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What it’s really like to be openly disabled in an interview process:
This Medium article is written by Mal: a “multi-disciplinary designer + artist, storyteller, neurodivergent (autist + adhd); she/they”. She shares three interview experiences, two positive and one negative.
The first was for an interview last September, in which Mal received the interview questions in advance. Though she didn’t get the job, “the interview went well, I said exactly the stories I wanted to say to each question, and was only a normal level of anxious the whole time”.
The second was the interview for her current job, where she didn’t ask for the questions in advance. She realised halfway through the Zoom call that she was unable to process anything, and told the interviewers what was happening. She asked to follow up and answer the rest of the questions in an email that day. She got the job offer, and given the interview proces was so inclusive, she felt that working there would be a similar experience, so accepted.
The negative experience Mal had concerns an interview somewhere else, where Mal asked for either the questions a day or two in advance, or the opportunity to submit written responses (with a virtual follow-up meeting to meet face to face). The HR person phoned Mal out of the blue and asked her if she had anything official to send that could ‘prove’ her autism.
Mal offered to send a diagnosis assessment from her psychologist, but that it would not explain how she is at work or why she needs these specific accommodations. The HR person followed up and asked Mal to get her doctor to fill out an accommodation form.
Mal ultimately didn’t go through with it. Where Mal lives, doctors would charge around $100 for such a request. Mal would have to find a way to print the form without owning a printer, and would have to spend half an hour on hold to make an appointment, and would have to schedule an appointment that fits within her existing work schedule, and would have to explain to the GP what is needed and hope the GP fills in the form correctly. All for a form she would only use once, given its specific nature tied just to this job application. And all just to participate in the interview process.
Don’t be like this HR person.
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