Navigating a Medical Diagnosis While Practicing Law

Allison (Ali) London, a Georgetown Law grad, was living her dream, practicing law in the heart of New York City with a reputable law firm, working on large, prominent cases. She worked long hours, was pressured to perform at high levels, and loved every minute. She loved the way it made her think, she loved the legal writing, and she loved the challenge of building an argument. To put it simply, she loved the practice of law.

In 2006, two years into her practice as a litigation associate, Ali had a sudden onset of medical symptoms, causing problems using her hands and frequent, painful contractions in her neck and back. This arose in the midst of a high-profile case that required long working hours. Ali requested special accommodations and had to work her schedule around doctor’s appointments. Her firm provided accommodations to help her, but the absence of a diagnosis and course of treatment was wearing on her. Typing became so difficult that she had to use a dictating machine. The spasms and the fatigue they caused made sitting up in an office chair nearly impossible. Even holding the telephone was a challenge. In 2007, Ali had to take multiple medical leaves for evaluation and surgery to have a rib removed. A second rib was removed the following year, but symptoms worsened, and she couldn’t return to work, reluctantly retiring from the practice of law at the age of 29.

Ali was met with a great deal of compassion and understanding in her firm and among her friends and family. Thanks to her legal training, she learned to advocate for herself and for those with similar medical conditions. Through a series of misdiagnoses and mistreatments, Ali saw no less than a dozen doctors and was told that she had everything from body migraines to multiple sclerosis. It wasn’t until 2009 that she finally received an accurate diagnosis. She had dystonia.

Dystonia is a neurological disorder causing excessive, involuntary muscle contractions and spasms, which can force the body into awkward, painful, and often debilitating postures. Ali was suffering from multiple types of dystonia, most significantly truncal dystonia, which impacts the muscles in the trunk of the body, including the chest, back, and abdomen.

The legal field presents a special challenge to those with developing medical conditions. For one, it is easy for medical practitioners to dismiss medical complaints as a symptom of stress since we live under the pressures of a very stressful job. For another, the demands of the job to work long hours, to always be available, and to take on the burden of high-stakes cases make it particularly difficult to care for ourselves while also performing at the same level.

Ali acknowledges that it took a lot of courage to bring up her medical issues and needs to her bosses. But she says that it’s imperative to be comfortable talking about it, to answer questions, and to get knowledge out there. There are legal protections afforded to persons with disabilities and medical conditions for a reason, and it is important to utilize those protections to obtain necessary accommodations. We, as advocates, are poised to do this, even if we aren’t accustomed to doing it for ourselves. She advises that you look at yourself as your own representative and, just as you do what is best for your client, do what is best for you. What is best for you may not align with your current employer or clients, but, as Ali states, “That’s what medical conditions do. They throw us into a state of chaos, and we have to figure things out for ourselves. And that’s what I did. I’m proud of myself for it. I’m better for it.”

Ali certainly has put her life into figuring it out. Though she no longer is able to practice law in the traditional sense, Ali has parlayed her legal training into advocacy for those with similar medical conditions. As a board member of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, Ali strives to educate the public about dystonia and to raise funds to support research and treatment for the more than 300,000 Americans living with this condition. Dystonia still has no cure, and it is only through public awareness and support that a cure can be found.

For more information about your rights and protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s website.