Karen gained weight, her boss told her she could no longer work as a receptionist. She was sent to work in the post room instead. “He told me the news during a team meeting – it wasn’t even in a private interview,” she says. “Everybody accepted it as a normal decision, including myself. I thought it was my own fault; I shouldn’t have gained the weight.
She was supposed to wear the company’s clothes behind the reception desk.
“At one point I reached size 18, but their clothes only went up to size 14. I asked if I could wear something else.
I said I had clothes in the same style. But they made it clear it would be bad for the company’s image to have an overweight person in reception.
She was supposed to wear the company’s clothes behind the reception desk.
“At one point I reached size 18, but their clothes only went up to size 14. I asked if I could wear something else – I said I had clothes in the same style. But they made it clear it would be bad for the company’s image to have an overweight
Only later, when she ended up in a wheelchair due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome(a disorder of the connecting tissue that had nothing to do with her weight), did Karen come to understand her earlier treatment in the workplace.
“I was so used to people looking at my body and judging me that I never experienced this as discrimination. But sitting in a wheelchair, I noticed people stopped looking at my body and started looking at my wheels – and it made me realise just how much of what I encountered in my earlier life was due to body shaming. That’s when it dawned on me that what happened at that clothing company was totally wrong.”
She was supposed to wear the company’s clothes behind the reception desk.
“At one point I reached size 18, but their clothes only went up to size 14. I asked if I could wear something else.
I said I had clothes in the same style. But they made it clear it would be bad for the company’s image to have an overweight person in reception.
She was supposed to wear the company’s clothes behind the reception desk.
“At one point I reached size 18, but their clothes only went up to size 14. I asked if I could wear something else – I said I had clothes in the same style. But they made it clear it would be bad for the company’s image to have an overweight
Only later, when she ended up in a wheelchair due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome(a disorder of the connecting tissue that had nothing to do with her weight), did Karen come to understand her earlier treatment in the workplace.
“I was so used to people looking at my body and judging me that I never experienced this as discrimination. But sitting in a wheelchair, I noticed people stopped looking at my body and started looking at my wheels – and it made me realise just how much of what I encountered in my earlier life was due to body shaming. That’s when it dawned on me that what happened at that clothing company was totally wrong.”
yes it's okay to believe you're beautiful
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