Thread by @taracdennehy

My academic TL is *thrilled to announce* that they are starting amazing new positions, winning awards, publishing papers, presenting at conferences...

In applying for disability I’m realizing just how badly my attempted career in academia has screwed me over.

#DisabledinSTEM 🧵

I’ve been absent on Twitter (& DMs & email) lately because all of my energy has just been going to trying to survive.

But it is absolutely incredible just how badly the nature of grad & precarious academic contracts harm disabled and chronically ill academics

I did my PhD at @UMassAmherst. The Commonwealth of MA does not pay into Social Security for its employees. But because I left and did not become disabled *to the point of needing to completely work* while I was there, I have no disability coverage from MA. And no SSDI credits.

Although my first 1.5 years of employment as a postdoc in Canada *would* count toward SSDI through US-Canada reciprocal social security agreements, my last 1.5 years have been funded by a Banting postdoc award. UBC does not pay into Canadian EI for postdoc awardees.

Because I am in Canada on a work permit and my funding came from an academic fellowship, I am ineligible for any EI or disability benefits in Canada. But because I currently live in Canada, I am also ineligible to receive SSI from the United States.

“Fun” fact: If postdoc awardees *were* treated like employees for the purposes of EI, I could be eligible for up to 15 weeks of paid leave through Canada’s EI Sickness Benefit even as a temporary resident on a work permit. But we aren’t.

To qualify for SSDI for the US, you need to have earned a sufficient number of work credits in the last 10 years. In the last 10 years I have had three employers: UMass Amherst, Target (the summer of my last PhD year), and UBC. And only half of my years at UBC count.

I’m 36. Except for a handful of months, I have worked between part-time and full-time since age 16. I worked throughout college, my MA, and my PhD. But a lot of my employers were universities. And many of my jobs were time-limited contracts. And I had to move around a lot.

So what happens now? The answer seems to be that I fall straight through a giant hole in the social safety nets.

In academia, you work for a lot of years under (often) awful conditions—for limited pay + benefits—for the promise of a shot at a faculty job, with tenure and benefits. But what happens if you can’t make that far, because you get too sick while you’re still (relatively) young?

With the increasingly competitive nature of academic jobs (& grad schools), many postdocs are in their 30s (or 40+s). What are the chances that someone will become disabled, or have an existing disability worsen to the point they cannot work at those ages?

Academia is set up to favor people who *have* resources, families they can fall back on. Marginalized academics (be they BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, first gen, etc.) are all less likely to have family support and intergenerational wealth.

By failing to treat trainees as regular employees, universities not only harm trainees in the present (when it comes to benefits, organizing, etc.), they also seriously jeopardize their futures. We all hope to have long, healthy lives. But how many of us get that?

I was diagnosed with Relapsing Polychondritis—a rare and serious autoimmune disease—18 months ago after over a decade of worsening symptoms. I was pretty optimistic that things would improve once I had a diagnosis. [They haven't.]

https://twitter.com/taracdennehy/status/1232892152708878336?s=20

I kept pushing myself to keep working, even part-time, because of how much I had *already* sacrificed for an academic career. But I kept getting sicker.

This year I went on full medical leave. I was fortunate to have some paid leave through UBC. That is used up now.

When I first went on full-time medical leave, I hoped that it would finally allow me to recover, so that I could come back and resume working toward my academic career. I don’t know that this is possible now. Or wise, even if I do recover.

I haven’t been able to breathe properly since the beginning of April. Not getting enough oxygen has a way of changing your priorities. Staying alive is much more important than a career in academia.

Thank you for reading this far! There are three things I am hoping you will do:
1) Can you please identify & commit to at least 1 action you can do toward abolishing precarious contracts in academia? Student employees, postdocs, and lecturers/adjuncts all deserve security.
[...]

[...]

2) Will you help me survive (for the next three months at least)? Anything helps.
gofund.me/7e8a35a7 #GoFundMe

3) Will you amplify & share this thread?

*to the point of needing to completely STOP working*

[Ugh, typos!!]

For those turned off by the GoFundMe platform, I list some additional ways to help at the bottom of the page (incl. links for gift cards that would be helpful). But I’ll also drop my PayPal and Ko-fi here.

PayPal: paypal.me/TCD212
Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/taracd

Quick caveat to #2 above:

I 100% understand that not everyone is in a position to be able to make a financial contribution. [e.g., I’d guess a fair proportion of my more recent followers are disabled ECRs themselves.]

It is OK to put on your own oxygen mask first in that case!

I totally want an edit button.
*The nature of ‘family support’ is complex. Some provide psychosocial support but are unable to provide financial support. Some provide financial support but nothing else. Some provide none. Support can vary systematically w/demographic factors.

I’m also tacking this on here so it appears in the thread:

https://twitter.com/taracdennehy/status/1408650314656337923

I think I cannot fully math right now. Those three employers get me to just over nine years. But the employer before *that* was San Francisco State University (SFSU). Also a student contract.

Wow, you all! Adding my 24-hours-later update onto this thread:

https://twitter.com/taracdennehy/status/1408984944341176329

48 hours later…

It is too hot here to math or type right now, but I *think* GoFundMe + Paypal + Ko-fi combined have me nearing half way to my goal (over 45%)!

Still need to respond to folks but am trying to get through the heatwave with a broken autonomic nervous system first.

But I am so, so grateful to you all! I keep finding tweets that didn’t pop up in my notifications, but I’m hoping to properly respond once the temperature goes back down.