ADD ADVICE TO FAVDisclosure
Deciding when to disclose your disability is a personal decision, which hinges partly on the nature of your disability. Someone with a hidden disability that will not affect their performance on the job may consider not disclosing at all.
For more obvious disabilities, and those for which adjustments are essential, deciding on the timing of disclosure is most important.
Laura Wardle, Graduate Development Officer at Employment Opportunities, says: ’We advise candidates to disclose their disability to a prospective employer. Disclosing your disability is a proactive approach and enables you to present your disability confidently and positively. Many of our candidates find it empowering. Many of the employers we work with want to know if an individual has a disability so that they can provide reasonable adjustments during recruitment and within the workplace.’
Some people feel that disclosing their disability early in the application process simply allows a recruiter to discriminate negatively that much sooner. Others accept the message put out by a number of employers that disclosing early gets things out in the open, allows the employer to prepare for any special provisions required during the selection process, and even gives them an early opportunity to identify talent from an under-represented group in the workplace.
Before deciding to disclose
Before you decide whether to disclose, it’s important to bear in mind the following:
The Disability Discrimination Act
Under the Disability Discrimination Act an employer cannot dismiss an application because of disability if a reasonable adjustment, such as providing special equipment, could be made to enable the applicant to do the job.
If you are treated unfairly, then you can take your complaint to an employment tribunal and appeal against the action taken by the employer.
If a disability is not declared, an employer could say that they did not know about your disability and that you cannot do the job properly as specified in the job description. Employers are not obliged to make reasonable adjustments if a disability was not disclosed and they may later also have grounds for dismissal.
Health and safety
Most employers ask new employees to complete a medical questionnaire, which usually includes questions about health and disability. If you do not answer these questions truthfully, you could risk losing your job.
The Health and Safety at Work Act states that if your disability has implications for the health and safety of yourself or your colleagues, you must tell your employer. If your disability were to result in an accident at work and you had not told your employer about it, you could be held legally responsible.
Financial assistance
Schemes such as Access to Work are available to help with workplace adaptations, so the cost of adjustments should not be a deterrent.
How to disclose
If you choose to disclose, you may do it in your covering letter, on the application form, at pre-interview stage or at interview. Early disclosure can allow employers to adjust their recruitment methods and make special equipment or facilities available, but you might find it easier to disclose when you are face to face with your potential employer at interview and have already made a good impression.
Do:
- demonstrate that your disability has not limited your personal achievements, study or work experience
- try to anticipate any anxieties that the interviewer may have
- provide factual information about your disability if required (but don’t use complicated medical terminology).
Don’t:
- assume that you are going to be viewed in a negative way by a selection panel
- allow an interviewer to make your disability or health problem the focus of the interview
- leave room for doubt; be positive about your skills and abilities.
