Disclosing information on your disabilities: How and when?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I'm involved with several groups that work with people with disabilities (having several myself).

One question that comes up for people who's disabilities are not obvious is if they should disclose this information to an employer, and if so, how should they go about this and at what point.

Since some disabilities such as dysgraphia, dyslexia, mild autism, et cetera, are not highly visible and obvious during an interview, when and if this information should be revealed has become a point of contention. How and when should this information be disclosed to an employer, and to whom?

manpreet 2 years ago

Disclosing differences during an interview is risky, since an employer might choose to illegally discriminate based on them, but the risk may be worthwhile. Disclose when:

• you're asked a question that will reveal your inability to do something that is not a core component of the job. For example, if you can't drive. Mentioning it now with a reason will probably not cost you the job. Simply saying you don't do that thing might cost you the job.
• it's clear from the way the interview is going that the only way you'll be comfortable working there is if they are ok with what makes you different and are happy to work with you. You can screen the employer out just as they can screen you out. Mentioning a difference, or asking if a particular accommodation is available, is a way to see if this is a place you'd be willing to work

Don't disclose during an interview when:

• your difference is something that few people understand well, and you don't have paperwork about what accommodations you need. For example, Aspergers is something many have heard of, but may have misconceptions about. So saying in the interview "my Aspergers requires a quiet working environment; is yours quiet?" may not be as effective as simply asking "do you have a quiet working environment?" The former not only discloses, but invites arguments about the extent to which you really require it, and opinions about what might be best for you from someone unlikely to be qualified to provide them.
• your difference is something that can't be detected in an interview and doesn't affect the core component of your job at all. Face blindness, for example, or colour blindness if you're not a photographer or visual artist. Height or mobility, if you're doing a Skype interview. Let them get to know you a bit. Mention it at work if and when it ever becomes relevant, such as when someone shows a pie chart with red and green segments you can't tell apart. Or just let them discover it in the first in-person interview without really making an issue of it.

Once you have the job, if something arises where it's clear you need an accommodation (headphone-wearing, office-furniture-changing, or whatever) try simply asking for it because you need it to work well. If that request is declined, then you can mention that it's your first guess that this is actually a needed accommodation. That may require doctor letters or whatever, so if you don't need to demand and prove things, why bother?

And finally, when all is going swimmingly at your job and you're excelling, consider mentioning invisible differences or things people have never heard of, simply to change the mindset of your coworkers. I think we've all heard Joe Blowhard saying that X people can't do this job, not like we Y people, when in fact one of us is an X person. I have heard speeches about immigrants from those who assumed I wasn't one. Friends have heard speeches about gay people or very religious people. And you will probably hear speeches about disabled people. By being "out" as your whole self, when you're in a good safe place, you raise the opinion of the general populace about whether or not disabled people can do this job. You increase the chances of someone ten years from now on a hiring panel saying "what do you mean, don't hire the X applicant? I worked with a person who had X years ago and that was one of the best developers I ever met. There's no reason X keeps you from doing this job."