[NFBCS] How/when is it a good time to disclose

[Brian Buhrow]

	hello.  In my experience, it has worked best to disclose when I show
up for the in-person interview.  If I am in the employer's presence, I can
manage their fears and expectations in real time.  Plus, my  presence and
confidence in getting to the interview, navigating around the building, and
answering their questions helps set the tone as well.  Disclosing during
the application phase of the process rarely goes well for me.  A couple of
years ago I applied for a series of jobs which I was very qualified for.
In a fit of madness, I opted to tick the box that said disabled, since it
said I would receive preferencial consideration.  It was a complete
disaster and lead to a series of administrative arguments in which I had to
prove my disability and, while I may have received preferencial
consideration at some level, it took so long to sort out the administrative
issues, and the jobs had to be filled in a timely manner, that the effect
was a complete lack of consideration for the positions at all.  I can't
prove it of course, but I'm certain that if I'd applied without special
disability processing, I would have received interview requests and serious
consideration for the positions.
	And, just for the record, this mirrored experiences I had while I was
still inc ollege.  If I disclosed too early in the process, I inevitably
got dropped from the consideration list.  Yes, the ADA is an older law now
and its provisions are more defined, but people are still people and
they're afraid of what they don't know and understand.  If you, as the
blind person, aren't there to help them understand you and how your
blindness does or doesn't affect the job you're doing, they will have
questions, won't know answers, won't feel comfortable in asking you when
you're not in the room and thus won't consider you for the job.
	As to accommodations, my feeling is that you should do all you can to
minimize any and all accommodation requests at the beginning of any job.  Your
disability is not your employer's problem.  When you ask for
accommodations, you're costing the employer money they might not have to
spend on another employee in your position.  Thus, the calculus is
something like the following: if I ask my employer to make this or that
accommodation, what is the cost of that versus the value I bring to the
job?  When you're a new employee, your value is an unknown quantity to the
employer, so, at least in the beginning, you should assume that value is 0.
After you're employed at the job for a while and your reputation is
established, then you can start to trade on that value for accommodations,
though you should always keep the calculus above in mind.
	this is why, in my positions, I've always tried to make sure that any
specialized equipment and software I use on the job belongs to me, and not
the employer.  that equipment and software will be useful to me  regardless
of the job I'm doing and I'm not asking the employer to lay out large sums
of money up front to gain my employment.  In any case, that's a different
discussion entirely.
	I'm not sure if it's still on the National Braille Press catalog, but
if it is, I highly suggest you read a book called Take Charge, by Rami
Rabi, which discusses the issue of disability disclosure and when to do it
at length.  The book is a bit dated, but the issues he discusses and the
reasoning behind his thinking is still very much relevant today.  Rami was
a totally blind man who spent years working to become an officer in the US
State Department's foreign service office.  His trials and tribulations
regarding that process are reflected in the writings of Take Charge, as
well as many articles in the Braille Monitor from the mid 1980's through
the early 1990's.  
	I understand and appreciate that in this age of video interviews and
on-line resumes and referrals, it's not always possible to delay disclosure
until the in-person interview, but that doesn't mean you can't work to
manage the fear and anxiety on the part of the employer.  In fact, it means
you hav to work even harder, which means you really want to think about
what you say and what you ask for during the application process.  And,
remember, people are still people, and, ultimately, what they want to know
is how to work with you and how you'll work with them.  If you can do that
in a positive manner, you'll have much better outcomes when it comes to job
interviews.

Good luck with the hiring process and let us know when you get the job!

-Brian