Table 2.

Themes From Interviews and Illustrative Quotes

Benefits of working from home	Fewer distractions (n =12)	“I’m more productive working on my own becausethere’s no distraction….There are some really noisy people who sit near me in the office, and I find it really distracting like when I’m on a call [and] I can’t hear my client.”
	Not having to travel to work (n =10)	“The lockdown made it easier for me because I didn’t have to spend time going to work. My productivity increased dramatically as a result of lockdown because I didn’t need to go and get from my wheelchair into my car and go into the university.”
Challenges working during COVID-19	Lack of support (n =8)	“I first went back in June last year; I was very anxious, because of not being allowed to wear a face covering and getting close to these children. I was extremely anxious.”
	Barriers to receiving reasonable adjustments (n =6)	“One of the things that I feel we battle with is…there are a lot of people with MS who know perfectly well the specific things that they would need to make them more productive. But there are some hardliners out there who are not willing to consider that. They just do not believe in it.”
Relevance of manager	Supportive manager (n = 6)	“My manager and the administration manager…were quite happy to let me work from home. Even this year I was waiting until I was fully vaccinated before they wanted to integrate me back into the school.”
	Disengagement of manager (n =3)	“I’d been off for 5 months. They didn’t keep me up to speed with what was happening….My manager was lacking contact [with] me, so it was only through some of my colleagues that I found out what was going on.”
Returning to normal	Continuation of working from home (n =6)	“I’ve just changed my contract to work permanentlyfrom home. I hadn’t considered it, or I hadn’t thought about it before.”
	Concerns about returning to the office (n =5)	“I have some anxiety about the vulnerability to infection because it is an enclosed space, it is recirculating air, and I am conscious that the medication I’m on for my MS will reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines.”
Vocational needs	(n =7)	“I phoned up [human resources] and asked for advice and they said, ‘Well, go and do some exercise,’ and I said, ‘I can’t. I need you to actually take my circumstances into account.’”

MS, multiple sclerosis.

Note: The number below the subthemes reflects the number of interviewees contributing to each.