Why People with MS are Really Leaving Work: From a Clayton’s Choice to an Ugly Passage – A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Where some studies have suggested that people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) may leave a workplace as a result of disease progression, this qualitative study, situated in Australia, found that people with MS might really be leaving work as a result of ugly organizational processes. The influence of discrimination and a hostile work environment on the careers of people with MS seem to have been under-emphasized in previous studies. Two themes are reported that support this contention: that the decision to leave a workplace is effectively a “Clayton’s Choice”-- the choice you have when you don’t really have a choice -- and “An Ugly Passage.”