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Am I Disabled?

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Re: Am I Disabled?

#191

Post by kayodelycaon »

driverdan wrote: post #145
kayodelycaon wrote: post #11

I think this is a pretty good writeup on how disabilities are dealt with in society. For myself, I'm bipolar. I've had significant difficult my entire life but I didn't know why until recently. Being bipolar has a severe impact on every aspect of my life. In relation to work, it's just painful. I need accommodations to handle a 40-hour work week. I need a regular schedule. I can't be on-call during the night because…

Have you tried looking for a better employer? The teams I've worked with wouldn't have had any problems accommodating you.

Given I can’t manage a 40-hour work week to start with, looking for a job while I have a job isn’t doable.

That said, I’m available if someone wants a senior rails dev. :)

Re: Am I Disabled?

#192

Post by taneq »

redis_mlc wrote: post #29
anodyne33 wrote: post #7

This came up for me a few years ago when I was filling out a job application. At the voluntary self disclosure stage it listed epilepsy among the list and it stopped me in my tracks. A few brain surgeries later and I'm no longer epileptic, but it did make me ask this exact question. For several years, my onset with in 2012 at age 36, I considered it more of a bummer and inconvenience and never thought about it any ot…

I had to break it to a teen with epilepsy whose goal in life was to be a pilot, "The FAA medical will reject you, but maybe you can work in an FBO or other aviation business." (He wasn't interested in flying a desk.) In aviation, anything related to loss of consciousness (LoC) is automatically disqualifying. You can get a special issuance for most other health problems (cancer, high blood pressure, sometimes diabetes…

Oof, this hits close to home. I was working towards being a fighter pilot until I was told by a recruiter in no uncertain terms that having a visual impediment disqualified me irrevocably. I've moved on to other aspirations but damned if I'm not a little bitter around military aerospace hardware.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#193

Post by kayodelycaon »

wayoutthere wrote: post #142
kayodelycaon wrote: post #11

I think this is a pretty good writeup on how disabilities are dealt with in society. For myself, I'm bipolar. I've had significant difficult my entire life but I didn't know why until recently. Being bipolar has a severe impact on every aspect of my life. In relation to work, it's just painful. I need accommodations to handle a 40-hour work week. I need a regular schedule. I can't be on-call during the night because…

Also bipolar person here. I gravitated toward consulting because it allows me the freedom to make my own accommodations. I have actually worked for huge consulting companies and currently work for a mid-size one. I also don’t drink caffeine or alcohol on account of said bipolar. I don’t come out and say that I’m bipolar, but I do make it known that I have chronic mental health stuff that I need space to deal with som…

For people that can do it, consulting would be a good solution. Unfortunately, it’s not something I can handle.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#194

Post by handoflixue »

driverdan wrote: post #145
kayodelycaon wrote: post #11

I think this is a pretty good writeup on how disabilities are dealt with in society. For myself, I'm bipolar. I've had significant difficult my entire life but I didn't know why until recently. Being bipolar has a severe impact on every aspect of my life. In relation to work, it's just painful. I need accommodations to handle a 40-hour work week. I need a regular schedule. I can't be on-call during the night because…

Have you tried looking for a better employer? The teams I've worked with wouldn't have had any problems accommodating you.

Do you have any particular reason to believe that? I've worked lots of places that looked very accommodating on the surface, but that doesn't mean they handle things like bi-polar well. In particular, "obvious" disabilities like a wheelchair seem to get handled a lot better. Conversely, policy exceptions like a bi-polar person needing to take more sick days, seem to breed a lot of resentment in certain sorts of managers.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#195

Post by Causality1 »

JohnBooty wrote: post #124
Causality1 wrote: post #71

The neurodiversity argument always seems to me a misguided one. It argues that these neurological identities/configurations are not inherent problems but just differences which are only made to have negative effects on the person's life by societal preconception and bigotry. Those things do make it much worse and need to change, but I would argue that doesn't stop these brain-states from being independently troubleso…

The author mentions problems with speech processing, speaking, sensory overload, sleeping, getting out of bed, eating, smells, textures, and navigation. None of those problems were created by society Your understanding of the neurodiversity movement isn't correct. Neither the article nor the movement in general claims that society "created" her difficulty performing those things. The neurodiversity movement points ou…

What sort of mental gymnastics does it take to convince yourself not being able to walk isn't inherently bad? Not being able to walk is bad. Not being able to fly is bad. Not being immortal is bad. Inabilities are bad regardless of what the "normal" state is. Society and accommodation could make up for 90% of the downsides but being confined to a wheelchair will never be a neutral status.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#196

Post by handoflixue »

thebean11 wrote: post #182
miki123211 wrote: post #151

> You appear to be asking a closed question, but ‘consider’ is a word I would use to open up a question. Forms are full of such questions, presenting themselves as straightforward logic gates, which on closer inspection turn out to be impossibly multivalent. This is actually a huge problem, particularly in the age of computer systems. If the form is electronic and not designed properly, you can't even leave a note. S…

> email addresses for example What's an example of when a form would want to take in a seemingly invalid email address?

A lot of email validation rules fail to cover valid corner cases: https://haacked.com/archive/2007/08/21/i-knew-how-to-validat...

For that matter, future developments can be problematic: Does your validation rule allow for "@gmail.com"?

It seems better to warn the user that it might be invalid, rather than completely blocking some users from signing up.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#197

Post by bzb6 »

aidenn0 wrote: post #181
bzb6 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually calling yourself disabled means you get lots of advantages over normal people so why not?

If you can't figure that out from TFA, I'm not sure that I can help you.

Don’t beat yourself up, I didn’t read it.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#198

Post by quercusa »

ryandrake wrote: post #190
redis_mlc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to break it to a teen with epilepsy whose goal in life was to be a pilot, "The FAA medical will reject you, but maybe you can work in an FBO or other aviation business." (He wasn't interested in flying a desk.) In aviation, anything related to loss of consciousness (LoC) is automatically disqualifying. You can get a special issuance for most other health problems (cancer, high blood pressure, sometimes diabetes…

Another thing that's becoming more and more an issue as more young people get diagnosed, is that the FAA considers ADHD and other attention-deficit conditions to be disqualifying as well. If you're taking medication for ADHD or similar conditions and want to be a pilot, you're dead in the water until you get off them and can show that you don't have some kind of attention difficulty.

The military treats ADHD the same way and won't take anyone who's used meds for it in the past year. That's the official line, anyway.

In reality, recruiters tell candidates to lie about the meds ("everybody does it") and to stay off them long enough to pass the urine test.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#199

Post by bluGill »

anoncake wrote: post #137
bluGill wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is itself abusing the system and makes it worse for those who need it. There are benefits for the disabled that some technically qualify for that are meant for those worse off than they are. Unfortunately I don't know how to draw the line - that is why it is possible to abuse the system: some who need the benefits may seem better off than others who don't need them. This same argument prevents some who really sh…

There is always someone who is worse off than you are. If the rules say you are sufficiently disabled to get accommodations, you are. You don't abuse the system by following them.

That isn't really true. The system that is strict enough that you cannot abuse the system is the system so strict that many people who should get help are unable to get it. Particularly if the disability has a mental component, the disabled may unable to navigate a complex system that can keep out those who are faking it.

Even if you have a system that manages that: the system itself is so expensive because of fraud prevention that it isn't worth it.

Of course it depends. A few handicap parking spots are cheap. Printing user manuals in Brail is more expensive but not too bad if you limit it to those who actually know read brail. Keeping interpreter on staff for every minority language is expensive.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#200

Post by driverdan »

handoflixue wrote: post #194
driverdan wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried looking for a better employer? The teams I've worked with wouldn't have had any problems accommodating you.

Do you have any particular reason to believe that? I've worked lots of places that looked very accommodating on the surface, but that doesn't mean they handle things like bi-polar well. In particular, "obvious" disabilities like a wheelchair seem to get handled a lot better. Conversely, policy exceptions like a bi-polar person needing to take more sick days, seem to breed a lot of resentment in certain sorts of manag…

Because I've been in management in my past few companies and work to accommodate everyone. I find that remote work is especially amenable to accommodating disabilities and mental health.
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