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Am I Disabled?

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Re: Am I Disabled?

#31

Post by notsureifdis »

I have a history of depression and ADHD, and I take (two different) meds for them and regular therapy for the depression. I’m also looking for jobs right now and I see this voluntary self-identification question all the time. It states it won’t hurt me, and I think it usually mentions they want to know so that they can report that they hire x% of people with disabilities.

So far I’ve always answered “no” because I feel like this is one of those things that shouldn’t hurt my chances, but in practice will. Either on purpose (manager passing me for someone “normal” and making up some other excuse if questioned) or cause of subtle bias (manager seeing yes and jumping to conclusions subconsciously).

Re: Am I Disabled?

#32

Post by Taniwha »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #25

I have the same question. I’ve had a trans-metatarsal amputation on one foot and the little toe and the bone behind it on the other. My balance is way off and I move like I’m 20 years older than I am. Yet, I hesitate to say I’m disabled because I can still move (not run at all, but I can still walk). I don’t think disabled, I guess, at least not in public. It’s a kind of personal question to be asking.

Yeah I feel the same, I broke an achilles and had a full reconstruction (where they steal a muscle/tendon from your big toe and you sort of have to learn to walk again, teach that muscle to do something different), I can happily walk, but I'll probably never run.

While was doing all the operations and recovery/physio/etc I had a disabled driving permit, couldn't walk a block on crutches, but gave it up once I could walk again, there are people who need those spots more than me.

I think that disability is a continuum, I've certainly moved around within that, it could be anyone, it could be you or me (I stood in a hole crossing the road, watching the traffic rather than my feet) mostly I guess we should push against there being stigma, acknowledge that disability is normal, and making sure that those with more extreme disabilities get the support they need so we can all take part in society equally

Re: Am I Disabled?

#33

Post by pugworthy »

Thorrez wrote: post #23
eulo__ wrote: post #19

Literally never seen a form with this question on it. Is this an Amercian thing?

Federal contractors (this includes many large companies, because many large companies have some government business) are required to ask. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303287804579447...

In theory if you state you are disabled, then you can also get additional assistance from the company in the form of "reasonable accommodation". As a simple example, if you are in a wheelchair, you should have (by law) access to bathrooms and any other facility you'd expect to have access to at work.

The thing is though, a wheelchair is a very easy example - it's obvious and it's understandable how acommodation can help. But when it's an invisible thing, like a cognitive issue, or hearing loss or chronic pain, it's a lot harder to address. It's easy to say "we will put in a ramp for you" for someone in a wheelchair. Not so much for the more "abstract" disabilities that aren't visible.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#35

Post by jasonv »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #25

I have the same question. I’ve had a trans-metatarsal amputation on one foot and the little toe and the bone behind it on the other. My balance is way off and I move like I’m 20 years older than I am. Yet, I hesitate to say I’m disabled because I can still move (not run at all, but I can still walk). I don’t think disabled, I guess, at least not in public. It’s a kind of personal question to be asking.

Do you need accommodations.. officially. If not, wouldn’t you be.. not disabled, for the purposes of this question?

I ask, earnestly.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#36

Post by edgyquant »

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…

I also deal with bipolar but I actually attribute being able to work in startups to it. I mostly have up days so I can go 10 hours without losing interest a week and a half at a time. But this comes with the downside of having a handful of days a month where I legit couldn’t churn out a couple hours worth of work no matter how hard I try. Luckily the places I’ve worked don’t care too much as I can make up for it the next day in one of my super sprints. This isn’t good for my mental health in the long run, probably, but tbh I’d deal with it anyway so I don’t think I could handle a normal 9-5: when I was younger and I worked those types of jobs my down days would be depressing for sure I don’t know how I managed other than maybe it’s gotten worse with age.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#37

Post by ycombinete »

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…

This doesn’t surprise me. I’m not epileptic, but one night under strobes at a club I had a full on tonic-clonic seizure. I hadn’t been drinking, or taken any hard drugs, but I had been consuming a lot of caffeine syrups to study at university that week.

Caffeine is a hell of a drug!

Re: Am I Disabled?

#38

Post by himujjal »

Why does the first world have the smallest of problems?

Everytime i open social media someone has some disease I have never heard of but when googled has the same symptoms of a basic cough. lol.

You should come to India. People here are quite chilled out when it comes to physical or mental problems. They dont see a form and go well. This hurts my feelings

Re: Am I Disabled?

#39

Post by UShouldBWorking »

himujjal wrote: post #38

Why does the first world have the smallest of problems? Everytime i open social media someone has some disease I have never heard of but when googled has the same symptoms of a basic cough. lol. You should come to India. People here are quite chilled out when it comes to physical or mental problems. They dont see a form and go well. This hurts my feelings

What a great comment, thank you for this perspective. The west is weird, the more privileged people get the more "problems" they have. I wish there was more understanding about this, like when people start making up new things they are suffering there should be a serious way to address it as a first world problem that can safely be ignored. But then of course you get "in trouble" for not being sensitive enough.

When my wife and I started to have enough money, free time, a big house, THAT is when she started complaining about her "needs" not being met. When we were both broke college students she couldn't have been happier.

Re: Am I Disabled?

#40

Post by Thorrez »

User23 wrote: post #34
Thorrez wrote: post #24

I'm colorblind and I always wonder if I should answer yes because of that.

Go to an NFB[1] convention and ask them. [1] https://www.nfb.org/

I think if I were to do that, it would be considered rude. But this seems to be related to what the author is saying. How disabled is disabled enough? The author is autistic, but to most people she appears non-autistic, and she didn't even know herself until age 42, and people question whether she's disabled enough to be considered disabled.
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