Because I look healthy and don't complain about my aches and pains and fatigue, people expect me to do everything they do, as quickly and as well as they do. Some expect me to do more on the job since I don't have any children making demands on my after school hours. I have now taught for 20 years. I wear leg, wrist and neck braces as needed and use a scooter to get me around work.

Up until the middle of last June, I taught full-time. However, after mind-numbing fatigue, pain and harassment on the job last year, I decided to finish out the year teaching just half days. I found this still too much, so as of December this school year, I started working just four afternoons with Wednesday off. This works much better. Pain and fatigue are still there but the job is now manageable.

Pain, fatigue, poor balance and coordination have been a part of my life since childhood. In the last 12 years it has gradually increased. However, I've always been able to hide it fairly well until last year. At this time, two of my colleagues started to harass me at work. The one teacher asked me to do her yard duty and I told her I would have gladly done it if I'd been wearing slacks against the cold. For the last year and a half, she has not spoken to me directly.
Another staff member has also written me a harassing letter.

The comments, gestures and atmosphere got so bad last spring that the person in charge of the Employee Assistance Program for the school board, together with my occupational therapist, gave the staff a presentation about CMT and how if affects my life at home and work and most of the staff were more understanding after that. One lady on staff told me that is she had to go through what I go through every morning just to get to work she'd never get there. She said I was a very courageous person and she certainly had to hand it to me, the way I carried out the duties of my job.

At the beginning of this school year, the harassment started again and I went straight to the principal and told him. He spoke to her and all in all this is a much better school year.

So all of you CMT people, keep your chin up; those who harass you eventually lose their audience and influence and the harassment and discrimination does die down if people come to understand your CMT limitations and respect you as an individual.