotation is all I ask for so I'm not doing the same job for basically the whole day. I get the "well you're young so you can do it". If I try to say I'm in pain; I often get "are you really in pain".

People don't understand how PN is difficult at times but to them if they can't see it then it doesn't exist.

How large is the company?
In many states the larger businesses are legally require to follow the law.
Does the employer have an Human Resources person?

Look for ADA on your state website.. for details. or the Federal gov website.
But you probably also have to have a drs note and certain forms to file to fit with the law requirements.
They won't just take your word for any limitations or issues.... paperwork has to be done ..

The majority of disabilities that people have are not easily visible. That is why the ADA was amended in 2008 to clarify and expand what constitutes a disability. Not just neuropathy, but things like cancer, IBS, menal illnesses, asthma, high blood pressure - the list goes on and on.

I work in an office, have a what I consider generous amount of time off plus a fairly understanding situation. I struggle daily despite this.

I went Hulk rage reading the doubt of your pain.

I applaud your effort and I wish I had some answers for you. I have a few ideas to look into if it were to progress to the point where you need to take time off that is not covered to protect your job. FMLA is something you may wish to look into.

I would consider identifying someone in management who you have a rapport with or who you believe to be reasonable that you could discuss your request and concerns with. If you think that disclosing your illness could cause you problems asking for the same treatment as everyone else is not an unreasonable request in its own right.

I have people I work with who know just about everything. Everyone else who has known me for the time I've been there who pays attention or cares knows things are amiss for any number of reasons. I'm not suggesting you should or anyone should also do the same thing, but for me these people are invaluable.

Getting back to Bruce Banner level rage over that doubt. I don't recall mustrusting others infirmity prior to it becoming so defining to me, but rest assured I tolerate it poorly in others, no matter whom it is directed toward.

Vader isn't the only one with nerve damage being menacing then.

/popculture references off

To infinity and beyond,

Jon
😉

Jo*Mar Thanks for your reply. The company is quite large having close to 2,000 workers.

Yes, we have an Human Resources person. I went to her and asked for an accommodation for my condition; she was very understandable. We both came to the conclusion of allowing me to move around to other task but nothing became of that.

I will shoot for a drs. note to see if that will help. I just find it quite unfair that I have to jump through hoops for a benefit that is already offered to the employees but I just can't receive it.
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Thanks Jon for your reply. Yes, I've asked for the same treatment (the rotation like the other workers) and I am often ignore. I even spoke with HR about my condition and asked for an accommodation (which was the rotation--which is something they already provide to other workers) and nothing.

--A little off topic but maybe it's because I am a minority why I am usually treated bad here. This company had a decent amount of complaints about it in the past wouldn't surprise me.

back on topic.....

They give employees a decent amount of time off; which is what I did last year. How does the FMLA work and isn't underpaid? I would rather work and suffer because I need the money to live on. I am hoping to find another job.

Can disclosing such condition be a bad thing? I don't want to make my situation worse because it seems like nothing have been done when I spoke of it to HR.
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Thanks everyone for the replies. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Seems like you've already disclosed your condition, so "the cat's out of the bag". You may want to ask an attorney's advice about how to proceed. You could just go in and demand the accommodation, but that could potentially backfire on you if they just claim that your disability prevents you fom performing the basic job function.

Best of luck - I hope you find a solution to this.