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Originally Posted by ThunderGoddess
This is so true and a part of my outline has a lot to do with part-time employment. Employers always act like they can only hire X amount of full-time workers but I think this is just another excuse to exclude certain individuals from working at these places. Especially considering in the U.S. it's cheaper to employee part-time workers because you don't need to provide benefits.
It's proven that people with mental disabilities benefit tremendously from being employed and taking part in society, but it's just not possible when the expectations are not realistic for this group of people. It's really sad because I know a lot of us who are in this position are reliable and motivated workers.
And the college admission is really infuriating for me because it's still fresh. This happened to me this year. But the admission's team actually asked me to provide a letter that stated I'm disabled and I can't work. This was to help explain why my income has declined. Their loss of income form for this did not include anything related to the circumstances of someone with mental disabliites.
My therapist told me absolutely do not give them that type of letter because they can too easily discriminate against me with something like that. When I informed the college I wouldn't provide such a letter they treated me very badly and demanded I obtain a letter from my previous employer stating I quit the job on my own volition. To which my therapist also told me again, I absolutely do not have to do something like that.
I wrote to the president of this college and told them I felt the loss of income form was discriminatory and they should have a section for people with mental disabilities because the admission team kept demanding paperwork that did not pertain to my situation and they asked me to do things that violated my civil rights and it was demeaning and stressful. The president responded this week and just said sorry you feel that way and good luck.
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I would contact the ADA and see if they can intervene on your behalf, and for all disabled persons at that school. That school deserves a lawsuit for that!!!
There are many "elitist" schools that are not inclusive, and they go out of their way to be the opposite - exclusive (and rather discriminatory). They negate the different types of talents people have, and the needs of disabled persons who can learn well part-time, but not full-time. They also negate the need to treat mental disabilities the same as physical disabilities, in terms of offering accommodations. It's as if they want to do everything in their power to prevent those with mental illnesses from achieving higher education and thus higher-waged jobs part-time. And even if the so-called market would not bear part-time workers for, say, so-called white-collared jobs, it doesn't mean that disabled persons should not be trained well enough in the event that they could work full-time later on OR in the event they do find an employer seeking part-time professionals. But then you'd have able-bodied people arguing that we're taking their jobs or their opportunities to work double than we can without having to (micro)manage two or more people. I can hear the disdain now, as I've heard it throughout almost every recession and other economic downturn. It's sickening, and it is discriminatory!
On the other hand, if it's a form that you fill out to indicate that you need accommodations because you are disabled, that's a different story. If it's one of those forms, someone should have explained it better and in a more inclusive, protective, and kinder way than how it was just thrown at you. I think it is important to disclose that you have a disability in order to get accommodations, but you don't need to be specific about that disability. Also, filling out a form of such nature should come with ethical practices that do not hinder your chances of advancement, internship opportunities, assistantships for part-time students, etc. Now if there are particular scholarships and assistantships that are for disabled persons, or if there are particular funding for that, it's not discriminatory; it's actually inclusive. But for such, you would need to disclose.
It gets tricky when there are other issues involved, such as more funding for non-disabled persons, and more funding for physically disabled persons than mentally disabled persons, etc.