Disclosing a disability to an employer
is a personal choice.
Job Seekers
Employee with low vision adapting his work environment with a CCTV for handouts at meetings.
Job Seeker Page Links:
Disclosure
Useful Employment Resources
Illinois Employment Training Centers
Discrimination
Disclosure
Disclosing a disability to an employer is a personal choice. You are not required to do so and they cannot ask you if you have one. What an employer can ask is if you need any accommodations to do the job.
You will probably want to think about whether or not you need to ask for an accommodation. This is something you'll want to be prepared to do at interview time. It is best you think about your answer beforehand so that you will have a well thought out confident request. It is always good to rehearse. If you know someone who is an employer you might want to ask him or her to go through an interview with you and critique your answers.
Some people want to disclose their disabilities so they can let the employer know how they intend to adapt the job tasks and alleviate any unnecessary concern. Others don't need a lot of accommodation and would rather not invite any bias. Some employers appreciate being approached with trust and complete openness. Others may not know how to respond or respond poorly. The only person who can decide what you will do about your situation should be you. Remember, there are many employers seeking qualified applicants with disabilities to work in their organization and many can be located on the websites listed below.
Useful Employment Resources
Ability Links
Employers can match with a candidate very easily by either posting a job or searching resumes. Individuals can match with employers by posting their resumes and applying for jobs, or they search for a job-training program to increase their skills and get help with finding work.
American Foundation for the Blind Career Connect
This website showcases the diversity of jobs held by people with vision loss and provides employment resources for five distinct audiences:
&bull Job Seekers with Vision Loss
&bull Employers
&bull Service Providers and Educators
&bull Mentors
&bull Parents, Families and Friends
Employers and the ADA: Myths and Facts
Dept. of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy
JAN - Job Accommodation Network
JAN is a free consulting service designed to increase the employability of people with disabilities by:
&bull providing individualized worksite accommodations solutions
&bull providing technical assistance regarding the ADA and other disability related legislation
&bull educating callers about self-employment options.
Job Links
Dept. of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy
&bull Employers whose company or organization is interested in hiring qualified individuals with disabilities can have their website employment page listed.
&bull Job Seekers Can access these pages by Clicking on the address after each company or organization which takes them to the job opening page of that company's website.
Illinois Employment Training Centers
IETCs are a comprehensive, workforce development centers, providing employment and training services for area residents and businesses. The IETC is a public partnership between local organizations dedicated to providing employment-related services from a single location.
Champaign Consortium - Champaign, Ford, Iroquois and Piatt Counties
1307 N. Mattis
P.O. Box 3369
Champaign, IL 61821
217 278-5700
Danville IETC
407 N. Franklin
P.O. 510
Danville, IL 61832
217 442-0238
Mattoon IETC
305 Richmond Avenue East
Mattoon, IL 61938
(217) 235-2222
Near the Cross County Mall in Mattoon
Discrimination
If you feel you have been discriminated against because of your disability we recommend you start as close to the discrimination as possible. This way only complaints that cannot be addressed in more local systems will proceed to state and federal levels. We all have an interest in seeing that complaints are made and if they can be settled fairly and locally it keeps the state and federal systems from being too overburdened and then less effective.
Ask yourself these questions:
&bull Does the offending organization have a method of complaint that could produce a revaluation of the decision?
&bull Does my City have a human rights ordinance that protects my rights?
Check with your city's human relations department first. Your city will tell you if you need to try the Illinois Dept. of Human Rights or move beyond that to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to make a formal ADA complaint.
City of Urbana Human Relations Commission
City of Champaign Human Relations Commission
City of Danville Human Relations Department
Illinois Department of Human Rights
EEOC Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Laws enforced by the EEOC:
&bull Title VII of the Civil Right Act
&bull Civil Rights Act of 1991
&bull Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
&bull Equal Pay Act of 1963
&bull Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Sections 501 and 505
&bull Titles I and V of the ADA
A member of INCIL
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