Do you have to declare disability?

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Alycat
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25 Sep 2008, 3:05 pm

I'm looking into diagnosis as an adult with Aspergers. However, I'm unsure whether that would mean legally having to tell potential employers about it, and whether I might struggle to find a job then. I wont have to look for a job until next year, but I'd like to know so that I can include it in a decision of whether or not to seek diagnosis.


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donkey
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25 Sep 2008, 4:16 pm

you are not obliged to declare it.
and some govt employers in the UK can ask for you to declare a health condition, but you dont have to answer their questions.

you have a right to privacy it is a European / and american fundamental right .

you are not obliged to disclose but then if you dont and have many sick days off or get complaints against you, you cannot then play the AS card in your defence.

my advice?

it is far better in my opinion to get and recive a diagnosis for your own personal closure and self realisation /awareness than hiding something from the man.

but it is a bit like a gay guy coming out of the closet.


we are the new gays.


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pineapple
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25 Sep 2008, 10:17 pm

No, you don't have to tell anyone unless you want to.



Alycat
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26 Sep 2008, 3:04 am

That is good. I had worried that perhaps I would seek diagnosis, only to become unemployable due to having to declare disability at interviews and therefore never getting a job.
That is one problem to cross off the list.


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NocturnalQuilter
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09 Oct 2008, 4:39 pm

I worked in HR here in the 'states. An employer cannot legally ask your medical disposition beyond inquiring if you will be able to perform the tasks of the job as outlined in a job description. Anything beyond that breaches confidentiality and privacy- could open the door for a discrimination suit.
I think even had I known about and told previous employers about having AS I doubt it would have made much of a difference in my being hired and then later fired. An educated employer knows that to fire someone all they have to do is find psuedo-legitimate fault in legal things and document the employees failures. I was fired for being gay once but my boss documented my failures in following verbal direction and not finishing work on time. The loser effed up later by telling his asst. that "his kind" (meaning my being gay) didn't fit in with his plans for running the store and that she should let him know if there were "others" he should be aware of. I complained to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and won lost wages. Sadly, he kept his job.