Employment Experiences of Those Living With and Being Treated For Hepatitis C: Seeking Reasonable Adjustments and the Role of Disability Legislation

Abstract

Accounts of employment experience with Hepatitis C (HCV) are scarce, particularly within a UK context where few qualitative studies are available. This article reports on a piece of empirical work which sought to explore the experiences of living with HCV in the UK, out of which the experience of employment emerged. Two standout areas of discussion in this article are the degree to which individuals felt protected in disability legislation (i.e. the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995, 2005, now part of the Equality Act 2010) and their experiences of receiving reasonable adjustments in the workplace. This research highlights the apparent lack of acknowledgement that HCV can affect employment and indeed that the difficulties faced by those with HCV are shared by other disabled people. The findings here suggest that where workplaces facilitate or allow reasonable adjustments employees were able to take up the potential that allowed them to work in sustainable ways.