8 ms·

It would be very helpful not only to me, but to people like me, were potential employers to comply with the labor laws. Specifically, the various state laws re

It would be very helpful not only to me, but to people like me, were potential employers to comply with the labor laws. Specifically, the various state laws regarding age discrimination - in Oregon, one may not discriminate for reasons of age against people over forty. There is also the US Americans with Disabilities Act. I am dead certain that I lose work because I link to two essays about my mental illness right at the top of every page of my website. My Bipolar-Type Schizoaffective Disorder was diagnosed in 1985. I started my first salaried coding job in 1987. I was hired as a Product Development Manager in 1990. I graduated with a BA in Physics in 1993. In 1994, I invented a novel, unobvious lossless bitmap graphics compressor. In 1995, I was hired as a Senior Engineer at Apple Computer, where I worked as a "Debug Meister". In 2000, I was married to a woman who knew all about my illness. We purchased a nice house with money I earned as a consultant. In 2015, I can't get a job because I have grey hair, and I am openly public about being mentally ill.

dsacco 11y ago
>> There is also the US Americans with Disabilities Act. I am dead certain that I lose work because I link to two essays about my mental illness right at the top of every page of my website. With respect, why do you do this? How can you possibly think this is a good idea? I sympathize that you have a mental illness, but you're being stubborn by complaining that you can't get a job when one of the primary obstacles is clearly in your power. Don't advertise that you have a mental illness. No matter how you would like the world to work, it does not work in such a way that advertising mental illness is in any way conducive to searching for a job. Here is another example, to take away the stigma of mental illness: I'm a hiring manager, and I just found out that you have cancer on your blog. This was directly in the navigation of the blog. This is bad. I don't want to not hire you because you have cancer. I don't want to discriminate against you. But you've suddenly become much more complicated and emotionally loaded than this other person who doesn't have cancer. Worse, you display no regard whatsoever for social cues by advertising this so bluntly. If your mental disorder has anything to do with you not getting a job, it's really just because you're sending horribly unattractive social/communication signals to potential employers. There is an idealized world we'd all like to see, and there is a world we actually live in. It's not like you're a woman being discriminated against here. Your mental illness does not need to literally be the first thing people see about you when they look at your online identity. Sorry if any of this was harsh. I wish you the best in your search, but please consider not being quite so "loud" about your problems. Reframing who you are to potential employers could do wonders.
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  The ADA is intended to protect people who self-identify. If some chooses not to hire me because they see my essays at the top of my online resume, then they are violating Federal Law.
  - owennoah 11y ago
    Correct, but unfortunately you will probably never, ever, ever know if this is the case and you would have a hard time proving it anyway so the point is probably moot. The real question is: what can someone who is having trouble finding work do anyway? See my response below.
  - Frondo 11y ago
    Did you see the parent poster's question? I'm curious too, why you do the linking on your site, when you seem to be looking for work, and you suspect it's preventing you from getting it?
    - DanBC 11y ago
      I would not want to work for ignorant bigots, and self-identifying is a way to filter out employers who are ignorant and happy to break federal law.
      - owennoah 11y ago
        This is a fair point too, at least in as much as job seekers should be screening employers for a variety of things. Not enough job seekers do that. They just say whatever they think will make the employer happy.
        MichaelCrawford 11y ago
        In recent years I've come up with a few ways to screen potential employers. One good way, before interviewing if possible, is to travel to the office during the time of day that you expect to arrive, were you to take the job. For most people that would be morning rush hour, but I commonly work at night. As well, travel from the office to home - or perhaps to the general neighborhood where you expect to relocate - at the time you expect to get off work. When you interview, ask the hiring manager whether he knows where you would be likely to sit, where you to hire on. In the case of my work at microsoft, that one question would have led to my turning down the contract. I was expecting an office with a door I could shut, but because I was a contractor, on my first morning I was told I'd have to sit in - I Swear I'm Not Making This Up - "The Boiler Room". If they have a lunchroom, ask to see it. Extra credit if you can actually eat there. I personally care quite a lot about what I can before and after work, and during my lunch hour in the general neighborhood of where I work. Some people don't care but I do - if there aren't any cafes in the area, I don't pursue it. That precludes quite a lot of otherwise good jobs that are in the middle of huge industrial parks.

dsacco 11y ago

>> There is also the US Americans with Disabilities Act. I am dead certain that I lose work because I link to two essays about my mental illness right at the top of every page of my website. With respect, why do you do this? How can you possibly think this is a good idea? I sympathize that you have a mental illness, but you're being stubborn by complaining that you can't get a job when one of the primary obstacles is clearly in your power. Don't advertise that you have a mental illness. No matter how you would like the world to work, it does not work in such a way that advertising mental illness is in any way conducive to searching for a job. Here is another example, to take away the stigma of mental illness: I'm a hiring manager, and I just found out that you have cancer on your blog. This was directly in the navigation of the blog. This is bad. I don't want to not hire you because you have cancer. I don't want to discriminate against you. But you've suddenly become much more complicated and emotionally loaded than this other person who doesn't have cancer. Worse, you display no regard whatsoever for social cues by advertising this so bluntly. If your mental disorder has anything to do with you not getting a job, it's really just because you're sending horribly unattractive social/communication signals to potential employers. There is an idealized world we'd all like to see, and there is a world we actually live in. It's not like you're a woman being discriminated against here. Your mental illness does not need to literally be the first thing people see about you when they look at your online identity. Sorry if any of this was harsh. I wish you the best in your search, but please consider not being quite so "loud" about your problems. Reframing who you are to potential employers could do wonders.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
The ADA is intended to protect people who self-identify. If some chooses not to hire me because they see my essays at the top of my online resume, then they are violating Federal Law.
- owennoah 11y ago
  Correct, but unfortunately you will probably never, ever, ever know if this is the case and you would have a hard time proving it anyway so the point is probably moot. The real question is: what can someone who is having trouble finding work do anyway? See my response below.
- Frondo 11y ago
  Did you see the parent poster's question? I'm curious too, why you do the linking on your site, when you seem to be looking for work, and you suspect it's preventing you from getting it?
  - DanBC 11y ago
    I would not want to work for ignorant bigots, and self-identifying is a way to filter out employers who are ignorant and happy to break federal law.
    - owennoah 11y ago
      This is a fair point too, at least in as much as job seekers should be screening employers for a variety of things. Not enough job seekers do that. They just say whatever they think will make the employer happy.
      - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
        In recent years I've come up with a few ways to screen potential employers. One good way, before interviewing if possible, is to travel to the office during the time of day that you expect to arrive, were you to take the job. For most people that would be morning rush hour, but I commonly work at night. As well, travel from the office to home - or perhaps to the general neighborhood where you expect to relocate - at the time you expect to get off work. When you interview, ask the hiring manager whether he knows where you would be likely to sit, where you to hire on. In the case of my work at microsoft, that one question would have led to my turning down the contract. I was expecting an office with a door I could shut, but because I was a contractor, on my first morning I was told I'd have to sit in - I Swear I'm Not Making This Up - "The Boiler Room". If they have a lunchroom, ask to see it. Extra credit if you can actually eat there. I personally care quite a lot about what I can before and after work, and during my lunch hour in the general neighborhood of where I work. Some people don't care but I do - if there aren't any cafes in the area, I don't pursue it. That precludes quite a lot of otherwise good jobs that are in the middle of huge industrial parks.