13 ms·

Am I Disabled?

• diogenesjunior 6y ago
  Yes you are.
• uberman 6y ago
  I've personally pondered this a number of times and here is my conclusion that I am comfortable with. While there is some sense of continuum, there is a difference between being hurt and being injured. In a similar sense I feel there is a continuum of "something" and disabled. I don't really know what to call the "something" end of the disability continuum that would be analogous to "hurt" rather then "injured". For me I'll call it "inconvenienced" but I choose that word for me not to insinuate or inflame others. Serving in Afghanistan, I was "hurt" on many occasions and "injured" once. That injury left a very visible scar on my face, migraine like headaches and some hearing loss. Am I disabled? I would say no. I can do everything I have always been able to do. The scar is a conversation starter and the rest is manageable. I view it that I am "inconvenienced" rather than "disabled". I would say, in general, if you are not sure if you feel you are disabled (even if you have been diagnosed) then I would say you are not. Again, that is just my view and I don't offer it to be combative or diminish someone else's plight.
  • lazyasciiart 6y ago
    I think that people's perceptions of what it means to feel disabled are so different that your view is wrong. For instance, my mother totally lost the use of one leg as a baby with polio. She has always worn a full supportive brace on that leg from foot to hip so she can stand up and walk (she's never been able to run). She has always said she doesn't "feel disabled", but she checks yes on forms like this because she knows that this is the terminology used to cover things like "I may need extra help evacuating the office in a fire".
    • faeyanpiraat 6y ago
      The difference between the OP's and your mother's situation is that OP got injured after becoming an adult. The real difference is that OP could could determine if his current state is a regression from normal. Your mother's abilities degraded before she could understand what she misses out on. So being disabled is the norm for her, she does not feel disabled, but when filling out official forms, she has to compare her abilities with her perception of "normal". So it's not that OP is wrong, he is just in a different situation, they are both right.
      • lazyasciiart 6y ago
        The OP is free to feel how he wants. However, his suggestion that other people should self-assess the same way he does was wrong.
  • igetspam 6y ago
    My wife appears to be incredibly fit and she is. She's able bodied, thin but not sickly so and strong. She has great muscle definition. Her skin looks healthy. She is often taken for being a decade or more younger than she actually is. She spends half her week pleading with medical staff or arguing with insurance about why the drugs and procedures shouldn't be denied. Her eyesight is rapidly degenerating. She's has diverticulosis (they told her to lose weight and stop eating meat... she's thin and vegan). A number of her bones have started to fuse and she has acute arthritis in places that seem to show up without warning and were nowhere to be seen on images from less than a year ago. She's im chronic, sometimes debilitating pain. There's no diagnosis and people keep jabbing her with needles based in what appear to be best guesses. She's disabled. She doesn't want a sticker because it's embarrassing and she's worried about people thinking she's abusing the system and vernally (or worse) assaulting her. She'd rather walk the extra distance I'm horrible pain than have to deal with it. Being "disabled" means lots of things and wears many faces. The stigma sucks.
    • sterlind 6y ago
      Sorta sounds like me. I have smooth and young-looking skin, but it's because my collagen is messed up. My joints come apart everywhere in my body, I get woozy from standing or even sitting for long, and I'm developing a host of spinal and nerve problems. I'm expected to need PT, braces and probably more for the rest of my life. But I can walk, and I look young, so I had a hell of a time getting diagnosed. And I felt really guilty about using a disabled parking pass even though I knew I needed it.
      • igetspam 6y ago
        I'm so very sorry for you. It pains me to see her going through this an know it's exponentially worse for her. She can't even hold our toddler and dance with her any more. It's been so long that she doesn't even think to ask. Faddy dances and mommy sings.
    • omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago
      That sounds awful. My wife has Stills and went through a similar experience before getting a diagnosis. Has she been seen by a rheumatologist? Her symptoms seem vaguely auto-immune/inflammatory. https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/reactive-arthritis/ https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/reactive-arthritis/
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • djitz 6y ago
    Thank you
• ageofwant 6y ago
  Don't worry scro. there's lots of tards out there living really kick ass lives. My ex wife is tarded. She's a pilot now.
• thescriptkiddie 6y ago
  I worry when employers ask this kind of question that they are going to use your answer to retaliate against you. For example: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/912840482/u-s-agency-urges-end-to-below-minimum-wage-for-workers-with-disabilities https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/912840482/u-s-agency-urges-en...
• anodyne33 6y ago
  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 other way. Personally I was fortunate that I was only having partial complex seizures which meant that I'd basically space out and stare into the distance completely unattached from my environment for 30 seconds to a few minutes according to my ex-girlfriend and other people I interacted with regularly. Rarely did I have any indication that I'd had a seizure aside from the occasional, unexpected incontinence. One instance that sticks out was walking back from lunch with co-workers when one walked up to me and said "did you lose something". I dropped my sandwich while I was having a seizure and was walking all the while. What allowed me to say "yeah... this is a legit disability" was examining how much had changed in my life without the ability to drive. Luckily I'd just basically moved in with said girlfriend who lived 10 minutes by bus from my job downtown, this was well before I worked from home and there's little chance I could have gotten to work from my rural home an hour away with essentially no transit. I was really living a normal day to day life, I just had to make some adaptations to how I got around and had to stop using power tools without dead man switches. Slightly hyperbolic maybe, but I can make a good case for how epilepsy cost me that house, relationship and severely impinged upon my job search. Hindsight... it's a hell of thing. I don't know that I'd have felt any different being labeled or self-identifying as disabled but it goes a long way to describing the impact it had on my 30s. I'm also a guy that occasionally drove 50k miles in a year to travel for shows and work and various other road trips.
  • dagmx 6y ago
    As a current epileptic (spinal injury, recovered partial paralysis) I still have to deal with the fact that I'm in fact, disabled. Working at a FAANG in silicon valley really highlights that. My commute is 4 hours a day because I have to take public transit, and working late hours is a bigger burden than unaffected people in similar life situations. I'm completely dependent on others to take me places, even for groceries. I dearly miss living in Vancouver where I could just walk anywhere easily and my disability wasn't a daily consideration. But even growing up, it's a difficult disability to rationalize to myself and to others in my life. If people want to go out for drinks, I have to explain why I don't drink since it makes me more likely to have a seizure. When friends go to clubs, I can't go (not that I enjoy it ) and just walking down the street is a crap shoot in case an ambulance or police car go by. I've actually learned to embrace it more as part of my identity and just be up front with people so they know it up front. It's been particularly difficult in my previous career working in entertainment, where so many newer shows and games have adopted strobing as a stylistic choice. Especially with the rise of better LED lighting. So instead I try and raise awareness with my fellow professionals so they can make better decisions to accommodate people like me when making decisions.
• sg47 6y ago
  Recovering from thyroid cancer. Have interviewed at a few places and have been unsure what to say in the application. Also, have been insanely tired and unable to deal with the stress of interviews. The prospective employer didn't know about my situation. I completely tapped out in one of the interviews and was unable to focus but to the interviewer, I probably appeared like I struggled to answer their question. It's been life changing going through this.
• kube-system 6y ago
  There are employers are asking this question? What purpose does such a question even serve? Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen even to ask.
  • kayodelycaon 6y ago
    There's actually a good reason for it: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/regs/compliance/sec503/Self_ID_Forms/VoluntarySelf-ID_CC-305_ENG_JRF_QA_508c.pdf https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/regs/compliance... I never trust companies to not use it against me though.
  • lazyasciiart 6y ago
    If any kind of request is being made that would only be granted on the basis of disability, for instance. Or they might be attempting to gather demographic information (do they employ any disabled people?), which is allowed if the intent is to benefit employees with disabilities. Here's an example form used for federal contractors: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/regs/compliance/sec503/Self_ID_Forms/VoluntarySelf-ID_CC-305_ENG_JRF_QA_508c.pdf https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/regs/compliance...
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • BlueTemplar 6y ago
    They might be fined if they don't employ enough disabled people.
  • astura 6y ago
    Lawsuit? Businesses that have contracts with the federal government of the USA are required to ask this question under Section 503.
  • bserge 6y ago
    They need to know in case they need to make adjustments in the workplace. Or more often, to make sure you don't get hired because you're likely to be more troublesome than healthier candidates :/
• kayodelycaon 6y ago
  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 take medication to sleep; I can't even walk properly during that time. I have days where it's better to one day off than spend a entire week being unproductive. Despite all of this, I've managed to be as productive as my non-disabled coworkers because I am good at what I do. I know how to cope with my symptoms but I can't cope with having to do it the same way everyone else does. And it seems like no one else can cope with me either. Not being able to be in the on-call rotation causes resentment. Being randomly sick is disruptive. So many people think I'm off having fun while I'm actual at home trying not to kill myself. (I deal with suicidal thoughts quite frequently, never attempted.) This is all made worse by being unable to explain to my coworkers and managers why I need these accommodations. My dad thinks I'm demon-possessed. I'm not exactly keen on finding out that one of my coworkers has the same belief. My friends know, because I can afford to lose friends. I can't afford to lose a job. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Needing accommodation was a major factor in losing my last job. I was transferred to a department where I couldn't be promoted due to my limitations and then let go at the earliest opportunity. Edit: Forgot to mention I also have a milk allergy, can't have caffeine, and can't drink alcohol. This severely limits my ability to go out with coworkers. Sit-down restaurants that advertise handling allergies don't. I've gotten extremely sick from every one I've tried to eat at despite being extremely clear that I'm sensitive to cross-contamination. Fast food is hit or miss. I can't even trust Starbucks to use coconut milk instead of regular milk when I ask for it.
  • samsquire 6y ago
    I would recommend praying for deliverance, even if you think it would not work.
  • edgyquant 6y ago
    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.
• samsquire 6y ago
  I didn't like the writing very much in this article. Found it difficult to follow points along. I'm disabled. I have schizophrenia. It sucks. I cannot concentrate properly and I hear voices that tell me to kill myself. Fortunately I've only attempted once and failed.
• callinOutLiars 6y ago
  It seems society sucks at helping cripples. I’m in constant pain while walking, but while wearing shoes (covering up the noticeable deformation) I have been yelled at many times for parking in handicap spaces. I have had people and family tell me it is no big deal and I need to deal with it (if you can walk, but still crippled no one actually considers you crippled).
  • bserge 6y ago
    > people and family tell me it is no big deal and I need to deal with it How do you deal with them after hearing something like this? The resentment and/or feelings of guilt are too much...
    • callinOutLiars 6y ago
      The people I just yell and cuss out. The family part is harder. I know they love me, but they have no clue what is going on when it comes to simply walking. They can be supportive, but if I tell them I can’t do something like take the trash out it can turn into an argument. At that point I’m usually accused of using my disability as an excuse. That really sucks. Sometimes I just do what is being asked even though it is at my detriment.
• eulo__ 6y ago
  Literally never seen a form with this question on it. Is this an Amercian thing?
  • Thorrez 6y ago
    Federal contractors (this includes many large companies, because many large companies have some government business) are required to ask. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303287804579447450295914372 https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303287804579447...
    • pugworthy 6y ago
      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.
      • anoncake 6y ago
        Being a wheelchair is also something you can't hide anyway and a prospective employer may need to know it before an in-person interview to make sure it's conducted in an accessible place.
  • BlueTemplar 6y ago
    No, it isn't. (Though maybe American started?)
• gumby 6y ago
  Likewise flummoxed by the equivalent “race” question almost always asked on the innumerable forms you’re subjected to in the USA. In the country I was born in there was one correct answer for me (though the question was rarely asked); later that changed. In my mother’s country the legally determined answer is printed on your ID card, which at least removed the need to think about it. In the USA there is a very different “correct” answer, yet that is apparently wrong when I fill out a medical form. If I fill it out one way I can be scolded by the doctor, yet the other way and it has more than once been “helpfully” changed by front desk staff. Frankly it feels like visiting the Dell web site: are you a small business? Medium business? I never knew what answer will give me he best price or product. Humans are fucked up, and fucked up towards each other.
  • DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    > Frankly it feels like visiting the Dell web site: are you a small business? Medium business? I never knew what answer will give me he best price or product. For Home vs Business, always choose business as it hides their least-attractive products. Regardless of declared business size, I find I get the best pricing (sometimes as much as 20% off the list price) by choosing the option to speak to a sales account manager - even if the account is just for yourself. Back when I was running my own shared hosting company out of a rented quarter-rack I got some great discounts on their R-series servers and whatnot.
  • kolinko 6y ago
    I remember Google Campus having a form for filling in before a tech event that was crazy invasive - asked for literally everything: race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and so on.
    • auganov 6y ago
      Pick random answers when asked stupid questions. If enough people start doing this they'll stop asking.
      • kolinko 6y ago
• zabardasth 6y ago
  Was Jesus disabled? The Pharisees might have thought so, for he rejected their beliefs and tenets. Was Shiva (Adiyogi) disabled? The royal court of Parvati's father (the King) probably thought so. He showed up to his own wedding seemingly drunk and disheveled, probably had not changed his mud colored tunic in years, and did not follow their social graces. Disability is a matter of perspective from society.
• scarface74 6y ago
  Am I disabled? I have cerebral palsy that for the most part only affects my left hand. I’ve been programming since 1986 when I was in 6th grade. I type decently fast with one hand and I inadvertently learned to touch type just by spending so much time on a computer. I don’t need any special accommodations. I decided to click “no” at my current job at $BigTech. My interview process was remote, I’ve never met any of my coworkers in person and probably won’t until 2022. My job was always designed to be remote so there is no telling when I’ll need to fly to one of the offices.
• Thorrez 6y ago
  I'm colorblind and I always wonder if I should answer yes because of that.
  • souprock 6y ago
    I knew a colorblind person with a Graphics Design degree. He got by by using a color picker to read the RGB values. He ended up switching careers.
    • anoncake 6y ago
      Having someone colour-blind involved in the design at least guarantees that it's accessible to them.
      • watwut 6y ago
        Involved yes. But it is quite limitation in terms of creating design that is not wtf for majority.
  • User23 6y ago
    Go to an NFB[1] convention and ask them. [1] https://www.nfb.org/ https://www.nfb.org/
    • Thorrez 6y ago
      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.
      • TheOperator 6y ago
        You can be diagnosed from childhood and people will still question an Autism diagnosis if you can hold down a job. Which is why the correct answer to this question is always no unless accommodations are absolutely nessecary.
• drivingmenuts 6y ago
  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.
  • Taniwha 6y ago
    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
  • jasonv 6y ago
    Do you need accommodations.. officially. If not, wouldn’t you be.. not disabled, for the purposes of this question? I ask, earnestly.
    • amp180 6y ago
      That doesn't follow in the the general case though. You can be disabled and sometimes force yourself to do things without accomodations via willpower, but it may have consequences for your mental/physical health and shouldn't be expected of anyone. Eg. Chronic fatigue. If you push through the boomerang effect can hit you like a truck.
  • aspyct 6y ago
    Heyyyy I'm with you here. Broke my ankle a few years ago, badly. I had surgery but recovery is... well, probably never happening, at this point. It's invisible, but walking hurts. The more I walk, the more it hurts. Damn, I used to go on weeklong treks... Anyway back to the "am I disabled" topic. I guess it depends on when you're asking. Good luck!
• notsureifdis 6y ago
  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).
  • Scaless 6y ago
    In a proper system this is something that should be self-reported and not handled by the employer. An example: $Employer gives you a form to fill out with your disabilities and their Employer ID#. You fill out the form (if you get hired) and send it to $GovernmentAgency yourself. $Employer lets $GovernmentAgency know that they hired you. $GovernmentAgency gives a quarterly statement to $Employer without any specific information tied to individuals. Same thing with race, sex, age, and all the other affirmative action qualifiers. These are really things that employers should not know or care about in the hiring process. As it is, don't feel bad about lying on the forms with stuff like this. The system is rigged against you, don't give them any more ground if you don't have to.
• himujjal 6y ago
  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
  • UShouldBWorking 6y ago
    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.
  • MacsHeadroom 6y ago
    Sounds like you misunderstood the point of the article. Not surprising, since it's written as a cryptic poem. The question is meant more as a metaphor for a larger problem american culture (in particular) has with lumping a lot of very different things together as "disabilities" and the problems that stem from doing that. Like the author said, if a (public) building is physically inaccessible by a significant subset of the population then the building design is the thing that needs attention and reconsideration not the people. In other words, we should put more effort into designing systems and things that accommodate differences rather than asking people to identify with the poorly defined and highly contextual term "disabled" as if that's a solution to anything. That's closer to the point of the article, despite going over and over the question for the sake of poetry.
  • AussieWog93 6y ago
    Anyone who claims that Indian people don't make big issues out of small problems has never been stuck behind one in a queue.
  • 6y ago
• taxicabjesus 6y ago
  I don't identify with being disabled, but I have to be careful to keep my nerves from flaring up. For me there's a fine line between 'somewhat functional' and 'invalid'. Two years ago, on a submission titled "Laziness Does Not Exist but unseen barriers do", one of you all used the term "invisible disabilities" [0]. I found this to be descriptive of what I've experienced since I knocked myself out at the lake when I was 17 years old. From my reply to [0], "I used to think I mostly recovered from that head injury, but I've recently realized that it left me rather non-functional. I'm making progress, but I guess I'm 'invisibly disabled', in certain ways." In the beginning I went to some doctors trying to figure out my nerve condition. One of the tragedies of modern medicine [1] is how sometimes doctors diagnose their patient and treat the diagnosis, instead of looking deeper for causes behind the patient's symptoms. Such is the essential nature of a 10-minute office visit. I did get a helpful idea recently -- a PA suggested my one symptom indicated 'allergies'. My subsequent searches turned up better treatments than the medications I was prescribed. Recently I made a disability-act complaint with the state attorney general's office about being discriminated against by a business. The main thing was they didn't realize they did anything wrong, and I'm not the only person getting discriminated against in that specific way. I figured that by making the complaint I was also helping others who are similarly 'invisibly disabled', much worse than I am, who aren't capable of figuring out how to stand up for themselves against societal idiocy. The state Attorney General's office was swamped with similar complaints. It was 1.5 months before my intake interview. I don't know how many complaints they decide to go with, but I had my story and documentation in order and the AG's office agreed to file charges on my behalf. I bet the business won't even remember me. tl/dr: many people have chronic conditions. Sometimes people can recover, sometimes they won't, but I think it important to help people maintain 'hope' that they can do something to improve their situation, or find some insight into their predicament that provides a silver lining. Christopher Reeves' [2] comes to mind. Two quotes: "When we have hope, we discover powers within ourselves we may have never known- the power to make sacrifices, to endure, to heal, and to love. Once we choose hope, everything is possible." "You play the hand you’re dealt. I think the game’s worthwhile." [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17721273 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17721273 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25355990 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25355990 [2] actor who played Superman (1978) & became a quadriplegic in 1995 after falling off a horse...
• supermatt 6y ago
  I feel there is a difference between having a disability (a condition) and being disabled (a state of being). If a condition affects your ability to do something, then it is a disability. As someone with ADHD and ASD, my ability to do certain things is substantially impacted by my condition. I am fortunate enough that I am able to adapt my environment to my condition, reducing the impact, and do not feel the need to seek concessions elsewhere. As such, I do not identify myself as a disabled person, but I do have a disability. Others (even with the same condition) are not quite so lucky. Their disability has substantial impact on their day to day lives, and they need external assistance - they are "disabled".
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• marsvin 6y ago
  As a person with diagnosed fibromyalgia this is sadly a quite common thought for me, too. Fibromyalgia is usually invisible for other people. On outside it looks the person is tired or grumpy or in some kind of brainfog. It just sucks a lot of energy during the flareups. On good days, I'm okay with it, we are on same ride until there are better treatments available.
• bzb6 6y ago
  At least here in my country it’s a medical tribunal that tells you if you’re disabled or not, and even tells you how disabled you are with a percent. It’s an easy question with an easy answer.
  • aidenn0 6y ago
    The author knows they can legally answer yes, but is considering whether it is worth it to answer yes.
    • bzb6 6y ago
      Usually calling yourself disabled means you get lots of advantages over normal people so why not?
      • aidenn0 6y ago
        If you can't figure that out from TFA, I'm not sure that I can help you.
        • bzb6 6y ago
          Don’t beat yourself up, I didn’t read it.
• Faaak 6y ago
  This reminds me abouts Kubecon Europe 2020's survey which had questions like: "what's your race", and "what's your gender". As a European, this was a huge WTF moment (my co-workers had the same moment). Why would you ask something like that ?
  • p_l 6y ago
    It's common in UK on some forms, AFAIK it might actually have had a positive impact at one point due to tracking correlations between rejections on requests and applicants race/gender. Still doesn't really make sense at Kubecon
  • csunbird 6y ago
    We are going off topic, but I registered at kubecon with my work email and I was spammed by them with marketing emails, asking if they can sell stuff/trainings to my company.
    • unnouinceput 6y ago
      And you let this wonderful opportunity of giving them your boss e-mail to slip by you? What a shame :).
  • tremon 6y ago
    My guess is they have to meet some minimum diversity quota among attendees.
    • TT3351 6y ago
      I highly doubt this, it's far more likely they want to know the makeup of their demographic for marketing purposes (ie., approach company with detailed statistics about who will see their convention ads, or modify their own in-house ads). Usually that's what such surveys are used for if I'm not mistaken. It seems a little warped to me to jump straight to minimum diversity quotas.
  • kolinko 6y ago
    Google Campus asked a bunch of other personal questions (ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation etc if I’m not mistaken). The funny part is that in Europe this is considered extremely sensitive information and there are even strictrier laws and penalties for storing those than the regular personal data.
• kolinko 6y ago
  Excellent question. As a person with ADHD (but on meds), and a possible CFS, I ask myself this sometimes. While I wouldn't use a disabled parking spot, there are some exceptions from social norms that I allow myself: - segregating trash (keeping an apartament clean and organised is crazy difficult by itself, and I still learn to put things into trash after using, at the age of 36) - getting a sitting space in a crowded bus, even if there are old people around As for the disabled parking spots, when I was ~25y.o., I had a knee issue for half a year. I didn't limp much, but every single step was painful and difficult. It was just half a year, and I didn't bother to get a disabled license plate, but still fully deserved to use the spots. Since that time I always have doubt whether to point out to someone that they took a disabled parking spot. The way I handle it now is by asking someone who leaves a car, who doesn't look disabled, if they need some help (instead of pointing out that they are assholes). If they are indeed disabled, they won't mind, if they aren't - they feel like assholes :)
  • sideshowb 6y ago
    Tangentially related: it took me 3.5 years of having a child to remember that the wider 'family' parking spaces were actually for me. I'd used them maybe twice in all that time, and now I don't need them any more. Could have saved myself a tweaked back a few times... My point? I think this is a measure of how strongly we're wired to respect resources for those who need them. Which is a good thing, but obviously fails when it extends to inaccurate judgement of those with invisible disabilities.
  • WalterBright 6y ago
    > who doesn't look disabled My dad said if you were a young man during WW2, walking down the street not in uniform, and did not look disabled, people would spit on you. It was hard on people with invisible disabilities.
    • deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  • jan_Inkepa 6y ago
    >segregating trash Aha, unexpectedly relatable. That's an allowance I give myself as well. I segregate a bit, but give myself a pass after a certain amount, when it makes the difference between living in squalor and not.
• henvic 6y ago
  What if I wear eyeglasses and have to fork anything from 1% to 10% of my yearly income (in many cases even more, driven up by taxation) just to be able to see properly? It's especially bad if your economies mean you cannot afford to have at least a single backup or have one that is many years old. It affects something so essential, but it's hard for people to recognize it.
  • inglor_cz 6y ago
    Are eyeglasses that expensive in the Netherlands? I live in the Czech Republic, good glasses with a titanium rim will cost about 500 eur and last for around ten years. I personally prefer daily contact lenses (the kind that you discard before sleep) which cost me about 400 eur a year; I know this is a bit of a luxury, but even this only touches the 1% of yearly developer income. Glasses would be in the 0.x% category, depending on how much your acuity changes over time.
  • rurban 6y ago
    Bought my top quality titanium Shiluette "forks" in China for €4 per pair and also bought the repair tools in China for €30. With these low prices there's not even customs tax. I have several backups now. And the quality is even better. You are doing something wrong.
    • pessimizer 6y ago
      It might be that they insisted on lenses. Glasses are a lot more expensive if you opt for the lenses.
      • haneefmubarak 6y ago
        Are there glasses that don't use lenses...?
• nvarsj 6y ago
  I'm more shocked that the author managed to get a diagnosis on the NHS at the age of 42. In my experience, the NHS won't refer you to a psychologist unless you're on the brink of suicide or complete mental breakdown. It's incredibly tough to get mental help in this country.
  • DanBC 6y ago
    Waiting times for ASD assessment services vary, and almost all of them breach the limits, but it's not impossible to get an appointment. Access to IAPT is very good. Latest figures are here: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/psychological-therapies-report-on-the-use-of-iapt-services/august-2020-final-including-reports-on-the-iapt-pilots https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/sta... > One of the stated targets of the IAPT programme is that for referrals finishing a course of treatment in the month, 75% enter treatment within 6 weeks, and 95% within 18 weeks5. These are based on the waiting time between the referral date and the first attended treatment appointment. > 89.1% of referrals waited less than 6 weeks to enter treatment
    • nvarsj 6y ago
      Interesting, thanks for the stats. I guess the trick is getting the GP referral in the first place. I am pretty sure as a normal-seeming adult, if I asked for an ASD assessment, my GP would be extremely reluctant. I would have to be very insistent. I'm fairly certain I have Asperger's or some flavor of ASD, and I have found it a real struggle trying to get an actual diagnosis. I even paid for private treatment, but my therapist told me flat out that most psychologists prefer to not label people anymore (unless it substantially impacts their life so they can get disability benefits).
      • silveroriole 6y ago
        Also you might want to be careful with this; my experience is that once you have any kind of mental record on your file, your GP will try to say every physical problem is all in your head. If there’s no compelling reason to get the diagnosis, sometimes it’s better not to have one.
• Causality1 6y ago
  The neurodiversity argument always seems to me a misguided one. It argues that these neurological identities/configurations are not inherent problems but just differences which are only made to have negative effects on the person's life by societal preconception and bigotry. Those things do make it much worse and need to change, but I would argue that doesn't stop these brain-states from being independently troublesome. The author mentions problems with speech processing, speaking, sensory overload, sleeping, getting out of bed, eating, smells, textures, and navigation. None of those problems were created by society and none of them can be fixed by the neurodiversity paradigm.
  • aethertron 6y ago
    Did you know there are folks out here arguing for an even stronger version of this position? The 'social model of disability' is the name for the wider notion that includes the neurodiversity argument/paradigm to which you refer, and applies to all other disabilities. On this view, all the problems you mention are only problems because society doesn't give affected people enough support (ETA; to clarify (or rather, to give my best interpretation of the position I don't actually hold): material support. Not just lack of 'societal preconception and bigotry'). It's an ethical/political (and maybe economic?) position. Edit: noticed SM is mentioned in the article.
    • JohnBooty 6y ago
      On this view, all the problems you mention are only problems because society doesn't give affected people enough support Sure, it's possible to reductio ad absurdum the "social model", just like nearly anything else. "Being in a coma isn't a problem! It just makes you different. The problem is society's refusal to cater to the workplace needs of people in a vegetative coma state!" All the social model aims to do is think about a separation of the impairment itself and the ways in which society may make it worse. In some cases, sure. Lots of impairments will just be debilitating no matter what. Somebody in a coma is not going to be able to participate in society very much. Lots of counterexamples though. For example, imagine a skilled software developer. However, she needs a wheelchair and she can't work anywhere in town because none of the buildings have wheelchair access. A perfectly able developer has been rendered disabled (or at least, unable to work) by this fact. This is somebody who could be working, if we simply build wheelchair ramps or allowed her to work from home.
• afarrell 6y ago
  > Do you consider yourself to be a disabled person? > Yes: No: Prefer not to say: ughhhhh.... As a mixed-race ADHDer: Is this box becoming a thing too? I totally get that this is a hard thing to design a database schema for (see https://qntm.org/gay https://qntm.org/gay). Just...oy. This is going to have a UX that reminds me of applying for colleges and trying to figure out if I'm Black or not. We live in a world of trade-offs.
  • wccrawford 6y ago
    Do you mean the "prefer not to say" box? I'd argue that it should exist for every non-mandatory selection for privacy's sake. If the question isn't necessary for some reason, it should probably be left off completely, IMO. But I'm assuming they're trying to get stats for something, and some people may be okay with that. But they should still make it obviously optional, which is what that option is for.
    • leetcrew 6y ago
      doesn't allowing "prefer not to say" mess up the data anyway, or is there a way to work around this?
• encom 6y ago
  The website is disabled. Throws a modal popup at the first scroll event. As usual, archiving bypasses this nonsense: https://archive.ph/tDOQy https://archive.ph/tDOQy
• unnouinceput 6y ago
  "Not really... Maybe... It's classified." Based on my masochistic choice for projects in past years I think I'll answer "yes" to this question. Something changed in my brain in past years because I started to enjoy projects that are a pain in the proverbial rear while the normal ones just bore me to death. And also pays better.
• therealx 6y ago
  I really appreciate this post. I'm reevaulating what it means to be disabled. I still don't know how to answer, as I have learned to manage them very well, but I do still change my life based on it, and more improtantly, I think my life would have been very different without them. Now that I've added a lower back injury to the list, I think it's tipping toward yes. Does anyone know if you say no on this form and then ask for an accomidation for something, like, say, a chair - is that okay?
• Macha 6y ago
  In my early teens, I was diagnosed with dyspraxia. I have issues with fine motor control, which mostly affects writing (it's often illegible, and writing for an extended period of time (40 minutes plus) is painful) or actions like cutting up food and depth perception/co-ordination which sometimes ends up with me walking into tables etc. The one accommodation I did accept for it was to type rather than handwrite my college exams (pride did not allow me to do so for my end of school exams). In the software industry, it doesn't really affect me, apart from occasional embarrassment at a team dinner where an attempt to cut up food results in some going astray, and I consider myself lucky as most people with dyspraxia (I can't remember the exact number currently, but like 70%) also have to deal with dyslexia, something I do not have. I take notes on vim in my laptop rather than on paper like most of my colleagues so that I can definitely read them when I no longer remember them, and shrug off the occasional dropped item or overestimated doorway as clumsiness. Consequently, most of the time, despite having an actual diagnosis, I answer "no" to this question most of the time. Like the author, the conversation of "but you don't seem disabled" is one I usually wish to avoid, and when you start saying dys- people automatically fill in dyslexia and ignore what you actually said.
• indymike 6y ago
  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.
  • partyboat1586 6y ago
    Out of interest, what was your disability that caused you to need mid day naps?
    • indymike 6y ago
      CFS.
      • partyboat1586 6y ago
        Thanks, I thought as much. Do you still suffer with it / has it got any better or worse?
        • indymike 6y ago
          Complete recovery.
• varispeed 6y ago
  Beautiful essay. I know I am on autistic spectrum, but I decided to not get officially diagnosed because of the issues mentioned in the article. I fear that if I disclose autism I will limit my chances at getting jobs. I could imagine someone would have reservations putting "mentally challenged" person in charge of their data or infrastructure, despite my impeccable track record.
• wccrawford 6y ago
  To me it's one of those "How heavy is a rock?" questions. In a particular instance, I think anyone can answer it about themselves. But in the abstract, it's a lot harder. Some people have issues with many or all things, and can easily answer 'yes'. Some people have no real issues and will easily answer 'no'. But there are a ton of people in the middle who have problems with certain situations and it's not an easy answer. If you could answer "yes" without having to worry about repercussions, I would recommend that anyone unsure just answer that. But sadly, that's not the way the world works.
  • bluGill 6y ago
    Everybody in the world can honestly answer yes they are disabled because of something. Yet the vast majority don't need special consideration to live their life. Even when someone does need special consideration what is important: Those bumps in the sidewalk that let a blind person know there is a road crossing ahead are critical to their safety - but they are very uncomfortable to someone in a wheelchair, sometimes to the point of being unable to use the sidewalk at all! In short, the question is invalid. What is really needed isn't a yes/no response it is an appendix of what accommodations they have and already and then a blank of what you need. If you are in a wheelchair and the place already is wheelchair accessible then you are not disabled, but if the building hasn't be remodeled to wheelchair accessibility you are disabled. If there won't be a meal/snacks then your food allergies are not a disability, but if there are then it could be (could because some are you know what to avoid and can trust to find the something safe, while others are don't even have something in the same room). But it is easier to have a yes/no question even though that is useless to everyone.
    • pseudalopex 6y ago
      Everyone doesn't have a legally defined disability. The question is for statistics. It doesn't stop anyone explaining how to ask for accommodations.
• rexreed 6y ago
  Call me pragmatic but I think the answer is simple. If it benefits you to say you are disabled and you have a qualifying disability, medically supported, then say yes, say you are disabled. If it does not benefit you to say you're disabled and the disability is not entirely obvious to others who you don't interact with on a regular basis, then say no. Some might not like it, but if the disability is of the sort that there's some sort of contention on whether to say yes or no, then the line isn't particularly firm.
  • bluGill 6y ago
    That is itself abusing the system and makes it worse for those who need it. There are benefits for the disabled that some technically qualify for that are meant for those worse off than they are. Unfortunately I don't know how to draw the line - that is why it is possible to abuse the system: some who need the benefits may seem better off than others who don't need them. This same argument prevents some who really should take benefits from taking them! All I can say is be careful and please don't cheat the system - everyone who cheats is evidence that we need to tighten the rules even at the expense of not giving benefits to those who need them. It is a hard problem.
    • anoncake 6y ago
      There is always someone who is worse off than you are. If the rules say you are sufficiently disabled to get accommodations, you are. You don't abuse the system by following them.
      • bluGill 6y ago
        That isn't really true. The system that is strict enough that you cannot abuse the system is the system so strict that many people who should get help are unable to get it. Particularly if the disability has a mental component, the disabled may unable to navigate a complex system that can keep out those who are faking it. Even if you have a system that manages that: the system itself is so expensive because of fraud prevention that it isn't worth it. Of course it depends. A few handicap parking spots are cheap. Printing user manuals in Brail is more expensive but not too bad if you limit it to those who actually know read brail. Keeping interpreter on staff for every minority language is expensive.
• Jaruzel 6y ago
  The problem is with the word 'disable'. It's the negative form of 'able', and is therefore considered socially to be an inferior condition. If we had another, standalone, word for people with various conditions and limitations it wouldn't be seen as something to pity, and people would be more open about who they are and what they can and cannot do.
  • paulryanrogers 6y ago
    Differently abled is one that I've heard. And it seems fitting since most hope to grow old, which inevitably means at least some changes in ability. Hopefully gaining some with experience even if losing others to entropy.
• idclip 6y ago
  I actually admitted this to myself lately. Hits hard. But its time to take a break, and heal. Being human is so raw. Disease is such a dual edged sword. So many feelings i think i would never have had.
• nameless912 6y ago
  It took me a very, very, very long time after I got my diagnosis of Bipolar II and ASD to check the box saying I was disabled. This is even after a couple of crisis calls, nearly failing out of college, nearly destroying my relationship with my partner, and having a couple of really rough months early in my career where I was worried I would be fired for not getting anything done. The stigma around being disabled is very, very real. My parents still hate that I embrace that label. They point to my uncle who is schizophrenic and has severe arthritis and who has been on disability since they were in their mid-30s and say "see, HE's disabled, you aren't!" and it's incredibly difficult to deal with. Because I'm now medicated, have a stable relationship with my partner, see a therapist once a week, and have special accommodations with my boss (mostly around taking sick leave a little more frequently than "average" but keeping him in the loop when I'm having a bad day), my life externally looks "normal". I work 40(ish) hours a week, my partner and I own a house, we recently moved back home to be closer to family, and we're happy. But I still check that little box because of all the work that it took me to get there, and because more people need to know that disability and work are not mutually exclusive. I've started being more "out" about my disability (it's funny, my partner semi-recently came out as bisexual and I've learned a lot from her about how to own my identity), becoming more comfortable talking with people about it at work and in my personal life. I'm helping out with a new ERG at my job that talks about disability as it pertains to our field and I'm trying my best to be true to myself. It's hard because others still see someone who's "fine", but I'm getting more comfortable every day with my identity. I just hope that my being more open changes someone's mind some day about either their perception of others, or their perception of themselves.
• yobananaboy 6y ago
  > There are parents so appalled by the prospect of having an autistic child that they knowingly expose their children to infectious diseases – potentially fatal ones – because they have been led to believe that vaccination causes autism. When a difference is stigmatised to that degree, it has a wretched effect on the mental health of those who bear it My parents ended up as antivaxxers when 2 of my siblings were diagnosed with autism. My 3 youngest sisters aren’t vaccinated, and one of my autistic brothers isn’t up to date on his. Which is crazy to realize that damn, my mother would rather risk having my little sisters die from a horrible disease than risk them being anything like their neurodivergent siblings. I’m the eldest, and with adhd I was always treated differently, but not to the same degree. This passage really helped me understand the anguish that has lead to multiple suicide attempts by one of my brothers.
• miki123211 6y ago
  Blind person here. Another related issue is when to tell people about your disability (when you're just exchanging texts/emails, but you expect to meet up physically at some point). This very often comes up when job-seeking. I had to deal with this a couple weeks ago (not job-related) and it was extremely hard for me. In this case, it was a group of approx. 30 people that I interacted with for a few weeks before coming out, and that made the situation even harder.
• miki123211 6y ago
  > You appear to be asking a closed question, but ‘consider’ is a word I would use to open up a question. Forms are full of such questions, presenting themselves as straightforward logic gates, which on closer inspection turn out to be impossibly multivalent. This is actually a huge problem, particularly in the age of computer systems. If the form is electronic and not designed properly, you can't even leave a note. Software developers often love being smart and validating all inputs, with disastrous consequences. In my opinion, 99% of validations, at least for data that's not going to be directly processed by computers, email addresses for example, shouldn't be validated at all, and most validation errors should be replaced with warnings instead.
  • thebean11 6y ago
    > email addresses for example What's an example of when a form would want to take in a seemingly invalid email address?
    • handoflixue 6y ago
      A lot of email validation rules fail to cover valid corner cases: https://haacked.com/archive/2007/08/21/i-knew-how-to-validate-an-email-address-until-i.aspx/ https://haacked.com/archive/2007/08/21/i-knew-how-to-validat... For that matter, future developments can be problematic: Does your validation rule allow for "@gmail.com"? It seems better to warn the user that it might be invalid, rather than completely blocking some users from signing up.
• comprev 6y ago
  This might be controversial but here goes... On the other side of the coin I had an unforgettable interview experience for a role that really questioned my pro-viewpoint on disability in the workplace. Prior to this interview I was a firm believer that anybody should do the job they want and overcome obstacles. Afterwards, ths changed. Prior to the interview, the recruiter phoned me and said "Just a heads up, you might have a little difficulty in speaking with the CTO due to his disability, but I'm sure you'll be OK". A slightly odd conversation but I appreciated the information ahead of time. Upon arriving at the conference room the lead engineer (Alice) said "Bob [CTO] works remote and a word of warning - you might have a little difficulty in understanding what he says, but don't worry I can help if you get stuck". That's now two people who have warned me. Bob had a degenerative illness which made his speech stutter and slur heavily.... to the point I could not understand _anything_ he said. Nothing. It was like trying to understand someone who's clearly drunk more than they should, to the point of nearly blacking out (I'm serious here). When he joined the company 10 years prior he was perfectly fit and healthy, and within 5 years became CTO of the startup. He was still healthy at this point. All good. Bob developed illness which impaired his speech so much _every question_ he asked me had to "repeated" by Alice sitting at the table beside me. Every word that came out of Bob's mouth had to be "repeated". It was impossible to verbally communicate with Bob wihtout Alice present to translate. It took 2 very long minutes to ask "how are you today?" at the interview start. 120 seconds. How was anybody going to effectively communicate with this person on a daily basis or have technical verbal discussions!? If they said communication would be written text only with the CTO I doubt I would have accepted the interview. To me engineering is all about communication. You communicate ideas in varying degrees of technical depth to cater for your audience, who in turn communicate their ideas to other parties - be it board level, juniors, external parties or even the accounting department. Communication was totally broken here. What was most concerning was Bob didn't seem feel his disability was serious enough to step down from such a role (or management didn't want to suggest he step down... maybe through fear of law suit?). His inability to verbally communicate anything would have a bit impact on their product development. The company did ask me to return for a second/final interview (they phoned the recruiter within minutes of me leaving the building..) but I politely declined. It would have been impossible to work with Bob.
  • 6y ago
• tmnstr85 6y ago
  In America, indicating you are disabled is like painting a target on your back. This is why this article exists in the first place - it highlights the fact that Americans (and other undeveloped nations) basically follow nature. If someone is unfit to survive in their environment, then they will eventually end up being absorbed back into nature. The fallacy that I can't live with, is that some people try to pretend that there is a safety net. I've got a 2 year old who is deaf / blind and has serious cognitive issues. Since me and my wife both do well in the game of capitalism - we are entitled to none of whatever "safety net" exists. If you can survive without showing your disability, that's what works best in America. There are horror stories of people losing entire careers and there way of life - because they told their superior about the burdens of raising disabled children. Its better to hide these truths, everyone will have a better chance of survival.
• webdog 6y ago
  Thoughtful article. I've had similar feelings about myself and whether or not I'm disabled. My left arm is crooked from two childhood injuries and doesn't turn over more than about 30%, it's called a Madelung deformity[1], it showed itself after my second injury when my arm was healing from a fracture when I was 10 years old. Most of the time, it's pretty invisible for me and everyone else, but there are things in day-to-day life that are a chore if I think about it, such as cutting food with a knife, exercising, or even trying to hold something at a certain angle with my hand can be uncomfortable. It's kind of silly, but I also can't play guitar standing up, as the angle of turning my wrist over is too uncomfortable to stay in position on the fretboard. Sitting down is similar, but I can play longer as I can hold my elbow closer to my body. [1]https://radiopaedia.org/articles/madelung-deformity?lang=us https://radiopaedia.org/articles/madelung-deformity?lang=us
• bobthechef 6y ago
  Ultimately, "disability" (the word irks me because it's a weasel word) is ultimately normative and teleological. That is, someone is disabled when they lack something they ought to. Pace Hume about is/ought, human nature is your reference point about what ought to be the case. Despite what teleophobic biologists claim, biology could not function without telos. Indeed, no science could because there would be no explanation for why a particular effect results from a particular cause. In a mechanistic universe, no such teleology exists and nothing truly makes sense anymore. But for the most part, mechanists, like skepticists, exist only in highly rarefied environments like graduate seminars, or deployed selectively to rationalize some perverse desire. And when this mechanism does enter daily life, it does so to their detriment.
• TurkishPoptart 6y ago
  Can anyone comment as to how this question on employment application forms affects employability with regard to U.S. government/public sector and private sector jobs? The conventional wisdom is that "this information is optional and does not count toward eligibility", but this doesn't make sense; why would they ask this question on literally _every_ job application if it was optional and doesn't count toward anything?
  • guenthert 6y ago
    It's for the annual reports and 'best place to work' advertising. Big corporations want to show how diverse they are. It might hence improve your chances to get hired if you fit at least in one of the minority categories. Long time ago I worked in a small company were they hired a deaf girl as a trainee. One might think that it's so nice that they give disabled persons a chance (in her case the inability to hear unfortunately affected her ability to read as well, to the point that my boss discouraged me from teaching her the use of e-mail) however the company received some 100 grand/a (a lot of doe in Germany then) from the government for her professional development, so the company gained a little even if she wasn't all that productive. I don't think the company had any intention to hire her afterwards.
• true_religion 6y ago
  So I have a spectrum disorder that affects the eyes. At this point, I can only see poorly but it’s still good enough to walk around safely in the world. Glasses don’t help. Yet, I am not disabled. One day I’ll be legally blind and then I’ll be disabled. I think if there is a spectrum issue then some people will be in the spectrum but not count as disabled. Autism is a poorly understood disorder at least when it comes to determining how it affects your life. Maybe in the future it will have a legal definition that can be easily tested for. I suspect that the author is closer to the norm on the spectrum since they went for 42 years of success without knowing the problem existed. That’s how it was for me with my eyes. My brother in the other hand is autistic non verbal, and there never was any doubt he was disabled.