Disclosing a Disability to Your Employer

Recently, my friend asked me if I discussed my hearing impairment with my employer when I was first hired and if I need any accommodations at work. His questions were interesting because I have a visible disability and therefore I don’t have the option to disclose my hearing impairment. If you see my hearing aids, you know I’m hearing impaired.

However, I do have the option not to discuss my hearing impairment. I did choose not to talk about my disability during the interview process. I’m not sure whether or not being disabled had any bearing when my application was evaluated, but I wanted to be hired based on my qualifications. For me, not discussing my disability allowed me to speak of my merits, and helps me believe I was not hired out of empathy.

Only one can decide whether and how much information to share regarding his or her disability. For residents of the United States, the following facts are good to know:

• Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person with a disability can choose to disclose his or her disability at any time. Disclosure can take place during the interview process, upon a job offer, or anytime after beginning a job.
• Although one is not required to disclose his or her disability under the law, one should disclose his or her disability in order to request reasonable accommodations or to receive protection under the law. Telling an employer about a disability is a safe way to gain proper protection under the law.
• It is likely that one will have difficulty being protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act if one discloses a disability right before being fired. Employers are most likely to be responsive to a disclosure done in good faith rather than done as a last-ditch effort to keep a job.
• No one can force an individual to disclose or discuss a disability if he or she doesn’t want to. If an employer brings up the topic and one does not want to talk about his or her disability – he or she does not have to.

I knew as long as I had a phone in which I could increase the volume, I would most likely not need to request any accommodations. The first thing I checked when I moved into my cube was my phone. The receiver had volume amplification control. As a result, I’ve refrained from discussing my disability with my manager. He has never brought the topic up with me. So far, my performance at my company has been solid and I’ve not had any issues interacting with clients on the phone.

What do you think?

• Should I have a conversation with my manager regarding my disability despite not having any issues on the job and not foreseeing any potential issues in the future?
• Have you disclosed your disability with your employer, and if so, how’d you go about doing it?

Feel free to respond via posting a comment or email me at remmettroy@gmail.com.

Stream Thoughts

Know what you’re worth
Demonstrate your value
Don’t be afraid to speak up
Praise in public, criticize in private

Cognizant of change
Hard worker
Show your respect
Seize opportunities

Months pass, you’ve worked hard
Seize opportunities
Collaborative team player
Speak up

Others promotions inspire you
And anger you too
Sleepless nights
Borderline – opportunity and exploitation

Demand your fair treatment
You’ve worked hard too
Circle under your eyes
Borderline – opportunity and exploitation

You hear their laughs
Gleam in their eyes
You wonder why
You know their fight

Borderline – opportunity and exploitation
Exploitation
Know what you’re worth
Display your value
Demand change

Moving Forward

Diversity is a creative opportunity for the American media to reflect the totality of the U.S. viewing audience. While great strides have been made to increase the presence of people of different genders, races, and sexual orientations in television programming – there still lags an area where much improvement is needed. Today’s national media outputs fail to appropriately include people with disabilities. As a young male with a hearing impairment, I find this very disappointing.

With-TV will change the journalistic climate. By displaying credible and honest faces of people with disabilities to the American viewing audience on its cable network, With-TV will demonstrate the intelligence, talent, and skill many people with disabilities have. With-TV will help show that people with special needs can succeed and make positive contributions to our society.

Your support of With-TV is greatly appreciated. Please visit with www.withtv.typepad.com.

Careers -- where were people with disabilities?

I recently attended a career fair at the University of Wisconsin - Madison on behalf of my firm. Each year we go to schools across the United States to recruit college graduates. This is my second year recruiting at UW-Madison -- specifically at the Business School's career fair.

I met a lot of strong potential candidates at the fair. However, as a person with a hearing impairment who wears hearing aids, I don't recall seeing any person -- neither recruiters nor students -- with a visible disability at the fair. It is very possible that I was the only one.

Shouldn't this be different?
Shouldn't the school's McBurney disability center be encouraging people with special needs to attend the fair?

Desire, Dare, You

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything".
Napoleon Hill

"Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment...intention and desire have infinite power. And when we introduce an intention in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, we put the infinite power to work for us".
Deepak Chopra

"All glory comes from daring to begin".
Eugene F. Ware

Stay true to the desires of your heart and dare to be you, exactly the way you are. As you dare to begin to be you, you will find the key to the infinite happiness that lies only within you.

Rob

Emily's hearing aids

Emily got red hearing aids! Watch her as she receives her hearing aids for the first time and how it enhances her hearing experience. Go Emily!

Tan

My hearing aids are tan. They are not a brownish-red tan commonly associated with changed skin color after prolonged exposure to the sun, nor are they a yellowish tan similar to the color of sandy beaches on a sunny day along a waterfront. Rather, my hearing aids are a tan that imitates the color of Caucasian skin.

I wear behind-the-ear hearing aids and need a way in which sound can be carried from the instruments into my ears -- my ear molds serve this purpose. My ear molds are a clear plastic with a hint of pinkish-tan. My ear molds are not the faint pink fashionably (and perhaps arguably) considered the new black, nor is it a deep pink similar to the color of my grandma’s lipstick. Rather, the pinkish-tan attempts to represent the color of my inner ear canal.

Does something seem wrong with this picture? Audiologists and I – knowingly or unknowingly -- attempt to diminish the visibility of my disability by trying to make my hearing aids blend in with my current body anatomy. But, why?

Historically, the condition of having a disability was considered tragic in a society in which people were expected to be perfect. Having a disability or family member with a disability was perceived as a weakness. As a result, many people with special needs were institutionalized and a race began to create instruments that minimize or get rid of any visible special need. My hearing aids are a product of this historic era.

My hearing aids are also a reflection of the embarrassment elderly people feel when they begin losing their hearing. Because they once had their hearing in youth, many of them see a hearing loss as a sign of weakness and aging. Therefore, they seek out instruments that fit in the ear canal or are minimally visible when worn.

It wasn’t until several years ago when I began to see hearing aids become out in different colors. I’m currently in the process of getting new hearing aids and asked my audiologist about colored hearing aids. I was thinking about red, blue, or silver – any color other than tan. He asked me, “What is in it for you -- would you be making a statement?” I wasn’t sure how to answer. It could be a statement … or it could be just for fun.

What would your answer have been? Feel free to post a comment or send me an email at remmettroy@gmail.com