Do you feel your can be open about it with a potential employer?
I’ve only ever done it after I was hired (and it was to get accomodations),
Oh hell no.
Nope. There is still a big stigma. I report nothing.
Do not disclose disabilities before you are hired. You are under no legal obligation to do so. Disabilities are a matter between you and HR after you are hired.
Even after being hired I’d discourage revealing disabilities unless you’re specifically using the disclosure to request accommodations.
HR will probably “let slip” to management about it in a small enough company.
So there’s something to be said for expecting it to come out eventually.
But it’s good to have as much time as possible to prove yourself before that happens.
It’s not something they need to know about, and certainly not something that should be specifically disclosed at an interview.
The only reason to disclose is if I need a specific “reasonable accommodation” from them to be able to do the job, and they indicate they are unwilling to make that accommodation without a formal request under the ADA. I won’t be making even an informal request for accommodation prior to actually starting the job.
Hell no. So many people think “it’s not real, you just need to try harder”, or they think “it’s real, so I need to look even closer for any mistakes or sloppiness” and develop confirmation bias
If you need accommodations, I would go through HR, and I’d probably wait until after the fact even if that weakens your legal protections
I might confide in my boss eventually, but probably by telling them without telling them - I’ll tell them my brain works in a weird way, that I need to walk to process information, that I need music/videos playing in the background because it actually helps my focus
Regardless, I’ve even been warned off by older co-workers (I failed a drug test for my meds, even though I brought the bottle) who said even if it’s illegal some people will try to get rid of me anyways
That bloody confirmation bias.
I was a model employee for many years. Every review was, “you’re one of our brightest, keep doing what you’re doing”. Then I requested some accommodations for my chronic migraines, and they put me under a microscope. Suddenly I was still getting the most complex work because I was the only person they trusted to do it, but now it was an issue that I didn’t churn through change requests as fast as other employees who only do simple bug fixes.
When I got diagnosed with ADHD I thought it would give me some breathing room if I told them. That just made it worse. Now I had to be on a management plan. Now every review was laser focused in churn rate, and completely ignored all my above-and-beyond contributions.
I think their long term plan was to either make me give up accommodations or leave, because they didn’t want anyone else thinking they could get “special treatment”.
Sounds like a shit place to work for. Hopefully, you found somewhere better.
It was pretty good before all that happened. I’ve moved on now though, because it wasn’t going to improve and the culture was generally going in the wrong direction.
Yup. I’m glad I had this cool as Caribbean co-worker who now and again would “teach me the facts of the world” when I first entered the workforce
The world ain’t fair, you gotta play the game. It saved me so much learning through failure - sometimes you gotta slow down so you have room to pull a miracle out of your ass. Sometimes you gotta play it close to the vest. Manage their expectations and they’ll be grateful, give them your all and they’ll only ask for more
It’s so very true. I add at least an hour, if not a day, before I commit something - unless it’s an emergency. Then I pull out the stops and drink a pot of coffee, and they worry about losing me, because my normal pace is enough that they get new features and when the chips are down and they’re losing money I’ll find fix it today, if not tomorrow morning
You have to know when to drag your feet, when to pull out the stops, and what you need to keep to yourself. They don’t care that I keep my mornings for myself, don’t come to meetings, and occasionally can’t be reached for a day… To then I’m a miracle worker, not a workhorse. They’re happy with my output, because I balk at anything that takes more than 5 minutes and under promise, then over deliver. But when they’re panicking, I tell them I’ll make it work no matter what it takes. And I still wait an hour if it didn’t take me all night
People beat workhorses to make them go faster, they fear losing a magician. Magicians are eccentric. They’re allowed to demand accommodations - but you have to keep up the mistique. Otherwise you’re just a flawed workhorse, because people are kinda stupid, managers and owners especially so
A workhorse seems replaceable, even if they’re better than the magician
It’s a learned skill… I’ve fucked it up in the past and broke the illusion by coming through too quickly once it became an emergency. But if you have knowledge they don’t, they don’t know what takes how long anything takes, even technical people. You have to play it up, because once the magic is broken for any reason, you’re now a lazy workhorse
Humans are fucking dumb. Manage expectations properly and reality is secondary, optics are everything.
You should never confide in your employer. Employment is an adversarial relationship and people have gotten fucked over by bad bosses for disclosing things they really shouldn’t’ve. Only disclose information if it’s advantageous to you.
Yes. If I feel comfortable enough to want to work somewhere during/after an interview, I feel comfortable enough to talk about my challenges as well as my strengths. I spent decades unaware of this part of myself and why I couldn’t function like I was expected to - I don’t want to go back to struggling to pass as “normal” and fail those expectations. I am lucky enough to be able to set different expectations for how I do my job well, now.
I’m in northern Europe, and I don’t think I’ve been discriminated against because of this. I have asked and gotten accommodations for tests during the interview process (more time), which then led to interviews.
I have disclosed my ADHD and received job offers in my last two interviews. My ADHD tells me I can do both jobs, because fun! My experience tells me to pick the one where I can work from home part time.
It much depends on where you are, your field of work and your seniority/experience.
They can’t discriminate against hiring you for the ADHD, but they can for anything else they feel like.
They can also lie about what the real reason is.
“Not a good fit” etc. generic reasons
I do not. I have to tell them that i am 50% severely disabled because of legal reasons and benefits for them and me. So i just say i have autism
No. There’s no good reason to, and a few good ones not to. Chiefly, they could reject you and make up any other reason why.
No.
Absolutely not. My employer has no business knowing my medical history.
No and you shouldn’t. You should not disclose any information to a potential employer before a contract is signed and even afterwards you may want to withhold disclosing until after your probationary period or ever at all.
Employers don’t need to know personal health information unless you’re using it to request accommodations and the more information you give an employer the more likely they’ll somehow use it to fuck you over.
Modern employment is an adversarial relationship and if you think it isn’t you’re getting fucked.
Modern employment is an adversarial relationship and if you think it isn’t you’re getting fucked.
The one exception to this might be in the case of nepotism, but even then, it depends 😂
Ivanka Trump nervously raises her hand.
I only disclose it if it’s a job where I potentially may need some level of accomodation doing the job because of my ADHD.
But only after the interview! And maybe even after any probationary period if you can manage it. I’ve seen a lot of stories about prejudice and discrimination starting the moment the employee discloses their condition to their employer (e.g. immediately being put on a personal improvement plan)
I did that once and it was a mistake. never again.
