Reasonable Accommodations

Jennifer Esposito is just one of the ever-growing list of celebrities diagnosed with celiac and/or living a gluten-free lifestyle.  Diagnosed with celiac in 2009 after an apparently long struggle with the illness, she has become a vocal advocate for celiac awareness.  She has a blog and has started a foundation -- called the JW Foundation-- to fund research, advocacy and awareness.  And apparently she was recently effectively fired for having the disease.


My initial reaction to this was one of skepticism and disbelief.  I mean, really.  I've been a diagnosed celiac for 5 years now and never needed any kind of "accommodations" to do my job.  And honestly, how hard is it to be an actress in a tv drama?  What are you asking them to do? Make sure the whole set is gluten-free? I scoffed.

And then I thought. (Does this happen to other people? Do you scoff first and then think?  It's a terrible habit.  I'm trying to break it).  I thought, actually, I may have needed accommodations.  When I was first diagnosed, I almost immediately got pregnant and my body couldn't take it.  I was on bedrest for months.  And my job accommodated that.  I've had persistent migraines since I was 15.  My jobs have accommodated that.  I've taken days off when I've accidentally ingested gluten and been so sick I couldn't stand up.  My jobs have been fine with that.  So.  Was my scoffing then related to my not ever needing a reduced schedule?  Since I never needed one, she certainly couldn't?  Wow.  I'm kind of an insensitive bastard.

Jennifer's story of diagnosis is not unusual.  It takes an average of 6-10 years for someone with symptomatic celiac to be diagnosed.  Because of advocacy and awareness efforts, and because of the development of better screening methods, that time period is shrinking.  But still.  When someone has undiagnosed -- and untreated-- celiac, they are likely doing harm to their body.  Make no mistake, celiac is a serious disease that can involve every system in a body.  Cruel irony, this is one reason that the disease is so difficult to diagnose.  Typical symptoms can range from gastrointestinal upset, to migraines, to skin rash, to anemia.  It can take years AFTER starting treatment for the body to heal.  In some cases, the damage is irreparable.  The point is this: no two celiacs will have exactly the same experience.  I may be completely fine on a gluten-free diet, while you could still be struggling with weight loss and migraines.

Her recent conflict with CBS makes me wonder.  I wonder whether Jennifer would be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  I wonder if celiacs in general are or should be a protected.  I wonder what the broader implications of that might be.  Would it create a better situation?  Are other people getting laid off for having celiac?

Reports have suggested that Jennifer wants to go back to work.  All she's asking for are reasonable accommodations.  Seems to me that with a tv show, where her schedule is dictated by a script that can be changed every day, it would be a pretty easy thing to accommodate.