Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working Girlfriend!

When a woman receives a life-changing diagnosis of a serious, chronic illness, her first instinct may be to quit the workforce. This may bring a strong sense of relief initially, but as her disease becomes manageable, work is again desirable. Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease urges women so affected to stay employed in order to preserve their independence and sense of self. Filled with tips, tricks, and first-person accounts, this book is a resounding call for self-reliance and resilience. Authors Rosalind Joffe and Joan Friedlander identity the factors that make working particularly difficult for women with autoimmune disease, and then offer practical suggestions to address them. Exploring such issues as the complexities of autoimmune diseases and the correlation between disease, diagnosis, and career development, they detail exactly what it takes to be successful in a job, including developing strategies and tactics, evaluating communication skills, building a support team, and considerations for self-employment.