(Self-) accountability practices and the invisibilized non-able body: a case study of celiac disease

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the non-able body and accountability practices in organizations. Through oral history interviews with celiac-afflicted professionals, we illustrate that employees with this autoimmune condition seek to give an account, but often fail to live up to, accountability standards at work. We focus on the way that social elements of performance, social attributes and embodied perceptions of a healthy body are accounted for in organizations, paying attention to employer-initiated accountability practices and employees’ responses which we term employee-adjusted accountability practices. We find that employees with celiac disease attempt to embody an able body, hiding experiences with the disease and can do violence to their own bodies in the name of accountability. In particular, drawing on Messner (2009), who articulated the experience of ethical violence on the accountable self in organizations, our findings show that the accountable non-able body self can enact physical violence to the body in an attempt to meet accountability expectations. We contribute to a growing body of literature in critical accounting that researches the way that accounting practices restrict the experiences of the accountable embodied self. We extend such efforts by exploring the impact of accountability practices in the area of long-term health and disease management at work.