Telling a prospective employer about Lupus or not ?? Follow up to Guildfords blog.

[Riverbird]

Just for info. might be useful for some, taken from a Disability Skills Website:-

"It is illegal to give false information. Many application forms and medical questionnaires ask direct questions about disability and health. If you give false information and your employer finds out after you start work, you could be liable for dismissal.

You are obliged by law to tell your employer if your disability has any health and safety implications for you or for others."

If you actually become disabled AFTER being employed, then maureenpearl is quite right that the employer cannot then do anything that contradicts the DDA.

There is though, something that can be used as in the following:-

"You can control the way your disability is explained to a prospective employer. There are positive ways of disclosing a disability which can emphasise your skills. For example, rather than telling a prospective employer ‘I have a hearing impairment which has caused me difficulties’, you could say: ‘Because of my hearing impairment, I have developed an excellent ability to concentrate. This enhances my ability to perform complex, detailed tasks such as entering and analysing data on spreadsheets’. Another positive way of disclosing would be: ‘Having a visual impairment means that I developed an interest in and aptitude for Information Technology at an early age. I am keen to develop my IT skills further in my career’.

I am sure that all of us lovely Lupies can find some positives that would help to get us that job in spite of.

Take care everyone.

[lowicklady55]

Hi,

I am always upfront about my lupus/schleroderma/raynauds and polymyalgia. Why hide behind a bush about illness. It's not as if we are freaks, is it? Oooo lupus, never heard of that!

Make them aware, that's what I say.

I am quite surprised that the care bureau took me on with all my "ailments", but they did and I seem to manage by not overdoing things, after all, it's not what you can't do, it's what you can do. The mantra of the lupies.

[chrissiij]

Hello,

This is a very interesting post. It would seem unfair for an employer to dismiss someone for not declaring a disability, especially if there doesn't seem to be any difference i the standard of work between a loopy and a non-loopy.

For a bit of fun, here is what I would say in an interview:

Because of my health issues, I have learned to laugh at myself and have become a lot more confident because of it.

Sometimes, I am too tired to enjoy weekends properly, so I stay in and bake cakes / biscuits, which get taken into the office on a Monday morning. (This is very true!)

I love butterflies.

My condition means that I sometimes get "brain fog", and it is because of this that I have developed an almost OCD level of colour co-ordination and attention to detail.

At first, my colleagues said of me: "messy desk, messy mind?", but now I have taught them that it is "creative mess". They can't deny that.