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How to manage conversations around disclosure?

Niamh Hayes & Ann Heelan,

AHEAD

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Numbers of students with disabilities attending third level continues to grow year on year: 2011/2012 = 7,957 (representing 4% of the total student population)

One in four people will experience mental health issues.

CONTEXT

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Second Level

Third Level (Further & Higher Education)

Employment

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• Set up in 1988• Membership based organisation• Provides information• Lobbies for change• Operate a learning network

AHEAD The Association for Higher Education Access & Disability

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Third Level

Employment

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To become familiar with legislation

To explore disclosure challenges

To create a list of supports to help you manage conversations of disclosure

Today's objectives

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Definition of Disability

Organisms causing or likely to cause, chronic disease or illness.

Malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of a person’s body

Where the person learns differently to others

Illness or disease affecting a person’s thought processes or perception of reality

Employment Equality Acts 1998 - 2011

Total or partial absence of a person’s bodily or mental functions

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EQUALITY LEGISLATION – When you know what you HAVE to do

• Employment Equality Act 1998 - 2004

• Equal Status Act 1998 - 2011

• Disability Act 2005


• Under Equality legislation discrimination on any of the nine grounds is prohibited. i.e you cannot treat someone less favourably because of their status/ membership of any of those groups. However.

• The Act provides that “an employer shall do all that is reasonable to accommodate the needs of a person with a disability…”

• A person can disclose a disability/ request an accommodation at a time of their choosing

• An employer is obliged to take appropriate measures to enable a person who has a disability –– to have access to employment (advertising, interviews etc)– to participate or advance in employment (pay, promotion, terms

and conditions)– to undertake training

• unless the measures would impose a disproportionate burden on the employer.

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Reasonable Accomodation• An employer is not obliged to recruit or retain in employment

a person who is not fully competent or capable of undertaking the duties attached to the post. However, if this can be facilitated through the provision of reasonable accommodations it must be considered

• In determining competence, an employer must act reasonably and objectively

• Failure to provide reasonable accommodation can amount to discrimination

• The Act allows for the provision of special rates of remuneration, treatment or facilities for persons with a disability, if by reason of that disability employees are restricted in their capacity to do the same amount of work (or to work the same hours) as able- bodied persons employed in the same capacity







Appropriate Measures/ Disproportionate Burden

This includes:• Adaptation of premises• Adaptation of equipment• Patterns of work time • Allotting of work tasks• Provision of training• Integration of resources

This does not include any facility or treatment that the person might ordinarily or reasonably provide for themselves.

Account shall be taken of the following:

The financial costs entailed The scale and financial

resources of the employers business.

The number of people who benefit from the measures.

Any disruption that would be caused by them.

Any benefit that would accrue to the employer







What must an employer do?• May ask for related documentation. All requests must be

based on a clear and legitimate work- related requirement • Cannot ask for documentation that is unrelated to

determining the existence of a disability and the necessity for an accommodation

• Nor ask for validating documentation when the disability and the need for accommodation are obvious.

Must the employer provide the accommodation? • An employer is not required to:

– eliminate an essential function of the job;– provide personal use items if they are also needed off the

job– tolerate disruptive behaviour or poor performance by a

person with a disability

Further information on Reasonable Accommodations

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• May an employer tell other employees?• You can advise why a co-worker is receiving different or special

treatment. However it is policy to respect employee privacy• Where there is a direct impact on the work of colleagues, they must

be fully consulted and involved in its provision. • May an employer ask whether accommodation is needed?• An employer may ask an employee who is known to have a

disability if an accommodation is required. • Does an employer have to provide an accommodation with

regards to information?• Yes. Access to such information needs to take account of any

communication/comprehension difficulties an individual may have.• Does the employer's obligation cease once an accommodation has

been made?• The duty to provide reasonable accommodation is ongoing during

employment







Case Study 1

• Discuss!






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Questions & Answers

1 + 1 = 2







• Why would you disclose? • What will you disclose?• When• To whom• How

A systematic approach







Case Study 2

• Discuss!






‘If they say do you need special requirements then I

would say yes. In an interview I might do it, I might say it at the end.

Sometimes I wouldn’t be sure when to say it…’

I don’t think I’ll ever do that again…

because of my last place I don’t know if I’ll ever be as open

ever again to be honest.’

‘It’s a scary thing because you

never know the right way to go

about it.’

‘It’s better that they know because it gets rid of any frictions or

anything that can happen… [gives the employer] a better

understanding of me.’

…’

Student’s experiencesI would [disclose] but I kind of feel that my case mightn’t be as well heard as someone else…’

I prefer to disclose so there’s no surprises further down the line

‘If I had been aware of that [the disability] at the

beginning… it would have served in what I came to

realise as time went on; that there are limitations… I would have approached it in a more

measured way.’

“I didn’t know anything beforehand and that would have been nice to know, to

have a little bit of beforehand knowledge so

to speak… just so you know a little about what

the condition is and you’re not completely in the dark

about it…”

The biggest barrier is

perception.”

“…it is still rare to work with a person with a

disability and there is no reason why graduates

with disabilities shouldn’t be in the workforce…”

“If a company is flexible it can remove irrational

obstacles that prevent a person from actually carrying out a job.”

“I relearned there should be no concern because a person is in a wheelchair. Concerns should be about individuals, not how they manage to get

around. If you’ve to deal with a difficult person, then you’ve a difficult person to deal with’ – the wheelchair is irrelevant.”

Employer Experiences


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