Allergies/Sensitivities - The Social Responsibility?

[Medusa]

I just saw a little clip on CNN about a school where parents are irritated because they feel their children are being subjected to extra time-consuming rules because there is a little girl at the school with a peanut allergy. They were being asked to wash their hands, keep their lunches outside the room, etc.

Here is the video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/03/24/exp.am.carroll.peanut.allergy.cnn?hpt=T2


This had me thinking about several incidences I have encountered at work and in social situations where someone will have an allergy of some sort and it has been addressed generally with a blanket policy.

One example I can think of is when I worked for Southwest Airlines years ago in the reservations center, we got calls sometimes from people who said they had a peanut allergy and this meant that flight attendants couldn't serve peanuts to anyone for the entire flight. I also remembering being on a flight later on when someone had a peanut allergy and other passengers were pissed because they couldn't have their peanuts.

Another example I can think of is working on the Femme Collective at the Femme Conferences and receiving communications from people who wanted the area to be scent-free because of their allergies.

Even now, there is a lady in our building who has sent out numerous memos about her perfume allergy and has asked that everyone use non-scented shampoo, deodorant, hand lotion, and has also asked for a "No perfume" rule.


What do you all think? If there is a group of people in a situation and one of them is allergic to something, should the group be sensitive to that and give up their peanuts, perfumes, etc? Or should that person find another way to interact?

One of the things mentioned in the article above is that the school has to conform to the anti-peanut standards because a peanut allergy is considered a disability. I'd like to hear people's thoughts on allergies as disabilities.


What are your thoughts? Who has the social responsibility when an allergy is involved?

[Linus]

There can be a huge social responsibility in regards to allergies since many who have allergies, particularly peanut, could die from them. That's pretty serious and I don't think it's a horrible thing for people to adhere to.

I do wonder, however, if some are claiming allergy to certain things because tehy just don't like someone or something (like a woman I knew who claimed a scent allergy and yet, wore the greatest amount of perfume).

[lipstixgal]

I just saw a little clip on CNN about a school where parents are irritated because they feel their children are being subjected to extra time-consuming rules because there is a little girl at the school with a peanut allergy. They were being asked to wash their hands, keep their lunches outside the room, etc.

Here is the video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/03/24/exp.am.carroll.peanut.allergy.cnn?hpt=T2


This had me thinking about several incidences I have encountered at work and in social situations where someone will have an allergy of some sort and it has been addressed generally with a blanket policy.

One example I can think of is when I worked for Southwest Airlines years ago in the reservations center, we got calls sometimes from people who said they had a peanut allergy and this meant that flight attendants couldn't serve peanuts to anyone for the entire flight. I also remembering being on a flight later on when someone had a peanut allergy and other passengers were pissed because they couldn't have their peanuts.

Another example I can think of is working on the Femme Collective at the Femme Conferences and receiving communications from people who wanted the area to be scent-free because of their allergies.

Even now, there is a lady in our building who has sent out numerous memos about her perfume allergy and has asked that everyone use non-scented shampoo, deodorant, hand lotion, and has also asked for a "No perfume" rule.


What do you all think? If there is a group of people in a situation and one of them is allergic to something, should the group be sensitive to that and give up their peanuts, perfumes, etc? Or should that person find another way to interact?

One of the things mentioned in the article above is that the school has to conform to the anti-peanut standards because a peanut allergy is considered a disability. I'd like to hear people's thoughts on allergies as disabilities.


What are your thoughts? Who has the social responsibility when an allergy is involved?

All things aside I can relate to the peanut allergy and perfume sensitivity because I have Asthma really bad and perfume bothers me a lot; so I feel for people with sensitivities but as for the school not allowing peanuts there that is another story. Maybe the child who has the allergy can bring their own lunch to school peanut free and so on.

[pinkgeek]

:seeingstars:

This is such a hard one for me. The academic in me wants everything to be theoretically accessible to all, but the realist in me likes my Chanel and how much do I really want to give up to the minority for the sake of accessibility, not as much as people would prefer I'm sure..

I'm not speaking from a place of not knowing. I've spend most of my life with moderate to severe allergies and I'm self monitoring. If I'm having a bad asthma day I won't go to the cigar bar/party.. I carry an inhaler and I'm not dead yet.. Life is a risk.

In the case of children, I could be wrong, but I think I read something about peanut allergies have increased in the last 15 years. Children are cute, but not the most responsible creatures on earth, so I can see having a peanut free environment to protect kids from themselves however I did survive a childhood of frightfully bad allergies without help from teachers or other people's parents..

Adults.. Meh.. I think they can take care of their own allergies..

Your mileage may vary..

[Rockinonahigh]

Being a life long asthmatic I have reactions that are varied im how they make me feel,I dont mind scents as long as they arent over powering,cant handle any cleaning solotion that had any kind of amonia in it.I deal with pollen all the time,u can bet if there are 100 ppl in a room u can tell who I am from the sniffles,sneezing,wheezing from scents that ppl feel they need to take a bath in.I do appresheate it when ppl dont use heavy smelling things.One thing I stay away from is pesticides used on the farm as it usely is in consentrated form to be diluted for use..I lietraly hibernate when the city sprays for bugs in the summer.I can deal with about anything as long as its in small doses except ammonia,as it will lay me out flat in a blink.

[Diva]

Yes.....well...... it's a tough call.

I don't care for cigarette smoke. An abundance of it makes me sick to my stomach and affects my breathing. People don't smoke in my house, but they can smoke on the terrace. I'm not going to NOT invite someone to my home because they smoke.

However, I've been places/parties where there have been attendees who made the biggest deal out of the smoking/smokers (waving their arms, making a scene by walking to the other side of the yard, etc) when they knew that there would be smoking at said gathering. I dont' get that. If it's such a deal, why bother coming?

I wear cologne, but I don't bathe in it. If I can taste someone's perfume, or smell You before I see You, that's just too much. People need to be sensitive to that.

As a volunteer at Dell Children's Hospital, we are instructed to not wear cologne because the children's health can be compromised by scents. I get that. But in the work place? Take a benedryl and cope.

As far as that child at school.......tough call again. Perhaps home schooling might be an option. But then I also have a difficult time with those angry parents who force their child to carry a picket sign in protest to peanut girl.

[Medusa]

Pinkgeek - I like what you said about self-moderating.

I think in the case of children, I have a much wider berth for making allowances or rules for access. Children do not have a choice as often as adults and are not able to self-care in the same way.
I do think that there has been an increase (thankfully) in access to public education, etc. due to the ADA and can appreciate the little boy or girl who has HIV who is able to attend public school rather than stay home due to other people's fears. Still, I wonder at what point someone else's medical issues become all of our problems.

(grumbling something about how someone told me they were going to sue me right after starting this site because I wouldn't provide her with a "talk to type" software because of her carpal tunnel :|)

Are we going to get to the point where the little girl who is allergic to sunlight attends public school and, because of her sunlight allergy, 30 other students sit in a windowless, dim environment.
If I were the parent of the sunlight-allergy child, I might say that it's her right to attend school and that the dim lights and windowless environment weren't such a disruption that I thought it would be a "reasonable" accomodation.
If I were the parent of a child in the classrom who did NOT have a sunlight allergy, but because one child did, my child sat in a cavelike environment all day, I might demand that my child be moved to another classroom or ask why one child with an allergy is determining what kind of environment 30 other children have.

So what is reasonable?

If it is a life-threatening allergy, is it up to the person who has it to protect themselves or is it reasonable to ask other people to change their behaviors (within reason)?

I'll also fully admit that this article touched a nerve with me when mentioning the accessability increase in the public education system and made reference to special needs children being placed in "regular" classrooms. Perhaps that will be another thread (I have very strong opinions there)

[Kobi]

Seeing some allergies can be deadly, I favor reasonable accomodations.
The definition of reasonable is up for grabs.

For example, accomodating a peanut allergy on an airplane is more reasonable to me than going overboard at a school. On an airplane, even with an epi-pen, you dont have immediate access to emergency services. Thus, an accommodation seems reasonable. Then again, you cant stop people from bringing there own peanut butter crackers or trail mix on board.

If a kid at a school has such a sensitivity that all peanuts and peanut vapors in a 10 mile radius (exaggeration here)need to be eliminated, it is reasonable for your child to be tutored at home or attend school via teleconferencing. That seems to be a reasonable compromise.

On the other hand, there is a big difference between a true severe allergy and something that may trigger an annoying reaction. For example, flowery perfumes can trigger an allergic response in me but it wont kill me. I usually remove myself from the environment and problem is solved.

For someone in an apartment building to request everyone stop using anything scented is unreasonable to me.

Common sense, when it comes to adults, seems warranted. Marinating in your favorite scent may not be pleasing to others, or appropriate in an enclosed space....use your judgement.

[julieisafemme]

My child has a peanut allergy. We carry and epipen and Benadryl. I worry about it a lot in places where I am not able to control things. My child has a mild peanut allergy but the sneaky things about peanuts is that there is always a possibility she could have anaphalactic reaction and die.

Another child in her class has a *severe* peanut allergy as well as allergies to many other things. Our class has a list of things that the children cannot have in their lunches. It is also a vegetarian kosher campus!! So there are a lot of restrictions on what children can bring for lunch. None of this bothers me a bit! We are talking about the lives of these children! Not to mention the lack of anxiety they and the parents feel knowing that their child is in a safe environment. This is a private school. What if this parent could not afford to pay for a private school? What if her child had to attend public school and had a lot of angry people on top of worrying about the safety of her child? I don't think home schooling should be an alternative to an accomodation that a school can make. What about a child who has special needs of some other sort?

I just hope people understand that peanut allergies are deadly. They can come on so quickly that even with an epipen a child can die. The balance between that and a parent who wants to pack a penaut butter sandwhich for their child just does not make sense to me.

[Medusa]

Just curious - Someone posted a sign at work in the break area that we can no longer heat up anything in the microwave that contains garlic due to someone's allergy.

Thoughts on that? Is that fair to the people who want to eat garlic or should they suck it up since someone else could become sick?

[Blade]

I'd never heard of a garlic allergy, so this was new to me so I googled it.
I think the last sentence is significant. I didn't read anything about allergies from smelling garlic, it says to remove it from your diet.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5194678_garlic-good-allergies_.html original article

While allergies to garlic are rare, there are people who are intolerant to the spice. Using garlic to combat seasonal allergies may not be the best course of action. Garlic allergy symptoms tend to be mild, so most individuals may not be aware that they are even sensitive. It is best to check with a physician who can test you for a garlic allergy, to ensure that you are not creating more harm to your immune system.

Garlic allergies symptoms include gastrointestinal disruptions, stuffy noses, red, itchy rashes and coughing. Again, garlic allergies tend to be mild, to the point of being attributed to another condition. If an individual does have an allergy to garlic or is remotely sensitive, garlic should be removed from the diet.

[Hack]

I work for a government agency that has a lot of public meetings. As the press officer, I put out press releases or media advisories about most of the meetings. We take accessibility very seriously, and are careful to make sure the meeting locations are accessible for persons with disabilities. We used to include a requirement that our meeting spaces be "scent-free," but we took an inordinate amount of public ridicule for it that we no longer include that language in our public information about meetings. I mean, I was getting calls from the media about, bloggers who follow our agency were trashing us as overly-PC, considering most of the audience for our meetings are men who smell like Old Spice, stale beer and fish guts.

I get bronchitis if I am in an enclosed space with cigarette smoke for too long. I am careful to avoid those situations. I can understand peanut allergies and being hyper-vigilant with kids. But I often wonder ... I would be hard-pressed to name one kid I ever went to school with back in the 1970s and early 1980s who had a peanut allergy. Is this a fairly new thing (the last 15 years or so?) or did I just grow up in such a small town that we didn't have a peanut allergy sufferer?

Jake

[Rockinonahigh]

We have a new receptionist at work,omg,she takes a bath in whatever sents she is wearing,has really big hair,brassy earrings,four inch long nails...not kidding u folks this is real.THe smell of hair spray will gag me in a minit..not normaly but she over uses evrything.Today she said ,sweetie gotta go put in my lips...duhhh says me I swear I never have seen that color lipstik on anyone..holy moley.Needless to say I dont go to the office much.:seeingstars:

[suebee]

At times I find that some people say allergy when what they really mean is that a smell bothers them or they're sensitive to it. I'm one of those people. But that sensitivity may mean that I spend the rest of the day in a darkened room with a migraine or sneezing and coughing. Minor - but it sure can ruin my day.

I used to work with special needs kids. I had one little boy - Alex - who had severe food allergies. And not just if he ate certain foods. Often just smelling the food could provoke an anaphalactic reaction. They lived too close to McDonald's. They had to move. They used to go camping. Too many grills with beef on them, so they stayed home. When they went to see the ultra-specialized allergy doctor they had to fly because they couldn't risk having a reaction on a train. The airline had to make sure no beef or peanuts or a dozen other things were in the same cabin as Alex - or leftover smells of any of those things. God bless them - they were fabulous to deal with. I was involved in trying to make arrangements for Alex to go to school. Teleconferencing was an option, but that would mean he would never have any socialization other than his siblings. The school board was fabulous too. I didn't get to see how it turned out because I changed jobs and cities. But I thought that the little guy deserved the chance to go to school, because - quite frankly - I didn't think he would live long. Even when he was at the hospital he was exposed to life-threatening allergens - and this even though everyone was supposed to be informed and arrangements made accordingly.

So when I think of allergies I think of Alex, and I wonder if he's still alive and hope that he's having, or had the best quality life possible. I think that's worth a little inconvenience on my part. Sorry if this sounds a little melodramatic, but the changes I'd have to make to accomodate someone with allergies to food, or smells, or most other things for that matter, seem pretty minor compared to the difference it can make to them.

Sue

[betenoire]

What do you all think? If there is a group of people in a situation and one of them is allergic to something, should the group be sensitive to that and give up their peanuts, perfumes, etc? Or should that person find another way to interact?

Here's the thing: being exposed to certain scents, foods, ect can bring a lot of harm to some people. Not being allowed to wear perfume to work isn't going to hurt anybody. Sally isn't going to drop down dead because she couldn't bathe her stank ass in Anais Anais every day before work, but Sarah certainly COULD drop down dead because Sally was allowed to continue to bathe her stank ass in Anais Anais. Bobby isn't going to die if he can't have PB&J for lunch, but Brandon certainly COULD die if Bobby gets his PB on the table and Brandon accidentally comes in contact with it.

Sarah has the right to have a job. Brandon has the right to get a public education. Sally and Bobby's rights stop where they put Sarah and Brandon in danger.

I sit in the scent free section at work, by the way.

[Mike]

our whole building at work is scent free

[betenoire]

our whole building at work is scent free

The job I'm at now is the first one that hasn't been completely scent free. This one has a "low scent" policy (you know, scented deoderant and body wash is okay, but no perfume), and a section set aside where you can't use any scented products.

[Medusa]

Let's revisit!

The "scent free" lady at work has now sent a formal request that all employees be required to eat their lunch in the lunch room rather than eating at their desks while working because she said the smell of food makes her sick.

Is this reasonable to you?

I would say that 80% of the employees on our floor do a "working lunch" and gnosh at their desk rather than eating in the lunch area (which would be too small for everyone to be accomodated at one time). This will have a pretty severe impact on all employees if the company decides to institute this policy. (I dont think they will because most of upper management realizes they get an extra hour a day out of us while we work through our lunches at our desk)

This person has also advocated for a completely "scent free" environment in the common areas and has removed all the air fresheners from the women's restroom. It appears that she is severely allergic to smells or at least severely affected by them.

At what point does a workplace need to accomodate?

[Corkey]

Let's revisit!

The "scent free" lady at work has now sent a formal request that all employees be required to eat their lunch in the lunch room rather than eating at their desks while working because she said the smell of food makes her sick.

Is this reasonable to you?

I would say that 80% of the employees on our floor do a "working lunch" and gnosh at their desk rather than eating in the lunch area (which would be too small for everyone to be accomodated at one time). This will have a pretty severe impact on all employees if the company decides to institute this policy. (I dont think they will because most of upper management realizes they get an extra hour a day out of us while we work through our lunches at our desk)

This person has also advocated for a completely "scent free" environment in the common areas and has removed all the air fresheners from the women's restroom. It appears that she is severely allergic to smells or at least severely affected by them.

At what point does a workplace need to accomodate?

At the point where her sensitivities become a detriment to the productivity of the rest of the employees. At which time she may get sent to a company doctor. Sounds like she needs to reevaluate her employment in that environment.

[LaneyDoll]

My child has a peanut allergy. We carry and epipen and Benadryl. I worry about it a lot in places where I am not able to control things. My child has a mild peanut allergy but the sneaky things about peanuts is that there is always a possibility she could have anaphalactic reaction and die.

Another child in her class has a *severe* peanut allergy as well as allergies to many other things. Our class has a list of things that the children cannot have in their lunches. It is also a vegetarian kosher campus!! So there are a lot of restrictions on what children can bring for lunch. None of this bothers me a bit! We are talking about the lives of these children! Not to mention the lack of anxiety they and the parents feel knowing that their child is in a safe environment. This is a private school. What if this parent could not afford to pay for a private school? What if her child had to attend public school and had a lot of angry people on top of worrying about the safety of her child? I don't think home schooling should be an alternative to an accomodation that a school can make. What about a child who has special needs of some other sort?

I just hope people understand that peanut allergies are deadly. They can come on so quickly that even with an epipen a child can die. The balance between that and a parent who wants to pack a penaut butter sandwhich for their child just does not make sense to me.

Well said!

I would hate to think that a child died because I sent a PB & J to school and they took a bite of it when my child offered to share.

There are too many rules/regulations and what ifs for me to easily say "it is unfair to ask the entire school to avoid PB."

What if the child left their pen at home or on the bus? Or was on the playground and it was in their backpack/teacher's desk?

These are children not adults. These are children who are required to attend school not an adult who opts to expose themselves to an allergy. It is not like someone who complains about going to a smoky bar despite an allergy to cigarette smoke. I am allergic to smoke and I go out and I know it will make me feel bad. But it was my choice to go.

Private school is not always an option; neither is home schooling. My boss home schools and do you have any idea of the expense involved in it? I sure cannot afford it.

If a child wants PB & J so bad for lunch but cannot take it because of an allergy, let them have it for breakfast. No child's life is worth placating a finicky eater.

:sparklyheart:

[Rockinonahigh]

Being an adult with allergies to sents,ciggy smoke,pollen and most cleaning stuff when used in heavy consentrates,over the years I have used and have meds for most of the isues I deal with.I feel it is my responsablity to find ways to deal with any of my allergy probs,I do appresheate it when folks use less sents or house keeping can use less powerfull cleaning solutions and leave to windows or doors open to vent the smell out when ever possable.This issue over coworkers eating lunch at theiredesk (to me) is something that is over bord cause she can get anti neausa(sp?) pills that will fix most if not all of her queezy problems or she could have something at her desk to mask the food smells....I mean how close dose she have to be any way for it to affect her sensablities or other coworkers could bring food that have less odors.
I spend lots of time playing pool and ciggy smoke...burns my eyes so I use eye drops to stop that,ciggy smoke bugs my asthma...again asthma meds plus asking my team mates to smoke at the other end of our table or near a vent to pull out the smoke plus me staking out of the way when I can from people who smoke bad not to mention the ladies who use enough perfume to bathe an horse in.For the most part I feel things are workable if all parties think how to work out the diffrentsess.Asfor peanut allergies I feel as adults we also should be fully aware of how peanuts effect us so just being watchfull can in many cercumstancess will fix that but as kids and school lunches...a seprate place to eat could help a lot for kids with food allergies..I cant think of any other way to fix that cause if u have a fue kids with the allergie then a whole school of non alergic kids.

[Linus]

Let's revisit!

The "scent free" lady at work has now sent a formal request that all employees be required to eat their lunch in the lunch room rather than eating at their desks while working because she said the smell of food makes her sick.

Is this reasonable to you?

I would say that 80% of the employees on our floor do a "working lunch" and gnosh at their desk rather than eating in the lunch area (which would be too small for everyone to be accomodated at one time). This will have a pretty severe impact on all employees if the company decides to institute this policy. (I dont think they will because most of upper management realizes they get an extra hour a day out of us while we work through our lunches at our desk)

This person has also advocated for a completely "scent free" environment in the common areas and has removed all the air fresheners from the women's restroom. It appears that she is severely allergic to smells or at least severely affected by them.

At what point does a workplace need to accomodate?

So I have a question: if the smell of food is making her sick, what does she eat? :blink: I realize how sensitive odour allergies can be but I have to say this is a first. I would suggest to management that perhaps telecommuting might be a better option for this employee so that they can better control their work environment (i.e., home) if it is that extreme.

[Medusa]

So I have a question: if the smell of food is making her sick, what does she eat? :blink: I realize how sensitive odour allergies can be but I have to say this is a first. I would suggest to management that perhaps telecommuting might be a better option for this employee so that they can better control their work environment (i.e., home) if it is that extreme.

Ha! Good point! I get that sometimes people heat up really odorous things in the microwave and that it can sometimes be really foul (hello! fish in curry sauce!) but I gotta say that she seems to be sensitive to even the "smell" of hot tea. It was suggested to her to just work from home all the time and her reponse was that she wanted an office so that she could shut her door. :|

We'll see where it goes!

[Novelafemme]

My youngest goes to a "allergy aware" school where the kids are allowed to bring any food they personally enjoy, but they are NOT allowed to share food with their friends. This rule is strictly enforced by lunch room monitors.

Both she and I share some common allergens such as certain wire-haired animals, cleaning products like 4O9 and other aerosol solutions, avocado and mango meat, cigarettes/cigars, etc. Most of our symptoms are relatively mild...for instance, she gets hives around her mouth when eating mango fruit, but does that stop her? Nope! My chemical sensitivity has literally exploded over the past year to where I have to read the ingredients on almost all cleaning products before using. I recently rented a carpet cleaner and grabbed a bottle of the liquid sold with the rental machine and ended up in the urgent care due to a horrible allergic reaction. They did a breathing treatment and I felt five gazillion times better, but now carry an inhaler in my purse in case it happens again. That scared the shit out of me!!!

In terms of my expectations of others in the work place or out in public...um, that's MY problem! Personally, I would never expect someone to accommodate me based on my food/environmental allergies. If I was allergic to garlic, then I would make sure to bring food that didn't need to be heated up or stored somewhere it could be exposed to it. If smells gave me migraines, then I would honestly need to consider working from home. Scent allergies are much more difficult to navigate than food allergies. Perfumes/colognes I understand not wanting to smell all day if they stink or give me a headache, then it becomes an HR issue. But if the smell of food makes you ill, then it's a personal problem and it's on you to handle it so the problem doesn't become everyone else's. If molecules containing peanut atoms have the potential to cause anaphylactic shock, then you ought not be flying on commercial airlines if you can help it. Otherwise, I'm sure one can locate a hazmat suit in an emergency.

[atomiczombie]

That smell of food thing is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

I have a sensitivity to certain scents and chemicals. I get bad headaches from heavy perfumes and the strong smell of bleach. Some paints and stains give me headaches too. If I walk through the perfume/cologne section of a department store, I end up with a headache pretty fast. I feel like I can't breathe for fear of a headache. I have food allergies to certain nuts, carrots, and fruit.

But that's nothing compared to my best friend. He has an allergy to sea food that is as bad as any I have ever seen. He can't go near it without getting hives and if he is close enough to it, he throws up. If he accidentally eats some, for example eats something that has some elements of it like fish sauce (often in Vietnamese food) he with go into shock and needs multiple epi pens and a trip to the ER.

He has to ask his friends not to eat sea food around him (of course I am happy to do that for him). He avoids the sea food section in grocery stores. He won't go to restaurants like Red Lobster which mainly serve fish. It is a reality he has to deal with and he accepts it. I know he feels bad sometimes asking his friends to accommodate him, but there really is no choice in the matter, because they aren't really friends if they won't care enough about his health to avoid sea food when around him. He doesn't expect the whole world to change for his convenience. He just does his best to navigate it while protecting his health.

[LaneyDoll]

That smell of food thing is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

I have a sensitivity to certain scents and chemicals. I get bad headaches from heavy perfumes and the strong smell of bleach. Some paints and stains give me headaches too. If I walk through the perfume/cologne section of a department store, I end up with a headache pretty fast. I feel like I can't breathe for fear of a headache. I have food allergies to certain nuts, carrots, and fruit.

But that's nothing compared to my best friend. He has an allergy to sea food that is as bad as any I have ever seen. He can't go near it without getting hives and if he is close enough to it, he throws up. If he accidentally eats some, for example eats something that has some elements of it like fish sauce (often in Vietnamese food) he with go into shock and needs multiple epi pens and a trip to the ER.

He has to ask his friends not to eat sea food around him (of course I am happy to do that for him). He avoids the sea food section in grocery stores. He won't go to restaurants like Red Lobster which mainly serve fish. It is a reality he has to deal with and he accepts it. I know he feels bad sometimes asking his friends to accommodate him, but there really is no choice in the matter, because they aren't really friends if they won't care enough about his health to avoid sea food when around him. He doesn't expect the whole world to change for his convenience. He just does his best to navigate it while protecting his health.

My mom has a weird allergy to shellfish-she can eat it but not touch it. But she loves crab legs and will order them and eat them wearing gloves. She alerts the wait staff to the allergy and I promise, NOTHING gets you attentive service like an "allergic" person eating the item they are allergic to.

:sparklyheart:

[Rockinonahigh]

Ha! Good point! I get that sometimes people heat up really odorous things in the microwave and that it can sometimes be really foul (hello! fish in curry sauce!) but I gotta say that she seems to be sensitive to even the "smell" of hot tea. It was suggested to her to just work from home all the time and her reponse was that she wanted an office so that she could shut her door. :|

We'll see where it goes!


I wonder how sje would feel in wearing a mask or something that covers the smell of food...but if hot tea bothers her I wonder if she is looing for atention or exagurateing the allergies...she could close her office door.

[Linus]

Ha! Good point! I get that sometimes people heat up really odorous things in the microwave and that it can sometimes be really foul (hello! fish in curry sauce!) but I gotta say that she seems to be sensitive to even the "smell" of hot tea. It was suggested to her to just work from home all the time and her reponse was that she wanted an office so that she could shut her door. :|

We'll see where it goes!

Could she being going beyond what she is actually experiencing just to get an office?

[Corkey]

Sounds psychosomatic to me.... But then I don't know her LOL

[1QuirkyKiwi]

I have severe food allergies to red and white meat and shellfish, as well as allergies to oranges, strawberries and kiwi fruits and potatoes….I carry an Epipen with me at all times. I’m aware that anaphylaxis can be triggered by the smell of the meats cooking in the Deli section of a supermarket, so, I avoid that area to the best of my ability.

I eat mainly in vegetarian and vegan restaurants and I take packed lunches to work….with a thermos of soup in the Winter. I don’t expect anyone to blanket what they eat around me, as I can walk out of the room. The only foods I can’t be around at all when they are being cooked is fish and shellfish, as that does send me into anaphylactic shock.

I’m fortunate that my colleagues, friends and family don’t heat up/cook or peel the foods near me….I appreciate it may not be an experience that’s easy to understand if they don’t suffer from allergies. I eat in my office and the students come and sit with me after heating up their lunches.

If/when dating a meat eater, I ask that they freshen their mouths before pashing me, lol!

[girl_dee]

WHen I worked at a bank we ate at our desks many many times. I could not stand the smell of their frozen dinners or leftover whatever and it lingered in our office the rest of the day. I brought a sandwich or salad everyday so no one had to deal with my smelly food not to mention I don't use microwaves. I also encouraged them to take a break in the day and get away from their desks, and enjoy their meal in a healthy way, but somedays we all just wanted to go home, and that extra time was more valuable at the end of the day.

I hated it, but not to the point that I would ask anyone to change their habits.

I did have an issue with working with 3 women 1 man who tried to out do each other in the loudest scent department. I told them they were going to cause a spontaneous chemical combustion explosion if someone did not back off the Jean Nate, and I don't mean the just the women :|

[1QuirkyKiwi]

Could she being going beyond what she is actually experiencing just to get an office?

I was going to ask this, too! LOL!

[Rockinonahigh]

I wonder how sje would feel in wearing a mask or something that covers the smell of food...but if hot tea bothers her I wonder if she is looing for atention or exagurateing the allergies...she could close her office door.

OOOppps,pain pills are causeing more typos than useal, sorry.

[nycfem]

I'm so curious to hear how this plays out. Love me some work drama that isn't my own :D

Let's revisit!

The "scent free" lady at work has now sent a formal request that all employees be required to eat their lunch in the lunch room rather than eating at their desks while working because she said the smell of food makes her sick.

Is this reasonable to you?

I would say that 80% of the employees on our floor do a "working lunch" and gnosh at their desk rather than eating in the lunch area (which would be too small for everyone to be accomodated at one time). This will have a pretty severe impact on all employees if the company decides to institute this policy. (I dont think they will because most of upper management realizes they get an extra hour a day out of us while we work through our lunches at our desk)

This person has also advocated for a completely "scent free" environment in the common areas and has removed all the air fresheners from the women's restroom. It appears that she is severely allergic to smells or at least severely affected by them.

At what point does a workplace need to accomodate?

[pinkgeek]

Interesting..... I worked at one very very very large semi conductor company where we were never allowed to eat anything at our desks because the CEO hated walked down the hall and ever smelling food. The man signed our checks, I kinda let it go. (The executive carpark was down the hall from my office so I never broke the rule - possible the only rule I haven't bent or broken in my life.....) :|

However at the most recent tech company I was at, if someone wanted us to all eat in the lunch room we'd be standing on the foosball table and eating off the server racks to accommodate said "scent free lady".

Even so.... The smell would have get into the office not to mention that at that point I'd have lost enough productivity not being able to eat and work that I'd never set foot in my office and neither would anyone else.

Long story short - I think she needs a work from home allowance or a personal bubble. But then I'm that girl who wears a different Chanel for each season.



The "scent free" lady at work has now sent a formal request that all employees be required to eat their lunch in the lunch room rather than eating at their desks while working because she said the smell of food makes her sick.

Is this reasonable to you?

At what point does a workplace need to accomodate?

[*Anya*]

There are a couple of ways to look at this. Yes, social responsibility and empathy towards others vs. personal rights and freedoms.

I have asthma. It is well-controlled and I take my asthma meds, which is my responsibility to do.

I can have a someone walk by me, or be trapped in a bus, office setting or airplane with someone that put on a very strongly scented perfume or colone and fairly rapidly, start wheezing.

Do I think that people have the right to wear scents- yes they do. Do they also have some responsibility to not put so much on that I can smell them 30 rows down in the airplane? Yes, I believe that they do. I also have the right to be able to breath.

Cooking smells are a little trickier because frequently culture is involved. I worked at a county mental health department during the time that a great many Vietnamese folks came to the US after the Vietnam war ended and the county started a mental health program for them. Of course, they brought their foods and culture with them. All of us were unfamiliar with them and some of the cooking odors did last in the building for hours.

The smell did not make me wheeze but after several hours, maybe a little queasy, in the same way that any food of any culture, smelling it for hours in an office would. I dealt with it, as all of us did out of sensitivity.

Can I see that someone might not like smelling food in an office setting? Yes. Do we have the right to demand that people not eat the food of their choice or culture at work? Not so much.

We all should just follow the golden rule, right?

[aishah]

i have relatively mild mcs - i'm allergic to a lot of scents, dyes, perfumes, chemicals, etc. in small doses it's not the end of the world, but it's a huge inconvenience and it's painful and irritating. in large doses it can make it really difficult for me to do anything for the rest of the day thanks to pain, fatigue, etc. i work with and organize with a lot of people with more severe mcs than i have so i'm used to setting up, requesting, and pushing for scent-free space.

one thing most people don't understand is that not everything that has a smell will trigger mcs - most people with mcs have different levels of sensitivity, but even so, things like food normally don't trigger mcs (unless there is some sort of chemical in it). or, for example, the smell of coconut oil (i hate the smell, but it's a great non-toxic alternative to scented moisturizers and massage oils and it usually doesn't trigger a reaction for folks w/mcs). another common misconception is that all "natural" scented products are okay to wear around folks with mcs - for example, essential oils and incense ARE often toxic to us, and even things like lavender can cause reactions for some people.

i get really frustrated sometimes with this and "accommodations" for my other disabilities. it is NOT that hard to use scent-free soap in public restrooms or restrooms at work, church, etc. you may not be able to get people to stop wearing massive amounts of scented body product to a place but exchanging soap in the bathrooms and not using highly scented air fresheners in the building is a good start. and hello - most of the stuff that people with mcs are allergic to - we're allergic to it BECAUSE THE SHIT IS ACTUALLY TOXIC. which means it's probably toxic to you too, you just aren't as sensitive to it (yet). for years i didn't realize i had mcs and i didn't understand why i constantly had allergies until i became friends with other people like me because no one ever talks about how toxic the chemicals we put on our bodies actually are.

i understand the frustration some people have with not wanting to change their personal routine to suit other people, but sometimes when we are in community together i'm like - look, either you want to be in community with me and you care about me or you don't. access needs outrank personal preferences, in my opinion. it's sort of like, with my mobility issues, when i go to an event that's held upstairs and no one bothered to tell me or even give a shit that a disabled person might want to come. recently this happened when my coworkers at a mental health dis org planned a community mental health event they knew i was coming to because i was deeply involved. i got there and there was a huge flight of stairs. it felt like a slap in the face. even with my partner sometimes this is a problem - he is really great about dealing with my physical disabilities but sometimes he still sees dealing with my mcs as him doing me a favor (because he frequently wears men's deodorant, cologne, etc. and it makes me really sick).

i also think people have a responsibility to keep food that causes allergic reactions for others out of a space once that need has been articulated. we had that issue at a meeting recently - we were eating oranges and someone was severely allergic. the oranges got thrown away, moved into the other room, and we all washed our hands and face with unscented dr. bronner's. to me it's just human decency. did i want to eat oranges? yeah. was i upset that i had to stop? was it an inconvenience? not at all. i cared about that person and i wanted them to be able to be in the space.

edited to add...on the upside...femme allergy masks for the win! :) http://www.icanbreathe.com/store/page12.html

[canadianmusician]

I have anaphylactic allergies. Peanuts, all treenuts and tomatoes.

In terms of tomatoes, I can't touch them, but I can be around them if the person eating is in far enough distance.

Peanuts and nuts, I stay FAR away from. And believe me, people have been quite ignorant. Even with my tomato allergy. Servers have asked "Is ketchup or BBQ sauce ok?" Oi.

I was dog sitting for a friend. I went to her place the night before she left as she was leaving at 6am. It was about 7pm, and I needed to look something up so she let me jump on her computer, which she'd been on earlier. I felt my lips start to tingle, got red spots on my hands and my throat was getting tight. I asked her if she had any peanuts she might have left out and she informed me she had eaten a snickers bar when she was on the computer and thought it wouldn't harm me if I didn't know and she ate it quietly, disposed of wrapper and washed her hands. I ended up in the ER and she had to delay her trip by a couple of days until I was well enough to dog sit. This wasn't the first time she made a mistake, and she wasn't the last person to make a mistake. The last landed me in the hospital again only this time I needed an extra dose of epinephrin, injectable diphenhydramine, on an IV and a nebulizer of salbutamol and steroids.


The problem with peanuts and nuts, is that they have very potent oils in them. When you smell peanuts, you're not just smelling the food, you're inhaling the essence of them. My allergist is with the AAAI and has won many awards, taught in universities and done LOADS of research in immunology. He's taught me so much and if not for him and the stuff he's informed me about, I would be dead.

I fully agree with banning peanuts from schools. Kids are kids. They share pens, participate in sports together, rough house with each other, they have physical contact. Let's say I didn't have an allergy and someone else's kid did. My kid just ate a bag of peanuts at lunch and forgot to wash their hands, they go and give your kid a high five. Your kid goes into shock and dies. Sounds extreme, but it is very possible.

Some people want to complain about peanut/nut allergies and how they have to 'be careful'. A persons life would be far more complicated if they were claiming their space as a peanut eater and the person next to them drops dead from a reaction.

I rarely eat at other people's houses and I only will if I really, truly trust them and know for a fact they know how to be safe. I usually make a joke about it. "I know it sucks having to go to all the trouble, but I think there'll be more trouble if I'm on your floor..." and it always gets a laugh.

A place I'm on the board of directors for had a 'social bonding time' at one of the other board members places, who happens to be a doctor. There's also another doctor on the board, so I had two at hand in case anything went down at dinner lol Of course, all I had to worry about was tomatoes as there were no peanuts or nuts there.....but the theme was Mexican, so my anxiety was way up lol

If I date someone, they have to give up peanuts and nuts, because the oils remain in the skin and mouth for a day or so, despite flossing and brushing. It is far too risky. Tomatoes, they could eat, but not if they want to get intimate that night lol. My home is peanut/nut/tomato free and always will be. There are alternatives, I have soybutter instead of peanut butter and make a killer chicken 'satay' with it ;) I eat roasted soybeans and order my trailmix from NoNuttin, a company here in BC.

I carry my own little allergy kit. Epipen, benadryl, inhaler. I have a medicalert bracelet.

In terms of scent allergies, I understand those, but it is impossible to avoid. Many health centres here are scent free. But if you go to someone's home, you take that chance of being exposed to a scent, or any other allergen. The only thing we can truly control, is what goes into our own homes.

Food...there are restaurants I know I just shouldn't go to. I was upset when one of my favourite local small restaurants incorporated peanuts into their milkshakes, desserts and some of their food. I had to stop going there. But I adjust, I research, I do all I can to stay safe.

[aishah]

In terms of scent allergies, I understand those, but it is impossible to avoid. Many health centres here are scent free. But if you go to someone's home, you take that chance of being exposed to a scent, or any other allergen. The only thing we can truly control, is what goes into our own homes.

i agree. for people with mild or moderate mcs it is possible to go into spaces if there's been an effort to make the space scent-free, but for a friend of mine with severe mcs, she has to wear a gas mask all of the time essentially, and even then taking in chemicals through skin and mucus membranes causes a reaction for her, though the mask does help. we're in the process of traveling together to a conference and trying to figure out the best way to make our personal space while we're staying there scent-free because she has to at least have some place she can go where she can take off her mask. usually that would be one's home. but it can be hard for partners who don't understand...my partner is starting to make the transition to unscented products now. it's also a problem when around family or friends who don't take it seriously. most of my friends with more severe mcs are pretty socially isolated because of it.

but, like...if the church i go to instituted a scent-free policy where they got rid of scented soap and air fresheners and encouraged folks to not use cologne/perfume, church would be much more bearable for me and other people who have mcs. as it is i'm considering buying a mask because that's one of the most highly toxic places i go on a regular basis. obviously the detergent folks are using and the cleaners used to clean the church are still toxic but the level of chemicals would be somewhat more tolerable for my body. when i'm at my sister's house, i spend most of the time feeling physically like crap because she refuses not to use scented candles and air fresheners. etc. it's not just public space that's the issue (i accept it as a fact of life when i go into public spaces) but also private spaces and community spaces. it really frustrates me when people who are supposedly working around disability issues or who are involved in social justice movements and supposedly want to build community together with me (and friends with mcs) just completely disregard this, because it's basically excluding a lot of people. and it makes me angry that it's treated as a preference or something when it is an actual allergy and it has physical consequences for our health. a friend of mine recently went to a social justice event where the organizers allowed the use of flash cameras and she told them she was going to get a seizure if they didn't ask people to turn the flash off and she got a seizure and they acted put out - but said they wanted her there (she's a well-known writer and activist). to me, if someone cares about me or wants my presence in their life it should be an issue. but i'm beginning to accept that i'm going to have to just wear a mask more often because people's desire to wear scents is more important than other people's health. i'm in the process of becoming more assertive about these issues with folks in my life, but it's something that i accepted for so long as part of the norm (not having access and having to overcompensate myself) and i'm used to being the doormat/peacemaker so taking on that role when it comes to my health is difficult. it's hard to get people to understand that their preference (wearing scents or organizing things that are up huge flights of stairs) means i'm not going to be able to get out of bed the next day or week because of pain. i'm used to accepting that their preference is more important than my health and working on changing that over the last few years has been good for me health-wise but really difficult emotionally, especially with social anxieties and misunderstanding.

i can't believe your friend did that with the snickers bar, though - i mean, eating it before you got there and then trying to hide it and pretend it wouldn't be a problem, knowing that you can't be in spaces where peanuts have been. that to me is incredibly insensitive. :\ i can't wrap my mind around how people can think their desire to consume peanuts is somehow more important than a child's right to not go into anaphylactic shock on the playground. our individualistic society has gone to a ridiculous extreme of just not caring about each other's needs AT ALL, so much of the time. wanting to eat peanuts should not be more important than someone's right to be in a community space like a school or even a public space without dying or having a severe allergic reaction.

[Apocalipstic]

I have allergies.

I am 48 years old and yes, I am allergic to peanuts and a ton of other shit.

When I was a kid I had allergies and was sick non-stop, but back then no one really cared and they just told me to deal. If it got really bad I got a shot or breathing treatments. My entire childhood was spent sick. I had no idea what I was even allergic to, and most people would insist I was faking.

As an adult I take allergy and asthma medicine and avoid things I know I am allergic to. Sometimes a friend will laugh at me or make a remark and I just swallow it.

I make as small of a deal about it as I can.

I don't ever ask anyone else to change what they are doing. if there is too much smoke, I go outside. Turkey for dinner? I just eat veggies. peanuts? I don't eat them. Melons, banannas...don't eat them. Rabbits and horses? Avoid. Hay? avoid when I can. and on and on.

I try to not spend the night away from home that much becasue I am allergic to most laundry stuff and need detergent for sensitive skin.

Yes, some people go overboard, but some people are pretty hurtful complaining about other people's allergies.

We don't have allergies to inconvenience you. It's not pretend.

As long as you are OK with my asthma attacks when I come in contact with something I am allergic to I don't even know is there, you can hang out with me.

And I don't care who you are, don't invite me to fucking Logan's, or anywhere else there are peanuts everywhere. And if you do? and I don;t go...don't talk about how I won't go anywhere any more. :|:rrose::|

[Gemme]

If a kid at a school has such a sensitivity that all peanuts and peanut vapors in a 10 mile radius (exaggeration here)need to be eliminated, it is reasonable for your child to be tutored at home or attend school via teleconferencing. That seems to be a reasonable compromise.



I read a story not too long ago about a girl who uses a robot to 'attend' school due to her heightened allergies. This is absolutely an option.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/10/29/robot-goes-to-class-for-student-with-dangerous-allergies/

So I have a question: if the smell of food is making her sick, what does she eat? :blink: I realize how sensitive odour allergies can be but I have to say this is a first. I would suggest to management that perhaps telecommuting might be a better option for this employee so that they can better control their work environment (i.e., home) if it is that extreme.

Ha! Good point! I get that sometimes people heat up really odorous things in the microwave and that it can sometimes be really foul (hello! fish in curry sauce!) but I gotta say that she seems to be sensitive to even the "smell" of hot tea. It was suggested to her to just work from home all the time and her reponse was that she wanted an office so that she could shut her door. :|

We'll see where it goes!

Something 'smells' ba dum BUM with this lady.

Could she being going beyond what she is actually experiencing just to get an office?

Ding, ding, ding!

We have a winner.

[JustJo]

I suspect that Medusa's co-worker is angling for an office, too...what she's doing seems rather extreme. The smell of all food? Really?

Adults, I think, should be capable of managing their allergies and informing people what they need in order to be safe and comfortable. However, there are some times when that just won't work. Reasonable accomodations are...reasonable. Telling people they can't eat any food or ever use any scented product in their everyday work environment...ever...doesn't seem reasonable.

Having said that, I think it's a very different situation when it comes to life-threatening allergies in children. Children need special protection and are not as able to regulate and control their environment...let alone be able to foresee all of the potential dangers.

I was once on a plane where they announced that a child onboard had a severe allergy, so no peanut products would be served and please do not open any peanut products carried on board. I'm a diabetic and the food I had brought with me was....you guessed it...a PB sandwich. I explained my dilemma to the flight attendant (on JetBlue) and she was able to bring me soup and crackers instead. I was perfectly happy with that accomodation, for both the child and for me. Yes, low blood sugar can be serious for me....but I don't need to endanger a child's life so I can eat a particular thing.

I don't tend to wear a lot of scent...it's a light and occasional thing for me. I never wear scent when traveling or to the gym....or when I was taking my mother for chemotherapy appointments. I respect close quarters and sensitivities as much as possible...that's just courtesy.

[aishah]

I read a story not too long ago about a girl who uses a robot to 'attend' school due to her heightened allergies. This is absolutely an option.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/10/29/robot-goes-to-class-for-student-with-dangerous-allergies/


i'm wondering how realistic of an option this is for poor/working class or rural parents and kids, where schools aren't willing to make those kinds of accomodations or pay that much money (if they even have that kind of money). not to mention, in this case, this girl's allergies seem to be more extensive, but in the case of a peanut allergy, i don't feel that it's an unreasonable accommodation to not have peanuts in the school environment - in most cases the school is required to provide the least restrictive environment for the child. not to mention...a robot is nice but it doesn't completely deal with the issue of isolation for the child.

[Gemme]

i'm wondering how realistic of an option this is for poor/working class or rural parents and kids, where schools aren't willing to make those kinds of accomodations or pay that much money (if they even have that kind of money). not to mention, in this case, this girl's allergies seem to be more extensive, but in the case of a peanut allergy, i don't feel that it's an unreasonable accommodation to not have peanuts in the school environment - in most cases the school is required to provide the least restrictive environment for the child. not to mention...a robot is nice but it doesn't completely deal with the issue of isolation for the child.

I think that the docs and family were thinking along the lines of keeping her alive, first and foremost, and then dealing with social issues later but I see your point. She is pretty restricted as to where she can go and who she can interact with.

I don't know how realistic it is for everyone, but I'm glad it's an option out there for someone in that dire of a situation. For me, if I had medical issues like that, I'd prefer to that to, say, living in a bubble.

This is a guess, but I think that kids in rural areas might not have as many allergies. At least not the ones that can be caused by or aggravated terribly by a lot of the pollution we come in contact with daily. I wish all kids had the experience at least one summer of being able to get out of the city and away from hordes of people and enjoy nature a bit more. Fresh air and more natural surroundings do a body good.

Except if you're allergic to hay, dairy, meat, etc.

:blink:

[Beloved]

My daughter is allergic to tree nuts but peanuts are ok. The first time she reacted it was really scary. I carry an epipen for her at all times. Nut allergies are so scary because they can be so severe and nuts can be hidden in so many things.

[Apocalipstic]

Based on my own allergy experiences I have a hard time even guessing what someone else should do. As populations increase, so will allergies becasue there are more people to have them.

There are different types of allergies. Food allergies like peanuts, turkey, peppers, tea, chicken, shellfish have nothing to do with pollution and are not something only people in urban areas suffer from. I do think many people have no idea what all they are allergic to unless they have testing done and allergy clinics are more plentiful in the city.

Maybe I am over sensitive this morning, but it seems to me that we might be a bit more compassionate?

On the other hand, I get that its annoying when someone can't even stand to smell you tea, or have peanuts on the same flight as you. I really like what JJ said about compromising when the issue came up for her.

It must totally suck to know every person at work hates you because they are being inconvenienced...I do know that I would not be demanding everyone change for me though. Not sure what the balance is.

[aishah]

i didn't have worse or better allergies growing up in a rural area, just different ones...i've found when i'm in rural areas i tend to react more strongly/quickly to dust, dirt, animal hair, etc. and have fewer problems with things like fragrances and chemicals (which i associate with car pollution, being indoors, or in an urban environment). i'm always allergic to dust and dander, but the allergies are way worse at my friend's house who lives down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere or at my sister's - the town i grew up in is near a peanut factory and even though i'm not really allergic to peanuts, the dust from the peanut factory causes my sinuses to go nuts and my eyes to swell up.

i think compromising can be a really good thing :) in many native cultures, smudging is a really important practice and it involves fragrant plants and smoke which can be triggering for folks with mcs. i was organizing a scent-free healing justice practice space at amc last year and one of the compromises we ended up having was to have the native healers smudge outside, away from where the massage/reiki/acupuncture area was.

[Random]

Yes, some people go overboard, but some people are pretty hurtful complaining about other people's allergies.

We don't have allergies to inconvenience you. It's not pretend.

As long as you are OK with my asthma attacks when I come in contact with something I am allergic to I don't even know is there, you can hang out with me.



This hits home with me...

I had to *explain* myself to HR when I had an allergy/asthma attack at work... My lead had the cube next to me and had went heavy on her musk that morning... Her need to feel pretty vs my need to breath...

Nothing like being told you just need to suck it up when your airways are closing...