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In my experience it is best to limit sharing about even having an issue to an absolute minimum. You'll probably have far more detractors than supporters. Be ver
by pseudosavant 6y ago
In my experience it is best to limit sharing about even having an issue to an absolute minimum. You'll probably have far more detractors than supporters. Be very selective. People will unpleasantly surprise you unfortunately. Most people are disability skeptics.
If you have to go to HR to get accommodations, you should get a different job. In my experience, when a manager won't make accomodations without that, they won't do it with it or they'll hold it against you. My manager at Intuit just said "no" to every single request my doctor had written down. HR's response was to just shrug their shoulders and say they have no authority. The next company just laid me off for having too many doctor's appointments.
The best thing you can do to improve your work-life with a chronic illness/disability is to find a great manager. The company that laided me off only did it after my manager changed away from the person I actually interviewed with. Remote work is generally easier to keep your illness from being noticeable to as many people.
And while it is illegal for your workplace to do all sorts of things, they will still do it. Suing a current/former employer is a nuclear option that will likely hurt you far more than it could ever help you. They can always get retribution every time a future employer calls to confirm previous employment.
It's been 5 years now, and I still feel guilty about not suing Intuit over my entire experience there. Not because I needed the attention, money, drama, etc. Just because I know they continued doing it to more people like me after I left.
As a more practical matter, I've found it really important to be smart about when I change/add/remove my prescriptions. If you take enough drugs, there will be bad side-effects, and you don't want to have it happen on the day of your annual review (speaking from experience), big presentation, etc.
- heavyset_go 6y ago> In my experience it is best to limit sharing about even having an issue to an absolute minimum. You'll probably have far more detractors than supporters. Be very selective. People will unpleasantly surprise you unfortunately. Most people are disability skeptics. This has been my experience, as well. I only gave that advice because I know of several people who wear their conditions on their sleeve and are successful doing so, however it's certainly not the path I would choose for myself. I agree with the rest of your post, as well.
- cma 6y ago> If you have to go to HR to get accommodations, you should get a different job. In my experience, when a manager won't make accomodations without that, they won't do it with it or they'll hold it against you. I'd be careful of this approach if there is something like a company rule that all accommodations must go through HR.