When you think about the accessibility and inclusivity of our learning and working environments, does temperature come to mind?
Discussions about temperature can be complicated because they are quickly confused with preference, meaning that by raising the issue someone risks being viewed as selfish or fussy.
But let’s think of this another way for a moment. I love nuts – others might not like them. But still others are allergic to nuts and could be made seriously ill by them.
The same principle is true about temperature – you might have a preference for warmer or cooler temperatures, but only at extreme levels would this preference become a health issue.
But for colleagues and students with a wide range of health conditions, even small temperature changes are a health issue.
Temperature as an EDI issue
I am surprised how hard it is to find information that openly discusses temperature as an EDI issue. There is widespread information discussing employers’ legal responsibility to provide a safe working temperature – articles about the harmful effects of extreme temperature on health and the likelihood of this increasing due to climate change.
However, discussions about how smaller workplace temperature changes can have a disabling effect now is generally hidden on pages relevant to specific groups or health conditions.
By smaller temperature changes, I am referring to apparently inconsequential things like walking, moving between spaces (e.g. outside to inside or between rooms) or the crowded rooms.
Many people would adapt to these situations automatically e.g. taking off a jumper. However, for others these small everyday increases or decreases in temperature require planning, and can cause anxiety and significant discomfort or health impact.
Menopause awareness discussions are leading the way in voicing the impact of workplace temperature and employer responsibility. Research highlights the prevalence of heat-related issues linked to menopause and the importance of the ability to control local temperature to help manage symptoms in the work environment.
Significantly, however, studies also voice the shame individuals encounter in living through this normal and widespread experience in the workplace:
I spent most of my time when I used to work with my head in a fan and colleagues laughing at my hot flushes. It was too hot in the office for me and I felt hot sweaty and embarrassed all the time.
However, menopause is far from the only reason a small temperature change might have a significant impact on health and wellbeing. Many health conditions are also affected.
The correlation between temperature and exacerbation of symptoms is perhaps particularly unsurprising with multiple sclerosis – before MRI scanners, observing a patient’s functioning in a hot bath was a key part of the diagnostic process.
Likewise, the MS Trust states that 60-80 per cent of people with MS find symptoms worsen with even small changes in temperature. As Jennifer Powell succinctly puts it:
Heat is kryptonite to anyone with multiple sclerosis.
What exactly does ‘worsening symptoms’ mean for someone with MS? It might include a deterioration in mobility, balance, vision, and brain functioning:
“Heat makes my nervous system act a bit like a computer with a broken cooling fan. First it acts a bit strange, then programs start crashing and then you get the dreaded ‘blue screen of death’ when all you can do is switch off for a while then start all over again when things have cooled down.
It may also trigger or exacerbate nerve pain ranging from itching or numbness to stabbing or electric shock sensations. This is a far cry from preference.
But again, MS is not the only health condition affected by small changes in heat. When you start to scratch the surface, the range of conditions that may be affected is startling. They include circulatory, rheumatological (e.g. Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis), mental health, neurological (e.g. spinal damage) and neurodevelopmental (e.g. autism) conditions.
Sometimes it is the treatment, rather than condition itself, that causes difficulties with temperature regulation.
As well as the chemotherapy causing difficulties with temperature regulation, Rebekah Hughes describes how it triggered early menopause. She also raises the important point that hot flushes affect individuals differently – for some they might be barely noticeable, for others they severely impact daily life. We need to allow space for differences in individual experience.
What is the cost of ignoring this issue?
From the discussion so far, we can clearly see that temperature affects some staff and students’ experience of normal day-to-day work and study, and impacts their health, wellbeing and sense of belonging. It may also impact performance in high-stakes events.
Typical academic high-stakes events include assessed presentations, interviews, conferences and exams. They often cause temporary stress, which may cause small increases in body temperature.
Individuals usually have reduced personal control to make their own adaptations in these contexts. This raises important questions about the inclusivity of our assessment, recruitment and professional development opportunities. These activities are gatekeeping moments in an individual’s academic and professional journey. However, there is a strong case that the activities and the environments in which they take place may have an unrecognised, yet substantial and possibly disabling, impact on some due to hidden temperature factors.
Next steps?
We might be left thinking that this is an impossible situation – some people need warmer working conditions, others cooler. We might be afraid to start a conversation about temperature for fear of opening a can of worms. However, we do well to remember that some individuals are affected by multiple health conditions – some that make them susceptible to heat, others that make them susceptible to cold. They have to find a way to manage this complexity, and if we are committed to EDI, we must too.
Moreover, the first step is not to try and jump to a quick-fix solution. Instead, we simply need to be aware that this hidden issue might be affecting a surprising number of our students and colleagues.
We need to continue to develop a compassionate campus culture where colleagues and students feel safe to share the challenges they face and the strategies that help, and a space where they will be heard.
