Telling Tales to Share Multiple Truths: Disability and Workplace Bullying -- A Semi-Fiction Case Study

Abstract

Bullying is widely recognised as a huge problem for workers, and the organisations employing them. While a great deal of workplace bullying research has already been done, two areas have not been adequately investigated: (1) the experiences of disabled workers being bullied, especially in light of their already disadvantaged work lives; and, (2) the multiple perspectives of all those involved in workplace bullying events – targets, third parties, and bullies (or those accused of bullying). This article responds directly to calls from past bullying researchers for more nuanced and sensitive analyses that include the use of creative writing (See Tracy et al., Management Communication Quarterly, 20(2), 148–185, 2006: 177). An in-depth, multiple perspective, semi-fictional case study is shared that showcases a disabled woman’s lived experience of being bullied out of her workplace after disclosing her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) to her line manager.