Ptsd Might Get Me Hiring Preference, Would Definitely Disclose My Illness To Future Employers

[Lucasta]

I work for a very large contractor. My husband is in in the military, so we have to move often. This contractor is pretty much anywhere we could get stationed, so it's important that I stay with them.

At some of their contracts, they preferentially hire persons with disabilities. There's one account in particular that I have my eye on which hires 75% disabled. BUT I keep my mental health diagnoses secret from my employer since I don't want to risk having a manager's biases keep me from a job. Plus I can usually build the accommodations I need into "normal" behavior. AND we're only going to be in this region for 2 years. Maybe more, but no less. But if I identify as a "person with a disability" that is going to stay on my record forever, and any future manager can say "PTSD? No thanks!".

I work in the foodservice industry, and a lot of die-hard food people (and I am one of them) will tell you that you're either strong enough to survive or your're a waste of space. I am the former, but given my diagnoses, most would consider me the latter.

But I'm not a line cook or a server anymore. I'm moving up and the next logical step is management. There is no question about what I can do. The question is who is going to give me a shot. Should I shut up and go through the process everyone deals with and maybe deal with discrimination, or should I claim privilege and ask for what they offered?

 

[Hashi]

I see you posted this three weeks ago. Have you made any decisions yet?

Seems to me that declaring you have PTSD might give you an advantage for the next two years but after that would probably be a disadvantage for the rest of your career? Is that right? It's hard for me to suggest anything, because I'm in a different country with very different laws about discrimination, but I can only say for myself that if I've understood right then personally I would try not to disclose PTSD if possible.

 

[MoodElevator]

I'm inclined to agree, regardless of the laws regarding discrimination where you live. Even if they aren't supposed to technically turn you down for that reason, it's easy to come up with others, or simply hire someone else. I'd imagine that it would be quite difficult to prove their reason was your disorder and probably costly to pursue legal action against them?

 

[LaurieJ]

I would be careful in this situation. I am looking for work and need to explain an almost twelve year absence from working. My explanation leads potential employers to believe that I have PTSD even though I don't say it. And then I don't get the job. Please make an informed decision before you disclose any disability status to your employer. It can backfire on you. Best of luck.

 

[Lucasta]

Yeah, I'm leaning heavily towards not saying anything unless I have a good shot at a management position with the contract that hires 75% disabled. In a perfect world I would love it if my co-workers understood why I sometimes do "odd" things, but explaining it away as just an annoying personality quirk is probably the best way, especially considering I work in a VERY multi-cultural environment. I can't sneeze without being prescribed a tea, a salve, a diet, an acupuncturist and an allergist. I don't want to know what prejudices about mental illness my co-workers would bring to the table.