Pieced together. Writing invisible (dis)abilities in academia

Care for the self, overcompensation and bodily crafting: The work–life balance of disabled people

“…Through the experiences of 66 disabled employees, we address a conspicuous lack of attention paid to disability within organizational WLB debates. Our findings confirm and further qualify the assertion that disabled people are more likely to experience WLB issues (Bourdeaud'hui & Vanderhaeghe, 2015) and contribute to debates on women's embodied struggles in the workplace (e.g., Gatrell, 2013;Meldgaard Kjaer & van Amsterdam, 2020). This study addresses the critique of the overreliance on gender as an important social identity in debates on WLB (Özbilgin et al, 2011) and the almost exclusive theorizing about the body by non-disabled feminists making it 'both incomplete and skewed toward healthy, non-disabled experience' (Erevelles, 2011;Wendell, 1996, p. 5).…”

“…Secondly, although disabled employees can in theory make use of both the WLB policies offered by their work organizations and assert their right to reasonable accommodations (Foster, 2007), our data illustrate a lack of engaging with such mechanisms, instead turning to self-initiated crafting techniques (Sturges, 2012) and relying on individual flexibilities to manage the difficulties of work and impairment (Foster, 2007;Meldgaard Kjaer & van Amsterdam, 2020;Williams & Mavin, 2015). In identifying the ways our participants prioritize self-initiated, unofficial techniques, we extend Sturges' (2012) WLB crafting framework by offering an embodied 'bodily crafting' perspective, which in our study took a number of forms: retaining all energy for work purposes, active body management throughout the workday and self-medicating.…”

“…For many participants, the isolation that comes with having to take care of one's body during breaks, or not joining co-workers on social events or team-building days was a difficulty. Self-care often meant missing out on the 'fun' moments in the workplace that bring release to a stressful workday or increase the quality of social relations (e.g., Meldgaard Kjaer & van Amsterdam, 2020). Betty's example illustrates the price paid for engaging in workplace fun at a staff day:…”

“…given a number of rich narrative accounts of temporarily or chronically ill or disabled women that exist and highlight the issues of combining work and non-work activities (see Gatrell, 2013;Meldgaard Kjaer & van Amsterdam, 2020;Vickers, 2014;Wendell, 1996). Indeed, it can be expected that for disabled women, who often bear the sole responsibility of domestic labour, parenting and caregiving, and who face discrimination stemming from both patriarchal and ableist structures in society (Schur, Kruse, & Blanck, 2013), the creation of a WLB is even more difficult.…”

Caring about the unequal effects of the pandemic: What feminist theory, art, and activism can teach us

“…We met on Zoom, where we exchanged ideas and got to know each other better, since not all of us had worked together before. We all work on critical, intersectional, and transnational feminist and care perspectives, as a meaningful response to addressing social inequalities and vulnerabilities (Fotaki & Harding, 2018; Kjær & Van Amsterdam, 2020). We also address issues of embodiment, diversity, ethics, and relationality in our work (Fotaki & Prasad, 2015; Mandalaki & Fotaki, 2020; Mandalaki et al., 2021; van Amsterdam et al., 2021).…”