Did you know that three out of every four Americans live with at least one chronic health condition? While some conditions can be prevented through diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices, many cannot.
Whether you have a chronic health condition, like Lyme disease, neuropathic pain, diabetes, mental health challenges, or arthritis, that affects your energy levels, mental health, or leaves you in discomfort, we have a list of jobs for people with chronic illnesses or disabilities.
My Life With a Chronic Illness
Years ago, I worked as a pediatric nurse on a medical-surgical unit at the Children’s Hospital. While there was a lot of flexibility with this job, and it came with good benefits and pay, it also came with a lot of stress.
I worked 12-hour shifts from 7 PM to 7 AM. Not only is the graveyard shift hard on one’s body, but you also have fewer resources and staff to assist you during these hours.
Over the course of a year, I had seven children crash on me. There were seven situations where children were so sick they almost died and had to be transferred to the PICU. This stress, coupled with late hours, put my body into a tailspin.
I went to the doctor to tell him about my symptoms, panic attacks, anxiety, weight gain, chronic fatigue, sleep issues, and gastrointestinal problems, only to discover that I had hypothyroidism. A chronic condition that I will forever have to take medication for, and one that often wreaks havoc on my overall well-being.
Living with chronic illness can be a huge challenge.
The good news is that there are many part-time jobs, freelance careers, and home-based business opportunities that allow you to set your own schedule, making it easier to earn an income when you have a chronic illness. When you work for yourself, you can work when you’re feeling up to it and take breaks when you need to.
If you’re struggling to keep a job and earn an income due to your chronic condition, here are some of the best remote jobs for people with a chronic illness or disability.
Home-Based Jobs for People with a Chronic Illness or Disability
1. 1099 Independent Contracting Jobs
While most remote jobs require a set schedule, most independent contracting jobs offer flexible work options, both in terms of scheduling and hours worked, allowing you to work around your medical needs. One thing to note about these employment opportunities is that you’ll be responsible for paying self-employment taxes, so be sure to set aside money for taxes. Talking to an accountant or tax professional can help you understand your responsibilities as a self-employed individual.
2. Bookkeeping
If you’ve got a mind for numbers, running a virtual bookkeeping business may give you the flexibility and freedom you need. If you don’t already have bookkeeping experience, you’ll want to invest in a short online training program, such as the Bookkeepers. With the Bookkeepers, you’ll learn everything you need to get started; it’s self-paced and can be completed in as little as four months.
The great thing about bookkeeping is that it usually doesn’t involve tight deadlines or long hours. As long as you’re able to keep up with the incoming expense and income documents from clients, you should be able to work this business around your chronic illness.
3. Coach
Are you gifted with empathy? Are you able to motivate others, mentor them, and help them in their life and through difficult situations? Coaching is a great industry in which you can help others discover their path and improve their lives.
Coaching is broken up into many specialized areas, from relationships to business to parenting and career coaches. There are even coaches, like Rosalind Joffe, who help people with chronic illnesses. In fact, a multiple sclerosis diagnosis is what prompted Rosalind to switch careers. If helping others enhance their lives while working from home and setting your own schedule sounds like a career you’d love, check out the accredited coach training from iPEC.
4. Consulting
If you have a college degree or years of work experience under your belt, consulting can be an excellent way to work around your health status. First, determine what you’ll consult companies on: cybersecurity, supply chain, marketing, finance, strategy, compliance, operations, HR, and employee productivity. You get the picture. Then, gather a list of companies that you think could benefit from your expertise.
For instance, if you’re in marketing, you could browse Facebook for companies that haven’t updated their accounts in a long time and offer them suggestions, stats, and helpful automation tools to keep their profiles active. Or reach out to people in your network to let them know about your offerings, or join a platform like Toptal.
You only need one client to get the ball rolling, and once you have one strong testimonial, it becomes easier to market your services. The nice thing about consulting is you can choose to work on short-term projects, and you can take on as many or as few clients, depending on how you’re feeling.
4. Content Creator
Content creation is a wonderful, flexible work from home business for people with chronic illnesses. It’s a great creative outlet; plus, you can share practical wisdom with others and improve their lives with your knowledge and experience.
If you’re a first-time content creator, decide which platforms you want to create content for:
Once you set up your platforms, start creating content and cross-promoting your content on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. As you build an audience, you can start monetizing through advertising, affiliate marketing, freelance services, product sales (such as printables, e-books, and courses), and brand sponsorships.
Want some inspiration?
Check out author and motivational blogger Jon Morrow, who has made millions despite having muscular dystrophy, chronic pain, multiple bouts of pneumonia, and broken bones. And on top of all that, he’s unable to move his body except for his face. If he can do this, you can too!
6. Craft Seller
Crafty and artistic people can make and sell crafts from home. Of course, Etsy is always an option for selling your handmade goods. And if you’re in the UK, check out Mightie Makers, which specializes in providing a selling platform for those with chronic illnesses and pain, emotional health issues, physical disabilities, and caregivers.
Crafting is an opportunity to express yourself and let out your creative side. Crafting is also therapeutic. Many people suffering from chronic illnesses find crafting and art to be positive outlets and good ways to defuse emotions.
Related Content: Craft Jobs for Stay-at-Home Moms
7. Freelance Writer
If you’ve got a way with words but don’t want to run a blog, consider contributing to other publications as a freelance writer. There are plenty of freelance writing gigs online, and depending on your speed, skill, and experience, writers earn an average of $23 per hour!
Some of the great aspects of freelance writing are its flexibility and diversity in topics and writing specialties. As long as you can meet your deadlines and provide high-quality work, you can work around your chronic illness’s ups and downs.
Here are just some of the different writing specialties to consider:
Kimberly Rae, who was used to living a digital nomad lifestyle, was forced to be homebound by her battles with asthma, hypoglycemia, and Addison’s disease. To relive some of her travels, Kimberly started writing Christian suspense novels. Today, Kimberly is a best-selling Amazon author who has written over 20 books, including titles for people with chronic illnesses.
8. Graphic Designer
Graphic design is a rapidly changing and growing field. Designers are no longer limited to simply creating print logos and brochures. Even beginners can get started online by creating simple graphics for Pinterest.
If you’ve got a creative spark and an artistic eye, try your hand at graphic design. There are many affordable and free resources, training tools, and even software programs online. The median salary for graphic designers is around $61,300 per year—and some designers earn far more.
9. Photographer
If you love snapping photos of the world around you, becoming a freelance photographer may be the perfect career for offering the work-life balance that you need. While you can work as a family or portrait photographer, another option that offers greater flexibility is submitting your photos to stock photo sites. This will allow you to work on your good days and take time off on your bad days. You can also submit images to more than one site (as long as there is no exclusivity clause) to earn even more money from your photos.
10. Proofreader
With so many writers online, the proofreading industry is booming as well. If you’ve got a keen eye for catching mistakes and grammatical errors, proofreading might be the job for you.
To learn more about becoming a proofreader, you can check out the free Proofread Anywhere webinar to learn the basics and the scope of the proofreading profession. This course will assist you by providing the proofreading tools you’ll need to get started, as well as detailing the process of finding clients.
11. Remote Work Opportunities
If you prefer to work as a W-2 employee, there are inclusive workplaces that promote equal-opportunity hiring practices. If you’re interested in a professional work from home career, here are some companies that hire remote workers and embrace the inclusion of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
For more top-rated companies that are inclusive of disabilities, check out this list from the National Organization on Disability (NOD). You can also research company cultures and inclusivity on sites like Glassdoor and Great Place to Work.
12. Social Media Management
Help businesses and brands utilize the power of social media as a social media marketer. For these remote roles, you may be tasked with creating engaging content, monitoring and responding to customer comments, running ads, and measuring the visibility, insights, and results of campaigns on various social media platforms. As a social media manager, you can work part-time, full-time, freelance, or even start your own business, and many companies will allow you to set your own hours.
For flexible 1099 positions to explore, check out:
13. Social Selling
Social selling is a good option for people with chronic conditions who can’t commit to running a brick-and-mortar store. Direct sales companies like Noonday, doTERRA, and Monat Global are perfect for those with chronic illnesses who want to sell products from home. A great aspect of social selling is that, because you set your own hours and schedule, you can work as much or as little, depending on how you’re feeling. With online sales, digital marketing apps, and social media, it’s easier than ever to promote your direct sales business and earn money.
For more direct sales opportunities, check out this post.
14. Transcriber
Fast typists with excellent listening skills may be interested in transcription as a work at home job. With automation and digitization, the field of transcription has changed, but there is still plenty of viable work for those interested in transcribing speech to text.
If you’re interested in transcription, the three main types are:
While some general transcribers are self-taught, if you want to specialize, you’ll need additional training to be familiar with the terminology and nuances of the legal and medical fields. New transcribers can work as freelancers for companies like Rev, TranscribeMe, CrowdSurf, or Scribie.
15. Travel Agent
Do you enjoy doing online research to find the perfect travel destination and activities? If so, becoming a home-based travel agent may be your calling! There are many ways to get started as a travel agent, from joining a travel franchise to looking for a reputable host agency to join.
One individual who has found success as a travel agent is Debra Kerper, who is a double amputee who lost her legs due to complications with Lupus. Being a home-based business owner has allowed Debra to make money while being free to go to her doctor’s appointments without worrying about being on the clock.
16. Virtual Assistant
Another good remote work option for people dealing with a chronic disease or long-term illness is VA (virtual assistant) work. As a VA, you’ll help business owners and CEOs with administrative tasks like calendar management, travel coordination, data entry, email communications, booking meetings, creating presentations, and more. For these positions, employers want individuals with excellent communication, time management, organizational skills, and strong attention to detail. Many VA jobs allow flexible start and stop times and have full- and part-time positions available.
For potential employers to explore, check out:
17. Web Developer
If you’re tech-savvy and know how to build and modify websites using popular frameworks like WordPress, Shopify, and Squarespace, web development might be the right job for you. As a freelance web developer, you’ll often work on specific projects, such as building a new website, troubleshooting issues, enhancing an existing website, or assisting with UX or SEO projects. And generally speaking, as long as you meet your deadline, you’ll have a flexible schedule that allows you to work around your health conditions.
As you start your job search, you can explore tech job boards and freelance marketplaces like Built In, Dice, and Upwork. But also be sure to reach out to your network of friends and family and let them know about your offerings. I have a friend who does web design, and most of her clients come through word of mouth.
Chronic Illness Resources for Job Seekers
If your chronic illness is so severe that you’re receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, check out My Employment Options. They offer work at home jobs for individuals receiving SSDI or SSI disability benefits in 47 states. Their services are free as part of a national return to work program.
The jobs they offer are with leading national employers for various skill levels, such as:
Another free service to check out is Ticket to Work. They are a free, voluntary program that can help individuals receiving SSDI or SSI benefits return to work and become financially independent.
Cancer and Careers offers free advice, interactive tools, and educational events if you’re dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Hannah Olson, a Lyme survivor, started the website Chronically Capable, which offers career resources and flexible, remote job leads for disabled and chronically ill people.
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) is a nonprofit organization that provides resources and legal assistance to people with disabilities.
Lastly, the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) assists individuals with disabilities with ideas and practical solutions for negotiating and requesting accommodations at work.
Best Jobs for People with a Chronic Illness
Having special health needs doesn’t mean giving up on your career dreams. You don’t have to feel like you’re unable to contribute and support your family. Chronic illness can become very isolating, painful, and challenging, but there are many flexible options for earning money from home and having a successful career.
