Joining a union changed my relationship to work and my disability

Despite working in the labor movement for several years now, I only recently became a union member through my current job. Since I was a teenager, I have worked countless jobs where being unionized would have immeasurably improved my conditions; unions are an essential protection for workers in any industry. As a kid, I watched my mother benefit from both the contractual wage increases and the improved working conditions provided by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 21 that represented nurses in her hospital. My father was briefly a Teamsters member with FedEx and still talks about how impactful the union was for him. 

Yet, from retail to medical to journalism to even a union staff job, I have remained on the sidelines cheering on other union members in their fights, not a represented worker myself. Then, last year, I was offered a position that afforded me membership to a staff union. Together, my coworkers and I are building a democratic, worker-led union, committed to not just improving our individual working conditions but deeply caring for each other as a collective. It’s in this work environment where I feel I can fully speak about my conditions.

I am disabled. Being disabled shapes my work on a daily basis. Our Western work culture is built around a nondisabled workforce, and the responsibility to seek accommodations is on the disabled worker. Whether those accommodations are given is often up to the employer, many of whom ignore the Americans with Disabilities Act. Outing oneself as disabled can lead to retaliation and humiliation, while keeping one’s disability secret — if it’s an invisible disability — may lead to being labeled lazy or experiencing disciplinary actions for mistakes that happen because of a disability. Being a disabled worker in our culture is very isolating, stressful and exhausting.

Though I felt unwell for many years, I was diagnosed in the past few years with chronic and incurable pain and fatigue illnesses. These conditions have been deeply isolating and damaging to my career. I lost my first journalism gig out of college after a particularly serious flare led to me taking regular sick time. When I sought accommodation after a medical procedure left me in chronic pain for several days, the management denied my sick time requests. I felt shameful about my disability and like a failure, despite having done nothing wrong. Since then, I have struggled through multiple positions to communicate about my disability with employers and seek reasonable accommodations like working from home and flexible work hours. 

Now, I work alongside some of the most incredible union organizers, who I can not only share my disability with but also count on to support me as we build power in our workplace. I am able to work from home when I’m experiencing a flare, take time to make it to my frequent medical appointments, and use disability aids without shame when I’m in the office.

Unions are one of the most critical tools in fighting for disability rights in our workplaces. Disabled union members, on average, earn 28% more than nonunion workers with disabilities. Union representation also related to significantly higher rates of employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement coverage for disabled workers. 

When employers fail to follow federal and state disability rights laws, unions act as powerful enforcement and representation for disabled workers, who often lack the energy and capacity to self-advocate in the legal system. When workers come together and build union contracts that support disabled workers, it benefits everyone. When workers achieve work-from-home policies, it immensely helps disabled workers — but is good for all workers in the workplace. 

Recently, New Seasons workers in the Portland metro area won the right to sit at work when not doing tasks that require standing. This win benefits everyone in their workplace, not just disabled workers. With union contracts, we can build universally designed workplaces that improve conditions for everyone. We need to reframe “accommodations” as policies that improve working conditions for all workers — universal benefits that remove barriers for disabled workers and improve conditions for nondisabled workers.

I am a disabled worker, and being a union member has radically changed my work conditions, not just because of the accommodations afforded through the contract but because of the community my coworkers and I have built. Alone, we are nearly powerless. Together, we can topple systems.

This article appears in March 11, 2026.