I grew up in a home where my Dad had multiple sclerosis and went from playing football with me at age 6 to full-time wheelchair 10 years later. Later in life, while serving in the US Navy, I ended up with a different disability that lasted about 14 years. This article really hit home for me.
For my Dad, simple things we do every day were hard because little things like doors and steps were huge obstacles to him. For me, it was working hours where I could not function without mid-day sleep. For my Dad, there was no way to hide the disability. For me, I looked, moved, and was normal.
Disabilities are at their core a disadvantage. Disclosing them is risky. Most people will use the disclosure for good. But just enough people will use them to deny opportunity or as a signal of weakness. There's a great fear of "reasonable accommodations" because if we make an allowance for one person, soon everyone will be requesting reasonable accommodations... So, when you check the Yes box, you are taking a huge risk.
Incidentally, I learned that checking the veteran box also comes with risk. I was once excluded from consideration from a job because the employer thought all veterans were ticking time bombs or rigid authoritarians with no moral compass.
For my Dad, simple things we do every day were hard because little things like doors and steps were huge obstacles to him. For me, it was working hours where I could not function without mid-day sleep. For my Dad, there was no way to hide the disability. For me, I looked, moved, and was normal.
Disabilities are at their core a disadvantage. Disclosing them is risky. Most people will use the disclosure for good. But just enough people will use them to deny opportunity or as a signal of weakness. There's a great fear of "reasonable accommodations" because if we make an allowance for one person, soon everyone will be requesting reasonable accommodations... So, when you check the Yes box, you are taking a huge risk.
Incidentally, I learned that checking the veteran box also comes with risk. I was once excluded from consideration from a job because the employer thought all veterans were ticking time bombs or rigid authoritarians with no moral compass.