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"Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health condition that is marked by a mix of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and mood disorde

"Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health condition that is marked by a mix of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression, mania and a milder form of mania called hypomania. Hallucinations involve seeing things or hearing voices that others don't observe. Delusions involve believing things that are not real or not true." I'm not sure this is an employable condition unfortunately. As progressive as anyone wants to be, I can see the disruption an illness like this causes not being tenable. Businesses are competitive entities, not machines for inclusion. My heart goes out to OP but I don't think I'd want him on my team either.

kamranjon 1y ago
I would hope that there would be some possibility for folks like this to utilize platforms like Patreon or GitHub sponsorships to help pay their bills - they are obviously motivated and productive coders and also talented writers. In my experience there is sort of a discrepancy often times. Someone discloses a severe mental health diagnosis and the company just goes on pretending they are just like every other employee - making no changes to accommodate them. On the flip side, employees with severe mental health disorders often want to be treated exactly the same as other employees - so it seems a bit of an un-winnable situation.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
zdragnar 1y ago
It is a condition that is employable in the abstract, as symptoms are as varied as individuals are. The difficulty begins with the treatment- the medications can be extremely unpleasant, and it is not uncommon for patients to cease taking them. Unfortunately, people with the condition can be unreliable narrators, so to speak, and so any deviation from perfectly normal becomes suspicion of medication refusal, as the author noted in the article. Even when they are perfectly honest and accurate, just having a rough day will mean being met with distrust at best. The thing that struck me as odd in the article is the repetition of fear as a reaction in others. There's not enough information to understand if this is accurate or not. One of my friends growing up had a cleft lip; his low self image had him constantly assuming the worst in others despite it (from my observations) contributing far less to people's reactions than he'd imagined. So, we are left wondering: is the author of the post a reliable narrator, or are their symptoms coloring their perception of the interactions with others in a way that they are misjudging?
- jerlendds 1y ago
  [redacted]
  - nemomarx 1y ago
    I hope you don't have to go through that in the future. The way people treat the homeless and how ERs treat anyone who asks for medication (accusations of pill seeking, as if it's impossible anyone might need pills) are horrible. Good luck out there.
  - zdragnar 1y ago
    Thank you for sharing. I am sympathetic to the struggle, being an occasionally unreliable narrator myself. It can be incredibly surprising and disappointing how people can react to mental health issues, even just hearing that you have them despite not presenting symptoms at the time. A prior acquaintance of mine was a social worker who helped people with such conditions live (semi)independently. One in particular hated his medication, but when he wasn't on it, he'd become increasingly paranoid that vampires were out to get him. To the best of my knowledge he was never violent, but you're right- when imagining defensive paranoia, popular media always brings to mind a loose cannon who might be a danger to themselves and others. In time, this may change, but I can't say that I'm too hopeful. We no longer associate menstruation with hysteria, but it's easy to change when we're talking about half the population. So long as fictional media outnumbers real lives, it'll be harder to change. With that said, change comes from learning, and I hope your sharing will help others understand.
energy123 1y ago
You've got to put them behind a remote, narrowly-scoped, async interface. Basically hire them as a remote consultant, with 1 point of contact, and send them non-urgent tasks that they can complete whenever. It can work like this, I've seen it. Eventually they blow up, but the interface prevents any negative side-effects, and in the interim it was a win-win arrangement.
erikerikson 1y ago
> Businesses are competitive entities, not machines for inclusion. I think this is less true than you're stating. It has been a drum beat of the business schools though. The rich, influential, and socially active people I know are far more free and diverse than any of the working people I know. A sizable contingent of them believe society should be run to maximize everyone's ability to be productive. It's part of why there are many laws mandating so.

kamranjon 1y ago

I would hope that there would be some possibility for folks like this to utilize platforms like Patreon or GitHub sponsorships to help pay their bills - they are obviously motivated and productive coders and also talented writers. In my experience there is sort of a discrepancy often times. Someone discloses a severe mental health diagnosis and the company just goes on pretending they are just like every other employee - making no changes to accommodate them. On the flip side, employees with severe mental health disorders often want to be treated exactly the same as other employees - so it seems a bit of an un-winnable situation.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

zdragnar 1y ago

It is a condition that is employable in the abstract, as symptoms are as varied as individuals are. The difficulty begins with the treatment- the medications can be extremely unpleasant, and it is not uncommon for patients to cease taking them. Unfortunately, people with the condition can be unreliable narrators, so to speak, and so any deviation from perfectly normal becomes suspicion of medication refusal, as the author noted in the article. Even when they are perfectly honest and accurate, just having a rough day will mean being met with distrust at best. The thing that struck me as odd in the article is the repetition of fear as a reaction in others. There's not enough information to understand if this is accurate or not. One of my friends growing up had a cleft lip; his low self image had him constantly assuming the worst in others despite it (from my observations) contributing far less to people's reactions than he'd imagined. So, we are left wondering: is the author of the post a reliable narrator, or are their symptoms coloring their perception of the interactions with others in a way that they are misjudging?

jerlendds 1y ago
[redacted]
- nemomarx 1y ago
  I hope you don't have to go through that in the future. The way people treat the homeless and how ERs treat anyone who asks for medication (accusations of pill seeking, as if it's impossible anyone might need pills) are horrible. Good luck out there.
- zdragnar 1y ago
  Thank you for sharing. I am sympathetic to the struggle, being an occasionally unreliable narrator myself. It can be incredibly surprising and disappointing how people can react to mental health issues, even just hearing that you have them despite not presenting symptoms at the time. A prior acquaintance of mine was a social worker who helped people with such conditions live (semi)independently. One in particular hated his medication, but when he wasn't on it, he'd become increasingly paranoid that vampires were out to get him. To the best of my knowledge he was never violent, but you're right- when imagining defensive paranoia, popular media always brings to mind a loose cannon who might be a danger to themselves and others. In time, this may change, but I can't say that I'm too hopeful. We no longer associate menstruation with hysteria, but it's easy to change when we're talking about half the population. So long as fictional media outnumbers real lives, it'll be harder to change. With that said, change comes from learning, and I hope your sharing will help others understand.

energy123 1y ago

You've got to put them behind a remote, narrowly-scoped, async interface. Basically hire them as a remote consultant, with 1 point of contact, and send them non-urgent tasks that they can complete whenever. It can work like this, I've seen it. Eventually they blow up, but the interface prevents any negative side-effects, and in the interim it was a win-win arrangement.

erikerikson 1y ago

> Businesses are competitive entities, not machines for inclusion. I think this is less true than you're stating. It has been a drum beat of the business schools though. The rich, influential, and socially active people I know are far more free and diverse than any of the working people I know. A sizable contingent of them believe society should be run to maximize everyone's ability to be productive. It's part of why there are many laws mandating so.