Is ADHD a Disability? Your Legal Rights at Work

4 Comments: Is ADHD a Disability? Your Legal Rights at Work

1. I think that outing yourself, especially to your employer, is terrible advice. Your boss is not your friend! By definition a boss is someone who dangles a sword of Damocles over your career. If you are stupid enough to admit that you have ADHD, that will send the HR director scurrying to the internet and he will discover that the ‘H’ stands for hyperactivity and assume the worst, that you will squirm and fidget in a critical customer facing meeting. The next round of layoffs you will get whacked and you’ll never find out the truth why.

   Even criminal suspects don’t spill their guts unless they are stupid. Your Miranda rights apply in a work scenario too: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and WILL be used against you ….. ”

   I have been more fortunate than many. I doggedly pursued a STEM education and graduated from engineering school with a 2.5 GPA and it took me 4 1/2 years, a process that normal people do in 4 years. I earned it DESPITE having this ADD $#1+, not because of it. My ADD has ALWAYS been a handicap and a disaster in both social and workplace settings.

   Don’t insult my intelligence about what a “gift” ADD or ADHD is! This is no ****ing gift! Most of the people who espouse this fake news have never worked outside of academia. So listen to me, listen to me! My 40+ year career was always with for-profit corporations. The guys who run these companies are hard-ass dudes. They do not tolerate incompetence, mistakes, missed deadlines or any mealy-mouth excuses about mental illness.

   Oh, but you’ll file a claim with your state’s Fair Employment and Labor Commission! Go ahead, but haven’t you heard? Since at least 2017 this is the era of minimalist government. The consumer affairs agencies and fair employment commissions have had their budgets slashed and case workers sent to the unemployment lines. If you file a complaint today you’ll be lucky to receive a call back two years from now. In the meantime you try to exist on a meager unemployment check that runs out next month. God help anyone in this situation.

   If you need help, get help but don’t be reckless, don’t be stupid. STFU about your ADD/ADHD mental defect that somehow escaped the quality control process before you slid into this world.

   Read ADDitude for its honest heartfelt advice but ignore all recommendations to out yourself and publicly reveal your condition. I wish you the best. Peace be with you.

2. From aa271828

   I have ADHD, and it’s severe, I’ve had problems all my life & its costed me dearly.
   I forget things all the time, I’ll give you an example. I installed a new water pump in my car
   and I for got to refill the radiator, I drove off to college (77 miles away) after a number of miles
   the engine was destroyed, and being a college student, I couldn’t begin to afford to have it fixed.
   And this was a few days after my mom was killed in a road accident.

   There have been many times I’ve had to pay locksmiths to unlock my car, because I left my
   keys in. when driving, I’m constantly missing my turns, very frustrating.

   When is was a child, I’ve has terrible learning problems in school, I was given tranquilizers, then
   I got in trouble for sleeping in class, whereas before I would get in trouble for hyperactivity, couldn’t win.
   It seems in collage, with hard work, I used hyper-focusing to get me through.

   Also, I have problems saying things first without thinking, through the years this wasn’t a big problem,but with the increased sensitivity to political correctness, it now has for me.
   Although, I have been careful the past few years at work.

   The worst indecent so far recently was at work. I worked for a large defense contractor (20years) i’m an engineer.

   I was on an a assignment in a closed room in a cube with some of my co-workers (also friends)
   and I would once in a while say funny things to them as situations come up, unknown to us, there
   was a supervisor in the next cube listening in on our conversations, so he didn’t like some of the things
   I said (which weren’t bad) & he looked me up, then turned me in to the HR department. He never came over to my cube to talk to me about it, a mater of fact, I never meet him. So, after an HR investigation, I was called in to the security area, and after signing my security debriefing forms, I was escorted out to my car. I was FIRED. I realized I just lost everything.

   I wouldn’t wish ADHD on anyone, it is a terrible condition & curse to have.

3. can anyone please help me? I am having difficulty at work. I work in the medical field as support to anesthesia providers. the operating room suit I work in is full of big egos from the providers. I have been spoke to by the supervisor regarding complaints from people who say I have an attitude over the phone. I tried to explain that its not attitude, and that I have some medical issues the have an impact on me, adhd, hearing loss from my days as a soldier, and a really private medical condition. the long and short of it is that now after 2.5 years there they tell me they need documentation so they have a record of my medical challenges. Now I am not ok with this. How does giving medical notes from my providers improve the situations of people passing judgment on me or how they interpret me when I am in hyper mode due to getting over whelmed? Do I by law have to provide this, can they deny me support service with out this. Keep in mind that this is from the supervisor not H R. Please anyone help me.

   1. From the EEOC:

      “May an employer ask an individual for documentation when the individual requests reasonable accommodation?

      Yes. When the disability and/or the need for accommodation is not obvious, the employer may ask the individual for reasonable documentation about his/her disability and functional limitations. The employer is entitled to know that the individual has a covered disability for which s/he needs a reasonable accommodation.

      Reasonable documentation means that the employer may require only the documentation that is needed to establish that a person has an ADA disability, and that the disability necessitates a reasonable accommodation. Thus, an employer, in response to a request for reasonable accommodation, cannot ask for documentation that is unrelated to determining the existence of a disability and the necessity for an accommodation. This means that in most situations an employer cannot request a person’s complete medical records because they are likely to contain information unrelated to the disability at issue and the need for accommodation. If an individual has more than one disability, an employer can request information pertaining only to the disability that requires a reasonable accommodation.

      An employer may require that the documentation about the disability and the functional limitations come from an appropriate health care or rehabilitation professional. The appropriate professional in any particular situation will depend on the disability and the type of functional limitation it imposes. Appropriate professionals include, but are not limited to, doctors (including psychiatrists), psychologists, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, vocational rehabilitation specialists, and licensed mental health professionals.

      In requesting documentation, employers should specify what types of information they are seeking regarding the disability, its functional limitations, and the need for reasonable accommodation. The individual can be asked to sign a limited release allowing the employer to submit a list of specific questions to the health care or vocational professional.

      As an alternative to requesting documentation, an employer may simply discuss with the person the nature of his/her disability and functional limitations. It would be useful for the employer to make clear to the individual why it is requesting information, i.e., to verify the existence of an ADA disability and the need for a reasonable accommodation.

      Example A: An employee says to an employer, “I’m having trouble reaching tools because of my shoulder injury.” The employer may ask the employee for documentation describing the impairment; the nature, severity, and duration of the impairment; the activity or activities that the impairment limits; and the extent to which the impairment limits the employee’s ability to perform the activity or activities (i.e., the employer is seeking information as to whether the employee has an ADA disability).

      Example B: A marketing employee has a severe learning disability. He attends numerous meetings to plan marketing strategies. In order to remember what is discussed at these meetings he must take detailed notes but, due to his disability, he has great difficulty writing. The employee tells his supervisor about his disability and requests a laptop computer to use in the meetings. Since neither the disability nor the need for accommodation are obvious, the supervisor may ask the employee for reasonable documentation about his impairment; the nature, severity, and duration of the impairment; the activity or activities that the impairment limits; and the extent to which the impairment limits the employee’s ability to perform the activity or activities. The employer also may ask why the disability necessitates use of a laptop computer (or any other type of reasonable accommodation, such as a tape recorder) to help the employee retain the information from the meetings.

      Example C: An employee’s spouse phones the employee’s supervisor on Monday morning to inform her that the employee had a medical emergency due to multiple sclerosis, needed to be hospitalized, and thus requires time off. The supervisor can ask the spouse to send in documentation from the employee’s treating physician that confirms that the hospitalization was related to the multiple sclerosis and provides information on how long an absence may be required from work.

      If an individual’s disability or need for reasonable accommodation is not obvious, and s/he refuses to provide the reasonable documentation requested by the employer, then s/he is not entitled to reasonable accommodation. On the other hand, failure by the employer to initiate or participate in an informal dialogue with the individual after receiving a request for reasonable accommodation could result in liability for failure to provide a reasonable accommodation.”