My New Home Office Is Sitting Disability Approved.

A photo of my standing desk. There are text labels and arrows that point out the most important features. They show my work surface (the coffee table on top of the desk), my back pain books, the storage bins underneath the desk, and the chair which I use as a kneeler.
All my workplace essentials.

Recently, I finished converting the basement room of our house into an office for myself. It was a welcome, but strange, exercise. This room was supposed to be for my sole use. I could create any setup that I’d find comfortable. There was no assumption that anyone would be doing much sitting.

Had I been given a completely blank canvas, I would have been wracked with indecision as I tried to figure out whether a bookcase or dresser would make a better standing desk. But fortunately, my canvas came with an outline on it. The housemate who had recently vacated the room left some basic furniture, and I had some leftover pieces from my old apartment, so the renovation was done at a total cost of $0.

The bed became my primary workstation, once I added my own linens and a suitable number of pillows.

The desk took only slightly more effort. I stacked a cheap coffee table on top of a regular desk (my favorite trick) and made sure there were coasters and Kleenex on it. After a few days, it occurred to me that it was a shame to waste the under-desk space, so I added some dröna boxes from IKEA.

A photo of my standing desk. It's composed of a dark wood desk with a matching coffee table stacked on top of it. There's a lamp placed behind the desk to the right. On top of my desk, you can see my computer, water bottle, and Kleenex. Underneath the desk there are couple of colorful storage bins. A wooden-backed dining room chair is placed in front of my desk, and has been rotated clockwise 90 degrees.
My office has eight recessed light bulbs, three windows, and two lamps. It WILL be light enough!

I know what you’re thinking: Something’s wrong with this picture. Isn’t this office supposed to be a no-sitting zone?

The chair looks a little silly to me as well. After all, when I inherited the room from our housemate, the first thing I did was get rid of the office chair. I figured it was about as useful to me as a beard trimmer.

But as I used my desk, it occurred to me that something was missing. When I stood there stock-still, holding video calls or eating breakfast, I got fidgety. I wished there was some way I could kneel, or partially kneel, to take the weight off one leg at a time. Then it dawned on me that what I needed was…a chair.

And so, I recruited one from our dining room set, which I certainly was not using for dining, and turned it into a kneeling pad. During video calls, I’m usually standing like this:

A photo of me standing at my desk. I have my left knee on the chair. I'm giving the camera a halfhearted, dopey grin.
If I can’t have a peg leg, I can at least use a wooden chair.

The final arrangement works nicely for me. I give it my own sitting disability stamp of approval.

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