[nabs-l] Disclosing disabilities

Jedi loneblindjedi at samobile.net
Sat Apr 18 20:09:04 UTC 2009


Jim,

For me, it all comes back to self acommodation. Had I been in your 
shoes, I wouldn't have banked on the extra employees. Instead, i would 
have figured out how to hire a driver and paid for it using impairment 
related work expenses from SSI and SSDI benefits. But then again, 
that's assuming that you're receiving benefits in the first place. See, 
that's the tricky thing with drivers. Would a driver classify as a 
reasonable acommodation? Or would it be one of those why hire a blind 
guy who can't drive when I can hire a sighted girl who can? no sexist 
language intended. In any case, it's a problematic question that needs 
answering since so many job descriptions list a driver's license as a 
requirement for hire. What do you all think?

Original message:
> Hello,
> First, I know the email link I provided was from the UK. I sent it 
> because alot of the information was general, it did not pertain 
> specificly to British law.

> Second, I just had a job interview on thursday. I was applying for a 
> Survey Coordinator position with Montana Fish, WIldlife, and Parks. The 
> survey will be conducted on recreationist on the Madision River in MT. 
> The job involves talking to visitors, collecting data, analyising the 
> data and writing a report.

> I still have much of my vision, so those task are not problematic. The 
> problem is that the position involves driving to survey sites (the 
> river is 170 miles long). I have recently decided that driving is 
> becoming less and less of a good idea for me. So I had an internal 
> battle as to whether to tell MT FWP, or not. My dad was telling me not 
> to tell them because "your only going to be driving on backroads, 
> theres nothing for you to hit." My voc rehab councelor was telling me 
> to wait until after I was offered a job to disclose. And the President 
> of the Montana state affiliate suggested waiting until the end of the 
> interview. This was the advice I chose to follow.

> One of the things that made me apply for the job was that I thought I 
> would be supervising two employees, and I thought I would be able to 
> ride out to the river with them. Well, I got triped up in the interview 
> when I was told that MTFWP had not yet decided if they were going to 
> hire those extra people. At that point I didnt know what to do. My 
> plans for using those other two employees as drivers (reasonable 
> accomidation) went out the window. I did not follow the "6 p's" and I 
> paid for it (the 6 P"s are Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor 
> Performance). I had no plan for what to do if those other employees 
> wouldnt be avaliable. So, I stuck with my original plan; At the end of 
> the interview, I disclosed the fact that I couldnt drive. They said 
> they appreciated me being honest.

> Anyhow, the interview was on Thursday, they were supposed to have made 
> a desision on Friday. Today is Saturday, and I still havent heard 
> anything. I hope I didn't disclose myself right out of a job.

> This really sucks because my goal is to work as a public land manager. 
> I have had enopugh bosses and summer jobs to know that once you reach 
> the full-time permant positions, it is almost all office work. The 
> problem is, in order to get those full-time permant positions, you must 
> first "pay your dues" by working in the field. And almost all field 
> jobs involve driving. I am almost at a point where I am willing to 
> drive inorder to obtain the summer jobs that will lead to full-time 
> work. as the saying goes "get rich or die trying". I am almost willing 
> to "succed or die trying." If only I could insure I wouldnt kill anyone 
> else in the process...

> Jim

> "Ignorance killed the cat; curiosity was framed."



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-- 
REspectfully,
Jedi

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