Systemic barriers of health inequality: Committing to an academic career with celiac disease

This chapter produces a counter-account to call for ethics of care in workplaces, particularly within universities. Drawing on autoethnography, this chapter builds a counter-account to the practical workings of current diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, demonstrating that practices are insufficiently equipped to create truly supportive mechanisms for individuals to manage their academic careers with physical health conditions. Focusing on personal testimony as a lecturer living with the autoimmune disorder celiac disease, the counter-account in this chapter narrates struggles, insecurities and obstacles faced at work. Through four autoethnographic vignettes the testimony explores the barriers created by initial and subsequent occupational health procedures, standardized management processes and universally applied DEI methods. Grounded in counter-accounts that break the heart, the chapter discusses how the performance of such counter-accounts and the resulting activism serve as attempts to (re)humanize DEI policies and management processes. It contributes to ongoing debates on how to visualize and challenge barriers more forcefully.