I recognize that the lulls in my posting have continued, and that’s just life. I have also reverted to my roots with a more traditional topic related to navigating disability in academia and related professional environments.
Disclaimer: This piece is based on my experience and my opinions, though I have also coalesced feedback I have received from brilliant disabled mentors, colleagues, and role-models, including Drs. Kara Ayers, Emily Lund, Lauren Khazem, and others. I am not an expert, and I welcome others’ perspectives, suggestions, and ideas.
Personal context
My perspective on disability disclosure and requesting accommodations continues to evolve, and has been on my mind a lot lately. I have an on-site in-person job interview coming up for the first time since the pandemic began. I have done dozens of in-person interviews before, but this feels different. I have further formed my disabled and professional identities. Now I have my PhD. Now I intermittently use a white cane, which makes my disability visible. How does this influence my choices of when to disclose or how to request accommodations? I have also stepped into the role as a mentor and consultant for people with disabilities, directors in clinical training, and supervisors who have asked me questions about appropriate disclosure and provision of accommodations. So I want to put pen to page - aka fingers to keyboard - and share my meandering thoughts and experiences.
Disclosure can be difficult, and is a personal decision
Disability is often misunderstood, and ableism remains rampant in academic and professional settings. This makes disclosure daunting. At the same time, disclosure and requests for accommodations are often necessary for inclusion, equity, and access.
There is no right way or right time to disclose. Disclosure of disability is a personal decision. It can depend on comfort with disability identity, the setting and context, visibility and needs associated with that disability, and even emotional bandwidth in the moment. While there is no one size fits all approach, I want to offer considerations and strategies that may be useful to consider when navigating academic and job applications and interviews.
What can be helpful to consider before disclosing?
As a psychologist interested in understanding behavior, I often ask the question “What is the function?” In other words, why disclose in this situation? What is is that I am hoping to get from doing so? Identifying our specific goals in a given context can help us determine what and how to disclose.
We are not legally required to disclose disability in a job or graduate school application. Many would say there is no need to disclose until we have an offer in hand. And while that may be true for many, for others disclosure becomes necessary to receive accommodations during the interview process.
I also find that disclosure serves as a litmus test. I accepted a research position before attending graduate school without disclosing my disability. I applied and interviewed without the need for accommodations and without my disability being visible. After I began the position, I expressed my need for accommodations. My supervisor at the time expressed that he felt deceived and would not have offered me the position had he known I was disabled. In this case, I had been doing the job as a volunteer prior to being hired, so I was confident I demonstrated that I was able to perform all necessary tasks and responsibilities. Nonetheless, his ableist beliefs and assumptions made me feel disrespected and under appreciated. Did I need to disclose legally? No. Would I have gained information about the level of support I would receive in this environment had I disclosed? Absolutely.
This experience informed my decision to disclose during graduate school applications and interviews. I did not want to commit 5-7 years to an institution that would not support me and my needs. Is it possible that my choice to disclose impacted where I received offers from? Of course, though I can never know to what extent. I am nonetheless grateful that I shared candidly about my identity and my needs so that the institution where I matriculated knew what to expect when I arrived.
In addition to identifying the function of disclosure, it can be helpful to determine how you wish to disclose. When I began disclosing my disability to therapy and assessment clients and patients, I worked with my early graduate school supervisors to practice. I was worried about the language I used, my tone, and the amount of information I was providing. I found it useful to role-play and receive feedback. I ended up deciding to disclose during informed consent to express how my low vision could impact our work, and offering to answer any questions. I have adapted my script over the years and continue to tweak based on situational factors, but to this day I find it helpful to have a standard spiel. Especially when going into an academic or job interview that may increase stress and make it hard to find preferred language, practicing can help build confidence and ease.
Finding other supports and allies can be tremendously validating and helpful. When I was deciding when and how to disclose my disability when applying for clinical internships, I sought out advice from others who have gone through the process. Although no two situations are identical, I learned from others to identify what felt right for me. In practice, this included disclosing my disability in my diversity essay and mentioning it to the training director if I had an individual interview with them. Seeking support from others in the disability community who have experience with disclosure in similar contexts or who can share examples of how they have disclosed can help normalize disclosure and inspire the type of language that feels like a good fit.
How much are you comfortable disclosing. Although it is not our responsibility to educate others about our disability and our experiences, often people will ask, and it is useful to identify what we are and are not comfortable disclosing. For a long time, I responded to questions about my disability by saying “I’m an open book, ask me anything.” In many situations, I still express this sentiment, however, I also no longer open the door quite so wide in every interaction because it can be exhausting to field question after question about my personal medical history, trajectory, and needs. Plus, indulging other’ curiosities often detracts from the purpose of the conversation I’m having, especially during a job or admissions interview. I have found it useful to have strategies for redirection ready. I will often start gently, “While I would love to share more, I also have some questions about opportunities for collaboration.” And if I need to be more forceful with my boundary, I will add, “I don’t feel comfortable going into the details right now.” Remember, it is not necessary to disclose details in applications or interviews, and it is only necessary to share the relevant details when requesting accommodations. Beyond checking in with your comfort level, knowing your rights and legal protections here can also serve as a guide.
What can be helpful to consider when requesting accommodations?
Accommodations allow for an equal playing field. Accommodations are not unfair advantages, they are ways of ensuring that people with disabilities have access to what people without disabilities do. Although disclosure and requesting accommodations often go hand in hand, often we disclose without needing specific accommodations, and other times we need specific accommodations without having previously disclosed.
A challenge I have faced and have heard from others is whether or not requesting accommodations is really “necessary.” The idea being that if I can get by without requesting accommodations, why go through the hassle or draw unnecessary attention to myself?
For me, requesting accommodations can ease the anxiety involved in what is often a stressful experience. Plus, applications and interviews are a lot of work, and those of us with disabilities have no obligation to put in so much more effort than our non disabled peers. For example, when I was interviewing for internship (virtually), I requested accommodations through the interview coordinator to ensure I would have equal access to interview and orientation materials. This request for accommodations ended up being mostly unnecessary in practice - I was never asked to read materials during an interview - however, I felt comforted knowing I would not be put on the spot to do something I could not. This request also ensured I received digital copies of materials presented, such as powerpoint slides orienting to the program, which meant I was not scrambling to magnify, take screenshots, and obsessively record notes during these meetings and instead could listen, write down questions, and take in information.
As valuable as accommodation requests can be for ensuring access and easing anxiety, I do not want to request accommodations that are unlikely to be needed or utilized. The timing of accommodation requests can therefore be very important. For example, I am currently awaiting my schedule for my upcoming on-site interview. I have not yet requested accommodations. If it is clear that my schedule has plenty of built-in time for me to navigate from place to place, I won’t need to ask for assistance of extra time. If I discover that I am expected to navigate complex routes or longer distances independently, then I will ask for accommodations. I decided on this approach after consulting with mentors and colleagues. While those of us with disabilities are often planning ten steps ahead to ensure our needs are met, sometimes it can be more effective to wait and see whether we will need to ask for help before we preemptively do so. And sometimes, we won’t need to request formal accommodations but can simply ask for assistance in the moment as is needed. Again, there is no “right” approach, and of course what each of us decides will vary.
We know what we need better than anyone else. And so it can be tremendously helpful to intentionally brainstorm the specific asks that we have. Most people won’t know how to accommodate our disability, so we need to know the specific needs we have to articulate them to others. Instead of “I’ll need help seeing,” I will specify, “I can’t see standard print or signs and will need verbal descriptions to navigate physical spaces and digital copies of any print materials.” Thinking through what is likely to be asked of us during interviews and what we may need accommodated can help us with identifying our specific asks, and often we can benefit from checking in with others who have been through this process to get a better sense of what all is involved.
Of course, there are many other considerations that go into requesting and obtaining accommodations for our positions. I could (and might in the future) write an entire separate piece on how to figure out where to turn for these requests, how to assert our needs, where to find advocates and supports, and more. However, for the purposes of this piece, I want to keep the conversation constrained to academic and job applications and interviews.
The Key Takeaways
A number of factors go into deciding when and how to disclose as well as when and how to request accommodations during the academic or job application process. Important considerations include our comfort, needs, and safety. If you are trying to decide what decision is right for you, I highly encourage discussing with others, reflecting on the function of your disclosure, and weighing the pros and cons of the options under consideration. We are also always allowed to change our minds, and we can update our plans if we pick up on a vibe that pushes us in one direction or another.
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