Surely this isn't quite right?

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SilentAssassin1642

SilentAssassin1642

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I go live on the floor at work tomorrow - meaning I'll be taking real phone calls.

And I've been asked that if I need to check my blood sugars or do my injections that I don't do it whilst sat at my desk because people might be "squeamish" - that's fair enough and I would always ask anyone if it was ok for me to do it in the open anyway. But surely they can't say this? I mean, they wouldn't stop an asthmatic taking their inhaler on the floor would they?

This is the second time I've been asked to hide away and do the necessaries and I'm a little bit annoyed tbh, I don't see why I should have to hide it away?
 
No that dont sound right to me either!! I would be raging if my work had a conversation to that effect with me!! 😱

What did you say to them?
 
It's so wrong and I'm fuming for you.

I understand that there may be some folk who are squeamish, but to be brutal that's their problem. If you're going hypo you may not be able to walk away from your desk in order to test (I know I get really dizzy). You should explain that, if circumstances allow, you'll go somewhere quiet but they must understand that won't always be an option and that there may come a day when getting up might endanger you and in that case you won't have a choice but to deal with it where you are.
 
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

why do these things have to be done in secret - its not like you're gonna make a big song and dance about it and scare the squeamish people and they can look away if they need to.

bah humbug on your behalf at them!

good luck
rachel
 
My response would have been short and to the point. And would probably have sounded like this, only I have removed the expletives: All regular medication will be taken in an appropriate and private place if you wish, But if I require Urgent/emergency medication, what others will be thinking/seeing is the last thing on my mind as my dead body could be a xxxxx trip hazard you xxxxxxxx.
 
Just tell it as it is. When I'm at work I am obliged to leave my BG stuff outside the labs, for the obvious reason of contamination, formaldehyde isn't forgiving and neither are the whole concoction of things that I work with. The place you work at has no right to ask this of, give them what for.

Tom
 
The DDA clearly states that schools and the workplace have to 'make necessary adjustment' to accomodate medical needs. Letting you sit at your desk to test is 'making a necessary adjustment'. Tell them that you have checked and if they still insist on this nonsense then you might be forced to ask the Union and HR what rules apply for people with medical needs. Get a letter off your DSN stating that you need to sit still when having a hypo or things can become critical very quickly and unless they want your life on their hands then its probably a good idea to let you test were and whenever you need to. Do not take no for an answer.🙂Bev
 
It occurs to me I have one more reason to be glad I got this job. The nature of the business we're in makes the denizens far more tolerant of, and clued up about, other folks health problems (we have one chronic asthmatic and several flavours of diabetic). No one has a problem with me testing if I need to, not that I've had to very often since most of my hypos seem to occur at night.
 
I'd check with whoever asked you not to test / inject at your desk what they actually think the procedures involve. I can't believe anyone from a neighbouring desk would see any blood or lancets when I test, nor needle when I inject, as sharps are so small, and so little blood is required. Seems reasonable to ask you to be discrete, but surely having to walk somewhere else would waste more time than doing in situ?
Good luck with the live calls.
 
I always do my BG's discreetly at my desk and no one has ever
complained.

As for doing injections, anyone would think you were standing on a platform saying to everyone look at me inject myself!

And if people are squeamish, then they shouldn't look!
 
Stupid people. Stupid stupid stupid.

Also, considering you're going into an RBS call centre, trust me when I say the management will soon put a stop to that - they despise people leaving their desks for any length of time.
 
Must be a case of disability discrimination, they have no right to ask you to do that, they should be making allowances fer people with disabilities not the other way round!!!! 'gets off soapbox' :D

GOOD LUCK GOING 'LIVE' 😉
 
shiv said:
Stupid people. Stupid stupid stupid.

Also, considering you're going into an RBS call centre, trust me when I say the management will soon put a stop to that - they despise people leaving their desks for any length of time.
Click to expand...

I think I might just have a word with the manager tomorrow and just ask what the situation is. I'm every so confused to be honest. And tbh, I really don't think any one will notice anyhow - seeing as how there's a ton of diabetics there as it is...I mean, what do they do? I dunno, I'll just ask tomorrow I think - obviously don't want to fly off the handle at something which may or may not be the case. I'm sure they'll be fine with it tbh, my team manager is absolutely lovely and the other training people are too. Well, everyone in that building is properly spot on - love them all so much :D:D
 
That is ridiculous. Im a teacher and when I went to my occupational health meeting the lady I saw told me that as diabetes comes under the disability discrimination act that my employers had no choice but to accomodate reasonable requests that went along with my diabetes. As far as im concerned what your asking is reasonable as it would involve you leaving your desk to do it. I would take the advice that someone else gave and tell them that if they insist that you will refer them to either the unions or your HR department. I am sick of being made to feel guilty about doing it in public as far as im concerned its other people who need to get over their ridiculous fears and pull themselves together. I know I sound harsh but people really do need to be more understanding
 
I used to work for a different bit of RBS and always tested (and injected, back in the pre-pump days) at my desk. Nobody every said a word - most didn't even notice, those that did were normally curious.

Line managers can be a bit daft though, and I know the call centre type areas are stricter than where I worked because they very much try for a "one size fits all" type approach - they're not always good at making adjustments.

Fingers crossed they see sense!
 
Argh!!! I am raging for you. I would ask the people sitting near you if they are ok with it, and if so just go for it.
 
Please read

Diabetes and the Disability Discrimination Act PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator
Friday, 10 October 2008 12:44

This is the executive summary of an excellent document prepared especially for diabetes-insight.org.uk by Lady J, one of the members of our forum, who is an employment lawyer by profession. The full document can be downloaded in .pdf format (see home page for a link to download Adobe reader should you require it).

* The Disability Discrimination Act is designed to stop discrimination against disabled people in the work place;
* In many cases, people with diabetes will be considered to be disabled for the purposes of the Act;
* Whether or not someone is disabled will depend on their own individual circumstances;
* The Act is designed to prevent four main types of discrimination:
o Direct discrimination (discrimination against someone because they have diabetes);
o Disability-related discrimination (discrimination against someone for a reason related to their diabetes - for example, because they spend too much time away from their desk testing blood glucose);
o Failure to make reasonable adjustments (all employers must consider making reasonable adjustments for their disabled employees); and
o Victimisation (taking action against someone because they have complained of being discriminated against or because they have complained about a failure to make reasonable adjustments).
* The Act protects people from discrimination in employment at the stage of recruitment, whilst in employment and after their employment has ended;
* Disability-related discrimination is one of the more common forms of discrimination , but it may be justified in certain circumstances where, for example, it is not possible for the employer to employ the employee safely;
* Failure to make reasonable adjustments is also common. A reasonable adjustment could be time off to attend a clinic appointments, or provision of a clean, private place to take blood glucose readings;
* An employer can be expected not to discriminate for a disability-related reason even where they are not aware of the disability. However, they cannot be expected to make reasonable adjustments where they are not reasonably aware of the disability in question - it is advised that you tell your employer that you have diabetes;
* If you feel you have been discriminated against, try to resolve this internally first by raising it informally or, if necessary, raising a grievance;
* It may be possible to bring an action in the employment tribunal for compensation or to force your employer to make reasonable adjustments.
 
Also I think they imagine you will be waving needles and bloody fingers everywhere. I bet they don't even notice. If I'm with people I don't know all that well I will be particularly discreet (more for the sake of not wanting to answer 534985784567 questions), but I doubt anyone will notice anything.

When I did Camp America in 2007, I used to test and inject in front of the kids and staff all the time, and none of them picked up on it until about a month after I'd been there.
 
I get a bit of a bee in my bonnet about DDA, diabetes and the workplace as you may have guessed from previous posts 🙄

I just get on with it to be honest and don't make too much of an issue of doing my injections and bloodtesting and the like (which isn't an issue for me at work). Got to add that everyone is often so busy anyway with their own importance they just don't notice. As said before, they never notice when i hypo!!!

It does sound like your management are getting their words in a mince and like my boss, should be more thoughtful before opening their trap!!! It is their ignorance though and as others have said why the DDA is supportive of such ignorances.

I wish you luck with your new employers and i don't see why you should try and break down the walls. It makes me cross grrrrrrrrr and i don't suppose you will take it quietly on the chin in anycase and why should you! 🙂

Bernie xx

Bernie xx
 
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