Kim Kozak delivers an impromptu spoken advocacy segment about navigating workplace disability accommodations with mental and physical health conditions, drawing on her background as an ADA consultant and her personal experience with misdiagnosis, neurosurgery, ADHD, GAD, and a self-trained psychiatric service dog. She offers practical, HIPAA-informed guidance on communicating functional capacity deficits to employers rather than disclosing diagnostic labels.
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Transcript
[03:08:24] Kim Kozak
[03:08:26] Kim Kozak to the stage
[03:08:28] And the dog
[03:08:29] Bring the dog too
[03:08:30] I’m going to wander around the stage because I’m super wiggly
[03:08:43] So, my name is Kim
[03:08:46] This is my partner, Joe
[03:08:48] We just finished like 15, 14, 16 something years together
[03:08:51] I don’t know, I’m dyslexic
[03:08:52] It’s very close
[03:08:53] And we’re very happy
[03:08:54] This is my dog, Rowdy
[03:08:55] He’s actually not that rowdy
[03:08:58] As long as you’re human
[03:08:59] Sit down, boo
[03:09:00] Lie down for me, please
[03:09:02] Can you lie down, please?
[03:09:04] So, he’s been on airplanes and in operating rooms together
[03:09:07] And pursuant to current law
[03:09:09] I trained him myself
[03:09:10] So, anyhow
[03:09:12] Raise your hand if you or somebody you know
[03:09:15] Because it’s not necessarily us
[03:09:17] Raise your hand if somebody that you know has a service dog
[03:09:20] That’s been trained
[03:09:23] Are any of these mobility service dogs?
[03:09:24] Or emotional support dogs?
[03:09:26] Yell it out
[03:09:27] I can’t see
[03:09:28] Emotional support
[03:09:29] Emotional support
[03:09:30] Anybody have a mobility one?
[03:09:31] Good
[03:09:32] That’s very cool
[03:09:33] So, my psychiatrist believed that my dog was originally trained as a vet’s PTSD dog
[03:09:38] Due to his comportment when I brought him in for service viability assessment
[03:09:41] I thought I would share his story a little bit
[03:09:43] Because we just had the 4th of July
[03:09:45] And Joe can attest to the fact that he shit all over himself every time the big fireworks went off
[03:09:50] So, if you don’t happen to need support whenever you should
[03:09:53] Then I think a trained service dog might need to be a little bit retooled
[03:09:57] But we got him through the 4th of July just fine
[03:09:59] So, I want to thank you all for your presentations
[03:10:02] You really motivated me to get up here and actually decide what I wanted to talk about
[03:10:06] I’m extraordinarily unprepared
[03:10:07] And that’s mainly because
[03:10:09] Like some of my ADHD friends
[03:10:11] I do some of my best work at the last minute
[03:10:13] And so, can I get a round for attention deficit storage?
[03:10:18] Yeah
[03:10:19] Right?
[03:10:20] So, has anyone seen the movie where there’s like bald aliens?
[03:10:23] That drink a lot of milk?
[03:10:25] I don’t know the name of it
[03:10:26] But I know it’s out there
[03:10:27] Because I’ve been made fun of before
[03:10:29] Reformed
[03:10:30] Been made fun of for
[03:10:31] Because of it
[03:10:32] But I carry around a liter or gallon of milk with me all the time
[03:10:35] Because I’ve lost my swallow function
[03:10:37] So, I’m one of the few people that have a rare biological disease
[03:10:40] That has magnificent mental health implications
[03:10:44] I took myself to the Psyche Yard for the first time in 2017
[03:10:47] Even though I was a six figure world traveling consultant
[03:10:51] I knew that once you started to scream
[03:10:52] And you needed to scream and laugh
[03:10:54] You needed to go ahead and go to the Psyche Yard at that point in time
[03:10:57] So, subsequently I’ve been through a roller coaster of ups and downs
[03:11:00] Of misdiagnoses and correct diagnoses
[03:11:02] And accept your diagnoses
[03:11:03] And then I’ve settled into
[03:11:05] I really don’t care what the acronyms are anymore
[03:11:07] Anybody have too many acronyms?
[03:11:09] Too many acronyms?
[03:11:10] All that really matters is what your functional capacity deficit is
[03:11:14] As is viewed by other people
[03:11:16] So, I used to be an ADA consultant related to the disability law
[03:11:21] And I did voc rehab
[03:11:23] And it’s because I was bangin’ disabled and I was functional
[03:11:26] So, I can help other people that were disabled too
[03:11:29] But I didn’t know that I didn’t have the proper diagnoses
[03:11:32] And living a long, long, long, long, long time with the wrong diagnoses
[03:11:35] Anybody have problems with that?
[03:11:37] Incorrect diagnoses?
[03:11:39] Or wrong meds?
[03:11:40] It’s kind of almost the same thing
[03:11:41] The point is don’t give up, right?
[03:11:43] Don’t give up
[03:11:44] So, pursuant to that
[03:11:46] I’ve always sort of been the resume person and the HR consultant
[03:11:50] And, you know, give people jobs
[03:11:51] But at the end of the day you have to be able to negotiate a reasonable accommodation
[03:11:55] If you need some sort of an accommodation, right?
[03:11:57] Do you know what you need?
[03:11:58] No
[03:11:59] Do I know what I need?
[03:12:00] No
[03:12:01] Does it matter what my acronyms are?
[03:12:02] No
[03:12:03] Because under HIPAA your employer doesn’t actually have to know your diagnoses
[03:12:06] What they need to know is what are your functional capacity deficits
[03:12:09] And what type of an accommodation might you need to do this job?
[03:12:13] And that’s where we all sort of fall off into this world
[03:12:16] We only talk over here with these doctors that use big old words like
[03:12:20] I don’t know
[03:12:21] Gynandromorphophiliac
[03:12:22] And just other things that I don’t even know the definition for
[03:12:26] So, but when you go to work
[03:12:28] And you go and you put that resume in
[03:12:30] And you made it through the interview
[03:12:32] And you’re super anxious because my GAD is out of control
[03:12:35] Here’s for some out of control GAD every now and then
[03:12:38] It sort of helps you get along in life if you can acknowledge that you need to address it, right?
[03:12:43] But you have to be able to tell them
[03:12:45] And this is where I’m at right now in my life
[03:12:47] So I was a professional
[03:12:49] I cried, but it’s okay
[03:12:51] I was a professional
[03:12:52] I had neurosurgery
[03:12:55] And to articulate what’s wrong with me is extraordinarily difficult
[03:12:59] Because it’s not the same every day
[03:13:02] And I know that you’re all going to be stuck
[03:13:11] Anyhow, you’re all going to be stuck in the same boat as me
[03:13:13] If you’re not currently working in an accommodated environment
[03:13:16] And you happen to be in an accommodation
[03:13:18] Most of you probably don’t
[03:13:20] Everybody I’ve seen up here, I’d love to work right next to you
[03:13:22] Just be your authentic self right alongside me
[03:13:24] And we figure out how to make the world a better place
[03:13:26] But until then
[03:13:28] Until then
[03:13:30] While you go about trying to be your authentic self
[03:13:32] I just want to encourage you all
[03:13:34] Because your HR department and your managers don’t speak medical jargon
[03:13:38] And they don’t care what your acronyms are
[03:13:40] What they want to know is when you are triggered
[03:13:42] Whether it’s a biological trigger
[03:13:44] They can see that old people can’t do certain things because they’re old
[03:13:46] And feeble
[03:13:48] But they can’t see it in you and in me
[03:13:50] Because we look strong and healthy and with it
[03:13:52] And fine and not triggered
[03:13:54] So you need to know when you’re triggered
[03:13:56] You need to be able to say, I’m triggered
[03:13:58] And you need to be able to say
[03:14:00] I need to now have my accommodation due to my trigger
[03:14:02] And the people around you just need to know what that accommodation is
[03:14:04] And that’s it
[03:14:06] It’s usually just to step away for about five minutes
[03:14:08] Compose yourself and come back to work, right?
[03:14:10] So that’s not too hard to talk about
[03:14:12] And so all you have to do is get a letter from your doctor
[03:14:14] That says this person has an illness
[03:14:16] Period
[03:14:18] Maybe they might want mental or physical
[03:14:20] It doesn’t really matter, an illness
[03:14:22] That qualifies for accommodation under the ADA
[03:14:24] They are triggered by
[03:14:26] List three things, even if you only have two
[03:14:28] Because three is a nice good number
[03:14:30] And these are the types of accommodations that
[03:14:32] That person could have in the work environment
[03:14:34] Potentially that would work
[03:14:36] Which is usually a five minute timeout
[03:14:38] And then you could even say something like
[03:14:40] If I take too many, you can dock me an hour
[03:14:42] At the end of the week
[03:14:44] Which is fair, but I probably will only take two a week
[03:14:46] For five minutes, is that reasonable?
[03:14:48] So until you can articulate your functional capacity deficits
[03:14:50] In terms of HR
[03:14:52] You’re still going to hit the mental health wall
[03:14:54] And I hate it
[03:14:56] Because it doesn’t matter what your acronyms are
[03:14:58] As long as you’re living your authentic self
[03:15:00] And you’re living healthy for your biology
[03:15:02] And your mental health
[03:15:04] What does it matter?
[03:15:06] You do what your therapist says and you take your meds
[03:15:08] And so I just want to encourage you all
[03:15:10] Because being stuck in the time in between jobs
[03:15:12] Is difficult for everyone
[03:15:14] And sometimes we have to change careers
[03:15:16] Because we can no longer do what we did before
[03:15:18] So those of you who stuck it out
[03:15:20] Our police officer who stuck it out
[03:15:22] We need folks like that
[03:15:24] And it doesn’t matter if it’s customer service, retail
[03:15:26] If it’s Marshalls Ross
[03:15:28] Or if it’s like something in the Biden administration
[03:15:30] That’s going to help folks recover from COVID
[03:15:32] We need people to stick out their jobs
[03:15:34] Our neighbors and what not
[03:15:36] So anyhow
[03:15:38] I just wanted to maybe take a moment to
[03:15:40] Encourage you from the perspective
[03:15:42] Of where I’m trying to encourage myself
[03:15:44] And let you know that
[03:15:46] If you want to help with your resume
[03:15:48] I may not get to it very soon
[03:15:50] But just see me after
[03:15:52] I’ll give you some feedback