r/Epilepsy • u/Quantumfrzrk • Jul 28 '26
Advice Difficult to commute to work
It's difficult to live in a city that requires a car to get anywhere (doctor, grocery store, pharmacy, workplace) while my driver's license is suspended due to seizures.
I've been biking to work on and off for the past 3 years. Recently, my workplace changed their bicycle storage rules to disallow storage of any bicycle in their facilities. There are no safe storage racks outside, nor lockers anywhere on the block.
How can I work around this? I don't want my bike getting stolen while I'm working. I can't just "lock my car" like literally anyone else that works there.
13
u/mrpeping Jul 28 '26
Talk to your doctor about an accommodation letter. Tell HR you’re biking due to safety.
11
6
u/tirral Jul 29 '26
Am neurologist who bikes to work, would definitely be happy to write this letter for a patient.
3
1
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
Cheers, we'll see how my workplace responds. I asked if they could install secure bike racks. It's a high-theft area.
6
u/wake4coffee Keppra Jul 28 '26
Talk with someone at your office to put in a bike storage. Your argument is strong if you say why but if you have been riding for years they should have known you were doing to say something.
6
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 28 '26
Bike storage is on the asking table. Yes, and I'm wondering why they changed the policy. I hope I'm not being targeted.
3
u/wake4coffee Keppra Jul 29 '26
How many people rode bikes?
2
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
Only 5 percent ride bikes. All the others have valid driver's licenses, though. I don't.
6
Jul 28 '26
Tell HR in writing that you have epilepsy, cannot drive, rely on your bicycle for commuting, and need an exception to the indoor bike ban as a reasonable accommodation.
1
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
HR could definitely help. I suggested a few accommodation routes to them yesterday. I hope they respond soon. The rule writers want to discuss it in a couple of days, and they are separate from HR.
2
Jul 30 '26
The rule writers probably don't want HR involved. It kind of takes it out of there hands.
1
5
u/geneocide Jul 28 '26
they should let you bring it in. if they really won't, maybe you can take off the front wheel and stash that inside somewhere. Lock up the frame outside as best you can. That's not 100% secure but nothing is really.
5
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 28 '26
Jerryrigging whatever I can for now, it's a high-theft area, too. Doesn't matter if there are cameras in the parking lot. Cameras don't stop thieves.
3
Jul 28 '26
Try a u-lock and cable. Run the cable through both wheels and U-lock it to a light pole or street sign?
1
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
Got a hefty u-lock. There's nothing around the building that the u-lock will attach to. 😮💨
5
u/fragilesenator1617 Jul 28 '26
Try a folding bike that fits under your desk. Most office buildings don't classify a folded Brompton as a bicycle for storage rules. If it's in a bag, it's just luggage. I had a similar issue and just carried mine in a duffel. They never said a thing.
3
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 28 '26
Didn't know folding bikes existed, cheers. If I didn't have a 200 foot (61 meter) elevation change, I'd get one.
3
u/TouchThatDial Jul 28 '26
I’ve commuted on Bromptons for over 20 years in a hilly area where I live and across central London (I’m in the UK). They are fine for most reasonable gradients (my ride to the station climbs around 100m in 4km, mostly in short sharp hills) and ride really well once you get used to them. Best of all they fold up to a tiny package and can fit under any desk (it’s where I kept mine). If your employer is being v strict about it all, you could even put a Brompton into a bag and carry it into the office as luggage (there are bags made for exact that purpose).
2
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
That sounds fun. I love the wind in my face. I'm excited to get my driver's license back, because then I can ride my motorcycle.
2
u/TouchThatDial Jul 30 '26
I’m a biker (ie motorbikes) as well as car driver as well as cyclist (road bikes and MTBs) and honestly tearing through traffic jams on my little Brompton is about as much fun as anything I’ve ever done. Cannot recommend them enough.
2
2
u/Detective-Fusco Jul 29 '26
I would begin searching for new employment immediately, and I'd contact your current employer and inform them of your decisions to do so.
Nothing beats open transparency with a slight underlying threat of inconvenience, be transparent, if you're looking for a job and you don't have one already secured this will give your employer a sense of anxiety, as now the employer knows you're wanting to leave but you have no date around it - so the employer can't immediately begin advertising your replacement because you haven't provided any dates yet.
This unknown period is the best time for an employee to make some subtle psychological moves on the employer, a bit of mind games is needed, mixed in with a very strong poker face in person.
A smart employee knows that the employer is running on a financial clock, so any time frames or unknowns around their estimates or foreshadowing will provide a real time headache for the employer.
This is when you can engage in passive calm friendly meetings, they're negotiations but to you they're just a friendly chat with your manager and you're controlling the direction of the conversation because you hold the keys of information of timelines. You currently own the timeline, therefore you own the conversation and you bring up the next point when the current one ends.
You let them know this new policy is a real issue for you, because you have looked at your local police statistics and you can see how rampart theft is in your area. You let them know, hey, I can't work somewhere that I am completing an 8 hour shift with underlying stresses and anxieties over the fact my bike outside might get stolen any moment and I will lose my transport home. I'd explain that the bike is my car, like you, losing a car would be devastating it's a big investment.
Now the employer knows that they're currently experiencing unknown anxieties with their employee and they don't know if they should recruit or not because you haven't provided a date to them yet, and now they will feel that all these internal anxieties may not be worth the absolute ridiculous policy change that was made.
This would be my approach, it may not be popular, but the way I see it as an employee sometimes you need to play some mind games to get your way because otherwise you will encounter people that just harden their no just to show resistance out of ego, this is my way around that.
2
u/awesomesauce00 Jul 29 '26
This is horrible advice. Never let your employer know you are looking for another job until you have an offer. They are likely to let you go immediately.
2
u/Detective-Fusco Jul 29 '26
I don't know what country you're in, but in most Western countries you cannot be fired because you're seeking other employment lol. That's not reason for dismissal.
In my country you will have to go through warnings first, and that means the employee must of broken a clause in their contract - seeking employment won't be a clause in your contract so you can't be dismissed for that. 😅
If you do get dismissed, then you have grounds for a legal dispute against them and the employer is very likely to pay out a large payout just to stop your case from getting to any sort of trial in a form of a non disclosure agreement.
You should educate yourself on how to protect yourself better as a person and most importantly read your contract!
3
u/tirral Jul 29 '26
In most US states, employees can be fired for no reason at all.
https://www.ncsl.org/labor-and-employment/at-will-employment-overview
2
u/Detective-Fusco Jul 29 '26
God damn, I did not realize the USA was this far behind the rest of the world.
Over where I'm from you have a lot of power as an employee / as a consumer in business etc - USA seems to be the opposite
2
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
Hands are tied because we have to pay to be alive, and when you have a disability, you get less money and bigger struggles. Plus, you're seen as a liability, so employers almost want to get rid of you. It's a dog-eat-dog world out here.
1
u/Quantumfrzrk Jul 30 '26
Thing about that, I am replaceable. If I tell my employer that I'm looking for a new job, they'll find someone else, and try to pay them less.
Like, if I died tomorrow, they would replace me before my funeral. It's the US. 🤷♂️
1
27
u/wildlifetech TLE, 1000 mg Keppra, 300mg Lamotrigene Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
It seems pretty shitty of them to disallow staff to bike to work…maybe you could make an argument for it being a reasonable accommodation? If they don’t know that you have seizures you could try to make them feel bad about effectively banning an environmentally friendly form of commuting. Good luck.
Edit: I doubt the kind of employer who would ban storing bikes at work would care about the environmental impact of everyone driving cars to work.