A post on somebody's LJ got me thinking about how much we crips do, and don't, announce our disabilities. How this varies between contexts and how it varies between disabilities
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As far as I recall (working from memory here) there are only a very limited number of conditions that you are legally required to disclose to an employer. These are: TB must be disclosed to any and all employers, confirmed diagnosis of alcaholism must be disclosed to employers in some types of employment and circumstances, confirmed diagnosis of gambling must be disclosed in some circumstances to some employers depending on the type of job. And thats it. Anything else you are legally allowed to keep to yourslef if you wish. Obviously, if you need to ask for a resonable accomodation then you need to explain why, but otherwise you don't.
For me, I have varied all my life. I tend to be quite open about my dyslexia - in part because I am very much from the school that sees dyslexia as a sometimes benificial difference and not a dysability, and will try to get others to view it that way. I have been bullied in my current employment because of it however, and wished I'd never mentioned it and they never knew. I have never declaired my epilepsy to employers, since discovering in Ireland years ago that it is one of the few disabilities that is exempt from some legislation - an employer can argue that if a teacher had a seziure while teaching this would make them unfit to teach. So I directly lie about that and deny ever having had a sezure in my life. Thats come back to bite me in a couple fo different jobs.
I have encountered more stupid misunderstandings in my current job than anywhere else. I mentioned in passing that I was off to the doc for a B12 for my anemia, so weeks later I discovered that a wild rumor had spread and every one of my collegues fully believed I was pregnant. The rumor mill had gone anemia+adult woman=pregancy. Facepalm. No, you idiots, pernisious anemia is a genetic autoimmume disease.
In my current job I can no longer hide my disabilities as they have increased so significantly. The problem is that, on the other hand, I can't be open about them in a simple and straightforwaard way either, as I don't have a clear diagnosis. its not easy to go in to work and be open about 'well, the docs have proven I don't have MS, so now they are saying that I'm making all this sh1t up'. So, yeah, I take a snarly 'none of your buisness' attitude most of the time but its not proving very helpful as 6 months in, work are still blocking me from going back full time on the grounds that I'm 'not fit for work'
For me, I have varied all my life. I tend to be quite open about my dyslexia - in part because I am very much from the school that sees dyslexia as a sometimes benificial difference and not a dysability, and will try to get others to view it that way. I have been bullied in my current employment because of it however, and wished I'd never mentioned it and they never knew.
I have never declaired my epilepsy to employers, since discovering in Ireland years ago that it is one of the few disabilities that is exempt from some legislation - an employer can argue that if a teacher had a seziure while teaching this would make them unfit to teach. So I directly lie about that and deny ever having had a sezure in my life. Thats come back to bite me in a couple fo different jobs.
I have encountered more stupid misunderstandings in my current job than anywhere else. I mentioned in passing that I was off to the doc for a B12 for my anemia, so weeks later I discovered that a wild rumor had spread and every one of my collegues fully believed I was pregnant. The rumor mill had gone anemia+adult woman=pregancy. Facepalm. No, you idiots, pernisious anemia is a genetic autoimmume disease.
In my current job I can no longer hide my disabilities as they have increased so significantly. The problem is that, on the other hand, I can't be open about them in a simple and straightforwaard way either, as I don't have a clear diagnosis. its not easy to go in to work and be open about 'well, the docs have proven I don't have MS, so now they are saying that I'm making all this sh1t up'. So, yeah, I take a snarly 'none of your buisness' attitude most of the time but its not proving very helpful as 6 months in, work are still blocking me from going back full time on the grounds that I'm 'not fit for work'
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