Employer not following accommodations

[Sideways]

Most of this is so that I do not have a panic attack in front of children.

Do you have Panic Disorder?

That’s relevant to me, because with Panic Disorder, you can’t desensitise - panic attacks are triggered pretty randomly.

PTSD, on the other, you could be desensitising yourself to your triggers. Panic isn’t random - it’s either a trigger (desensitising/exposure therapy) or your stress cup is too full (stress management).

And both of those things are things you can control - which is great news! Because, you could be working towards not needing any of these accommodations.

It sounds a lot like, in 7 years, you haven’t made any progress with your panic attacks. If that’s the case? Get a new therapist, like, PRONTO! Because these things should be well and truly manageable if you target them with a competent trauma therapist.

 

[alwaysworkingthruit]

Trust my therapist. Very few panic attacks. But had one with HR!!!! So so terrible

 

[Charbella]

Trust my therapist. Very few panic attacks. But had one with HR!!!! So so terrible

If you have very few panic attacks why the need for the accommodations to avoid them?

Personally I’m one of few teachers who has to plug their ears to make it through a fire alarm but I’d rather do that than tell my school about my issue. Sound overwhelms me, but I train my students to do what they’re supposed to do so I don’t have to listen out for them. My principal sees me doing it (I’ve told her I’m just very sensitive to sound, factually accurate) but then she sees my well trained class following behind me, some who feel safe enough to also plug their ears because I’ve normalized it. I don’t love assemblies there’s just so much stimulation but it’s not like we have them all the time.

I get asking for accommodation but @Sideways is right, what are you doing for your own mental health? The world is sadly not very accommodating, and 7 years of avoiding probably hasn’t made you employee number one. Most teachers would rather avoid assemblies and moving their classrooms and drills, it may seem to your employer that you’re just avoiding. Especially as most of us who function well don’t exactly look/act like someone the general public associates with having PTSD.

 

[Sideways]

Trust my therapist. Very few panic attacks. But had one with HR!!!! So so terrible

They’re absolutely crippling. No doubt about it. I had panic attacks for ages when I got really sick. I’ve wet myself in public more than once. I ended up agoraphobic, struggling to get to the letterbox and back for a period.

This is a forum full of people who get how crippling ptsd can be.

On the other hand? It’s a forum full of inspiration about how huge recovery strides can be.

It’s awesome that you trust your T.

But are they actually doing their job? Which is, helping you recover. The goal being full remission of all your symptoms.

Unless I had ptsd from a house fire or something? I couldn’t imagine asking for workplace accommodations to avoid fire drills for 7 years! You deserve to not have that sort of shit be a problem for you.

Tbh, if ptsd is the primary diagnosis, and panic attacks are consequent to that and impacting your job, that’s something a good therapist should have done and dusted in short-medium term. Panic attacks could be in your rear view mirror by now.

Which is not to say that your T isn’t amazingly helpful at other aspects of supporting you. But the panic attacks? Get some help to get past those, because they do not need to be a permanent feature for you.

 

[whiteraven]

Unless I had ptsd from a house fire or something? I couldn’t imagine asking for workplace accommodations to avoid fire drills for 7 years! You deserve to not have that sort of shit be a problem for you.

I can relate to this one. Not a house fire, but one of the largest fires in the history of the US, where nearly 200 people died. I used to have panic attacks over so many things associated with it--sirens, black garbage bags (for body bags), smoke and fire alarms, and so many other things. Now? I have a bit of anxiety with smoke alarms and sirens, but I can absolutely manage it on my own.

 

[Friday]

In the craziest part… I let my principal know that I would not be attending graduation. He responded with the fact that it wasn’t acceptable, but didn’t question any of the other teachers who emailed or did not.

It’s a specific kind of targeting. Get in touch with ADA legal support.

 

[Friday]

Unless I had ptsd from a house fire or something? I couldn’t imagine asking for workplace accommodations to avoid fire drills for 7 years! You deserve to not have that sort of shit be a problem for you.

1. ABSOLUTELY agree on the not having this shit be a problem.

However?

2. The fire alarms in schools/etc in the US are deliberately set to the decibels that babies scream at, not just hungry/distressed, but dying in pain; FIND ME SAVE ME. It activates EVERYONE’S anxiety response. And, whilst prolonged exposure causes deafness / they’re used in interrogation for the crippling effect in prolonged exposure. Far beyond the screaming infant on a plane. For people with disorders & conditions it often drops them &/or makes them black out. So first responders have to carry them out. I STRONGLY prefer the EU’s REMAIN CALM sooooooothing Bing Bing Bing FIRE ALERT. Or even the RAAAAAAACHITY SCREEEECH of regular klaxon alarms, that are just loud, instead of programmed to induce fear/pain/desperation/panic seek & destroy. The fear response they programmed into school & public building alarms in the US 20 or 30 years ago makes me want to throttle someone. I know a helluva lotta fire stations who flat out refuse to enter a building until the klaxon has been shut off. Just because the fire fighters & paramedics can’t handle it. Since schools only need to be rewired once every 50 years, or so, there’s another 20-30 until it will be in the budget to get the “remain calm” alarms of the early aughts, instead of the “pay attention” alarms of the 90’s. (One of those, students particularly, but sometimes teachers/whole classes just ignored the 1950’s loud alarms to finish up what they were doing, before exiting).

So it’s a reasonable accommodation, in the US, to get notice of fire DRILLS, so that a person with any kind of anxiety, sensory, or reactive disorder can exit the building before the drill commences. As not even first responders enter such a building until the alarm is silenced. And the drills are always planned in advance. CC’ing a select list? Takes no extra time on anyone’s part. As long as the list is correctly updated.

 

[alwaysworkingthruit]

1. ABSOLUTELY agree on the not having this shit be a problem.

However?

2. The fire alarms in schools/etc in the US are deliberately set to the decibels that babies scream at, not just hungry/distressed, but dying in pain; FIND ME SAVE ME. It activates EVERYONE’S anxiety response. And, whilst prolonged exposure causes deafness / they’re used in interrogation for the crippling effect in prolonged exposure. Far beyond the screaming infant on a plane. For people with disorders & conditions it often drops them &/or makes them black out. So first responders have to carry them out. I STRONGLY prefer the EU’s REMAIN CALM sooooooothing Bing Bing Bing FIRE ALERT. Or even the RAAAAAAACHITY SCREEEECH of regular klaxon alarms, that are just loud, instead of programmed to induce fear/pain/desperation/panic seek & destroy. The fear response they programmed into school & public building alarms in the US 20 or 30 years ago makes me want to throttle someone. I know a helluva lotta fire stations who flat out refuse to enter a building until the klaxon has been shut off. Just because the fire fighters & paramedics can’t handle it. Since schools only need to be rewired once every 50 years, or so, there’s another 20-30 until it will be in the budget to get the “remain calm” alarms of the early aughts, instead of the “pay attention” alarms of the 90’s. (One of those, students particularly, but sometimes teachers/whole classes just ignored the 1950’s loud alarms to finish up what they were doing, before exiting).

Yes! Absolutely THIS!! I agree that my panic attack should be done and dusted by now, but like I said, I have never had one in the last seven years at school. I think like a lot of us can recognize, we never know when it’s gonna happen and it just so happened to occur now.

I appreciate the perspectives of so many of you come especially since I’ve been on this journey with so many of you for so many years. I recognize your screen names and we have discussed so much together. Am I the only one who feels like I’m never going to get past this?!

 

[Rose White]

fire alarms in schools/etc in the US are deliberately set to the decibels that babies scream at, not just hungry/distressed, but dying in pain

I recently talked to a fire fighter who said that firehouses use gentle wake up fire alarms for them when they are sleeping because it doesn’t help anyone for them to be jolted awake and the adrenaline and cortisol dumping. He said they changed it because firefighters were having heart attacks from it.

 

[Sideways]

@Friday - wasn’t aware that fire drills at US public schools were a health hazard. That’s kind of messed up!

Nevertheless - I reckon you know as well as I do that a treatment program which embraces avoidance of stressors as management strategy is making the situation worse. At 7 years, panic attacks could be well and truly beaten by now.

Ptsd isn’t a Get Out Of Jail Free card for all the shitty employment things that stress us out and shit us off. A doctor signing off on that, and sealing the deal on higher levels of anxiety around these things, isn’t doing their job. They’re making it worse.

 

[Rose White]

At 7 years, panic attacks could be well and truly beaten by now.

I know someone who has had panic attacks for 20 years or so. They said their mom, who was their primary abuser, had them too. Most of their PTSD symptoms are in remission but they figure that panic attacks will be there their whole life and they just deal with them when they happen. But it’s pretty serious in that their typical response is to never return to wherever it happened. They are on disability for an unrelated reason so they can mostly do that. They make it sound like panic attacks are a disorder that’s here to stay. I had no idea that a person can beat them. My OCD seems here to stay (albeit reduced intensity) so I figured it was similar. Very interesting to find out that panic attacks are not considered a fixed symptom, but it does make sense because this person got all their PTSD symptoms under control from meditation and mindfulness, not therapy.

 

[whiteraven]

The fire alarms in schools/etc in the US are deliberately set to the decibels that babies scream at, not just hungry/distressed, but dying in pain; FIND ME SAVE ME. It activates EVERYONE’S anxiety response.

I am not sure anyone in our school would have ever left if the alarms weren't crazy-making. And sometimes, as you said, students and teachers refused to leave. I reported a biology teacher (this was after the fire) who demanded we put all of our lab stuff away before exiting during an alarm. We didn't know if it was a drill or not, even if she may have. I don't regret reporting her, but boy, did she make life hard for me for a while!