To tell them about my disability at interview?

[CurlyRover]

I have an interview tomorrow and I'm wondering at what stage of recruitment is it appropriate to tell a company about your disability? I mentioned to DP that I might tell them at interview about it as I feel if they can't support me and put things into place, I won't be able to work there. He said if somebody told him at interview they were disabled (part of his job involves recruiting new people) he'd be worried that if he didn't give them the job, they would try and claim it's because of their disability. So he's firmly in the don't tell them at this stage camp.

WIBU to tell them and if so, at what stage should I tell them? It's not obvious I have a disability but I need things in place to enable me to carry out my job properly without then ending up on long term sick again.

I try to mention my disability and chronic health condition in a circumspect slightly positive way ie I'm the chair for the patient panel of this speciality at the local hospital. I leave it up to them to assume I have the condition, but mine doesn't affect day to day life when I'm well and I need no special equipment for work.
Is it a large company? Do you need them to provide equipment?

I have a "learning disability" (hate that term!) that would impact on work to a degree, and was advised that the right time to mention it is once you've been offered the job, as part of your acceptance.

I think it depends if you need adjustments immediately in order to start work ie a special chair or a disabled toilet

Did it not ask on the application formabout disabilities? Will they need you to attend a medical as part of the recruitment process.

Making reasonable adjustments is a requirement by law. (There's some good descriptions online about what's reasonable so you can see if you fall into this).

So I wouldn't mention it at interview.

I wouldn't mention it at interview - it may go against you. It shouldn't, but it might and they can always use another excuse or deliberately score you lower.

I would tell them if you are offered the job

I wouldn’t mention it. Although it can’t legally go against you it is easy for them to say other reasons that you didn’t get the job (not the right personality, skill level not there etc)

I’ve had three jobs in the last where large adjustments had to be made to accomobsate my hidden disability.

I didn’t tell them at the Interview and it all just got dealt with by Occupational Health after I was given the job.

I interview a lot and wouldn't be at all phased by a candidate mentioning a disability at interview. If you need adjustments in the workplace, it will be important for both you and the prospective employer to know at an early stage whether or not those adjustments can be made. Otherwise, the process may end in disappointment for all concerned.

I certainly wouldn't hold back on offering a job to a candidate who needed reasonable adjustments - if I thought they were the best candidate for the job, then I would do everything in my power to accommodate their needs. On the other hand, I wouldn't feel under pressure to appoint a candidate just because they had declared a disability. I wouldn't worry that a candidate might claim that their disability was the reason why they weren't selected for a job, because I'd hope that our recruitment processes would be transparent enough to be able to demonstrate that that wasn't the case.

Obviously, there might be certain scenarios in which the best candidate declared a disability and the employer concluded that the adjustments required were neither reasonable nor feasible. Very unfortunate for all concerned, if that's genuinely the case, but still much better to know what's possible sooner rather than later?

And as for those companies which might be put off by a candidate mentioning a disability at interview, would you really want to work for that kind of organisation anyway?

I should add, we generally know about disabilities before a candidate even gets to the interview stage, as we guarantee that we will shortlist disabled candidates who meet all of the minimum criteria. Lots of people therefore declare it on the application form.

Wasn’t it mentioned on the application form? I’ve had t9 repeatedly answer the question ‘Do you consider yourself disabled?’ on applications recently.

I think it depends on the nature of your disability and the kinds of adjustments they would need to make to accommodate you.

I always try to mention it in the interview as after my first professional job I don't want to work with people who are going to think I'm less capable because of my disability. It's a physical disability and I've been in my specialist career since graduating so really my experience and past roles show I'm capable of the job.

I might feel differently if it was entry level or something with lots and lots of applicants though.

Always mention at interview if you need additional support. Obviously if that would be physical assitance then that's 100% fine and when I was a hiring manager we always wanted to know so we could have it in place and it would never go against the interviewee.

However, if it was needing a handhold to deal with the demand of the job then yes, that would be a negative. Because the job wouldn't be right for you.

I think you should mention it in the interview.

If it's going to impact on their employment then it's dishonest not to.

I didn't have an application form. The industries I typically work tends to just be a CV submission to the hiring manager either directly or via an agency.

In theory I could do the job for a little without the adjustments so I wouldn't necessarily need things in place immediately but the sooner the better really.

Livingdead it is regarded as an entry level graduate position but I do have a little experience.