Most people don’t declare medical conditions at work unless they absolutely have to.

Yanbu but someone will come along with a rose-tinted view of the modern workplace. Morality is a separate question, we'd all like to think the best of others and the workplace but the truth of it is if you can manage without telling a soul then take that route. Discrimination won't show up a neatly wrapped package labelled 'get this one out', it will be very subtle, almost to the point you'd feel odd questioning it, but that doubt will always linger. All else being equal don't declare it.

@Owwwwwww it is challenging to manage an employee who has mental health struggles. I had to manage a team of young people who all developed anxiety if they were given a warning over terrible timekeeping.

I found those who genuinely struggled with disabilities were more likely to want to succeed despite their difficulties

Oh and also time to have bloods and a hospital appointment every 8-12 weeks. I take it as annual leave though

I declared mine at interview because I need reasonable adjustments

Not a wind up at all, I just know how difficult MH issues can be to fight and I wouldn’t take the risk of employing someone who declared them.

Because not everyone who has mental health issues struggles to get out of bed and can't even watch the TV

Starting to think you're on the wind up, tbh.

I would have to be honest and declare my chronic medical condition as I have 8 weekly treatments at the hospital. I’m currently job hunting and the thought of bringing this up during an interview is a little daunting, I also imagine it might have negative implications for my success but I’d prefer to be honest from the start as it’s not something I could hide from them.

Why would I choose to employ someone like me who struggles to get out of bed some days and can’t focus enough to watch the TV let alone concentrate to do my job? That’s just being honest.

My work know all about my physical disability. They know nothing about my mental health condition.

I know someone (a nurse) who was dismissed for failing to declare to occupational health, and lost a tribunal, so lost their registration.

You wouldn’t know before telling them, that’s my point. By telling them, you’d find out whether it’s somewhere you want to work.

It's not rude to be angry at someone who has openly declared that they discriminate against people

Never been asked. Is that commonplace? Obviously it would be for some jobs involving machinery, driving or personnel/medical care etc but for the average office job why would they care? We do have private health insurance and I answer that honestly but that’s just between me and the insurer, they can’t disclose anything to my employer.

Why are you being so rude to me? I’m stating my opinion as a lifelong suffer of severe MH problems.

And this is exactly why nobody hires anyone who struggles.

Well fucking done.

Never. It's none of their bloody business. One HR lady told me I was legally bound to declare any health issues. Nonsense.

Quite.

That said I always have and have had no problems with doing so. But I suspect that being highly skilled and highly qualified makes a difference, as well as the type of employer.

I wouldn’t knowingly employ someone with MH issues though, as I know from personal experience how debilitating they can be. I wouldn’t fancy having to manage them when they were struggling and it would be very disruptive to the business.

I really, really wish all companies were like that. Sadly, so many aren't and disabilities and mental health conditions are still severely discriminated against.

Spend not sound !

I worked for a company that would bend over backwards and sound thousands supporting members of staff with a disability, always getting professional advice from "access to work" in the first instance.

Companies discriminate because they rightly judge the risk of action is small and manageable. .
I wouldn't declare anything unless it was unavoidable

I have ADHD and wouldn't dream of telling my employer or colleagues. I don't fancy being treated like I've just been released from a secure hospital

I have chronic diseases that were well controlled when I applied for my current job but I made clear what they were in my application form, even though at the time I felt a bit foolish because I wasn’t having any difficulties. I’m very glad that I did because they’ve caused me real problems over the years and it proved to be essential that they were marked up right from the beginning as the disabilities that they are.

Unfortunately, I think there's a big difference between declaring a physical disability or condition, and declaring a mental health issue or condition. Whether they'll admit it or not, there are huge issues with employers discriminating against people with MH issues, or just not knowing how to handle them. See also conditions like ADHD and autism.

I've got MS. It's pretty obvious when it flares up. So I didn't have much choice but to tell people. My colleagues are all incredibly supportive though.