I was recently invited into a program funded by the federal government to help people with barriers to employment find jobs. For a few years, now, I've been getting treatment for recurrent major depression. I disclosed that to the program, as they indicated I was required to do.

Today, I was contacted by the program and told that I could not participate at this time. They said they thought I was too likely to fail because of my issues with depression. My sense is that something is wrong with this picture. I think I am being discriminated against on the basis of having a mental health diagnosis.

I can understand an employer being reticent to hire someone who is depressed. But this program was not considering "hiring" me. They are a non-profit organization who get federal funds to provide training. The purpose of the program is specifically to help individuals who do have an impediment to success in the job market. So to tell me that I'm not wanted because I might not succeed seems to defeat the whole point of the program.

Another aspect of this troubles me. After being told I was invited into the program, I was asked to give highly detailed information about my diagnosis and the way in which it has disabled me. (I get SSDI, and the program specifically helps people with disabilities. They often get cllients who are recipients of SSDI.) I gave a great deal of extremely personal information. (Yes, that was very naiive of me.) I would never have given that information, if I had not believed that I was accepted into the program. I feel like my privacy has been horribly violated. I would never have disclosed so much about myself, if I had thought that I was only being considered for the program tentatively.

This feels so awful. I hope someone here at PC can understand. I feel like such a fool to have trusted these people. That hurts worse than not getting into the program.