When Hannah Olson graduated from Boston
University last year, she was ready to take on the world. Never mind that she
was battling chronic Lyme disease, with an IV antibiotic pump hooked up to her
arm through a catheter and 28 pills to swallow every day. Her go-getter spirit
was as alive as anyone’s, and she soon landed a job at a top Washington, DC,
design firm.
It was a dream role for Olson and she dove
into the workforce with all her might—only to find out how difficult it was to
manage a chronic illness with a full-time job. “[My IV and pills] were not
compatible with having to go in and out of meetings all day and keep up with
the demands of a 9-to-5,” she says. Tragically, she quit. The future looked
bleak and her outlook dimmed.
“This was a really hard time for me because I
thought, ‘Is there a place in the workforce for people like me?’ I really
thought there wasn’t a place for chronically ill people,” says Olson. “I also
knew that just because I had these physical limitations, that didn’t mean that
mentally my ambitions weren’t intact. It was hard to find the words to explain
that to an employer, so I became determined to change that. I knew that I
wanted to make a change in this space.”
At home, she spent weeks scrolling through
social media and support-group forums. “I was taking screenshots of hundreds of
people writing about this problem on Facebook alone, saying, ‘I have a chronic
illness and I’m having trouble finding work.’”
In a lightbulb moment, the idea for a new
company was born—Chronically Capable, a recruiting startup that
connects the chronically ill or disabled with meaningful work and flexible
employers. Now up and running, the online platform finds job
opportunities for people who sign up on the site. “No one should have
to decide between their life’s passion and their health,” insists the
23-year-old entrepreneur.
Right now, the disability unemployment rate
hovers at 9 percent—versus 3 percent for non-disabled Americans. To Olson,
that’s unacceptable. “Our goal,” she declares, “is to eliminate the employment
gap between chronically ill or disabled Americans and non-disabled Americans.”
Olson’s venture couldn’t be timelier, as we’re
at a tipping point for chronic illness in our culture. According to the National Health Council
(NHC), about 133 million Americans are living with a chronic illness now; by
next year, half the population will live with at least one chronic
illness. Why? Chronic illness is raging for several reasons—including a rise in
sedentary lifestyles, which raises the risk of diabetes, obesity and heart
disease, and a rising life expectancy that means we’re living longer with
chronic illnesses.
The NHC defines chronic disease as an illness
that lasts longer than three months. There are hundreds of chronic illnesses,
from rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and endometriosis to irritable bowel
syndrome, depression, and chronic migraines. Each one can vary in severity and
bring its own set of challenges. “A chronic illness isn’t this blanket term
that means you’re sick in a hospital bed,” explains Olson. “Often, it’s an
invisible illness. You can’t tell just by looking at a person, so there’s a lot
of misunderstanding around it.”
If chronically ill people—soon to be half the
population—can’t find jobs, then we’re looking at a problem of increasing scale
and urgency. Many chronically ill people do not qualify for disability, and
even if they do, disability paychecks don’t always cover all their expenses.
The chronically ill and disabled need work not only to support themselves and
their families (and pay their medical bills), but also for the sense of purpose
and fulfillment that meaningful work can bring.
Yet, as Olson can attest, not every job is
appropriate for someone with a chronic illness or disability. That’s why
Chronically Capable focuses on flexible and remote opportunities, including
full-time, part-time and project work. The good news is that, with the rise in
global connectedness, remote work is having its moment in the sun. According to
FlexJobs, remote work grew 115 percent between
2005 and 2015—that’s 10 times faster than the rest of the workforce. About 3.9 million
U.S. employees (or 2.9 percent of the U.S. workforce) work from home at least
half the time. That’s up 1.8 million from 2005.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Chronically
Capable is answering a key question from employers: Why should they hire a chronically
ill or disabled worker in the first place? To convince them, Olson uses
herself—a young, ambitious founder and CEO—as an example of the kind of worker
they would be lucky to hire. “I say, ‘Well, look at me. I’m a perfect example
of someone who has a chronic illness but has tons of goals for my career and
future. And I’m definitely capable,’” she says. “When people see me, they have
no idea that I’ve spent the last four or five years of my life very sick. And
just because you’re sick, it doesn’t mean you’re less capable of contributing
to the workforce.”
Adaptability Makes Amazing Workers
The chronically ill and disabled have a trait
that might even give them an edge over other workers—they know how to adapt.
“When I had an IV in my arm, I had to adapt to the fact that I couldn’t shower
normally,” says Olson. “You have to make alterations—like Saran wrap your arm
and stick it out of the shower. You have to be creative. I think the
chronically ill are even more capable than the non-chronically ill in certain
ways, because you spend your whole life adapting and changing things. That
translates to shifting your skills and adapting career-wise as well.”
For inspiration, consider Fahim’s story. A
young man from Bangladesh who was born with muscular dystrophy, he taught
himself graphic design and went on to make over $2K a month working on the freelance
platform Fiverr. He had taken his mother’s savings from making quilts to buy a
laptop and learn tech skills. That risk paid off—and Fahim went on to make
enough money to purchase land for his family to build a home. He says that his
physical disability made him mentally stronger—and perhaps more determined,
too.
Fahim’s story is unique, but many people out
there are just as resolute and passionate as he is about pursuing their dreams
and goals despite health challenges. Olson sees this firsthand, and Chronically
Capable has received an outpouring of support since the platform launched in
April. “I get dozens of emails and messages every day from people letting me
know how appreciative they are of this product and what we’re trying to do,”
she says. “We’re getting hundreds of sign-ups a week, and our main objective is
to get a job for every person who applies on our site.”
As an outspoken CEO and advocate for the
chronically ill and disabled, Olson knows that she has taken a risk by telling
the world her story. Many chronically ill people choose not to disclose their
illness for fear of jeopardizing their career. She wonders if one day her
openness will come back to haunt her—then quickly shrugs it off. “That’s a risk
I’m willing to take because I’m not doing this for me. If I can help someone
else by being public about my struggles, that’s all that really matters at the
end of the day."
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