ADHD Protected Under the Disabilites Act?
About a year ago, I started looking into the Disabilities Act to see if I qualify. One reasone was because I wanted to go to school but knew that it would be a very difficult thing with ADHD. My psychologist said I wouldn't qualify.
My conclusions are, if you don't look like you have a disability, it is a good chance that you won't be protected. There are very small white and black areas and very large gray areas left to someone's judgement but I don't know who that would be. Not only that but one person may make a judgement for ADHD to be protected while another may be against it. It just isnt very clear.
That isn't fair to us who suffere with ADHD. I have to work so hard just to do things that others do with ease. I recently started looking again because as I was filling out an application for a job, it asked if I wanted to be considered for Affirmative Action based upon a disability? I never thought about this before. I have been having such a hard time finding a job, especially one that will pay me something worthwhile.
I thought that maybe if I could fit under the Disability Act, I could be considered for Affirmative action and have a helping hand to get a job. One of the complaints of my last job is that I have a problem with focusing especially during a lecture training. Sadly, they did not ask me what was going on, they just judged me as not caring for my job. They also said that I wasn't picking things up like everyone else. (Yea, its called ADHD) API Inc said that they treat their employees as humans first. Sadly enough I found this to not be true in my case.
Why shouldn't I be protected? I'm not "normal" like everyone else. I learn different than the masses. My memory, focus ability and attention is not like everyone else. I have mood swings, emotional and confidence problems. I get very frustrated and I can't stay organized. I can't even stay on top of writing a blog. Ugh. Yet, I am lumped into a group of normal people without help or protection.
I want to be normal. I try to hide that I have ADHD because I don't think it matters that anyone knows or at least until they see I am having a problem. I really just want to live normal and not need "special attention" or help from anyone. if it wasnt for me using vibe www.powersession.com then I would be 100x's worse. I also try to keep a good diet. As much as this helps, it still doesnt take away my problems and I am still not normal. So now I made my speel and I was only going to paste some information from a nother website. Here it is.
Learning Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act
Is a learning disability a disability under the ADA?
The ADA does not contain a list of medical conditions that constitute disabilities. Instead, the ADA has a general definition of disability that each person must meet (EEOC, 1992). Therefore, some people with learning disabilities will have a disability under the ADA and some will not.
A person has a disability if he/she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such impairment (EEOC, 1992). To be a disability covered by the ADA, the impairment must substantially limit one or more major life activities. These are activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty. Examples are: walking, seeing, speaking, hearing, breathing, learning, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, and working. These are examples only. Other activities such as sitting, standing, lifting, or reading are also major life activities (EEOC, 1992).
Most courts have agreed with the activities listed by the EEOC. For example, in Brown v. Cox Medical Centers, 286 F.3d 1040 (8th Cir. 2002), the court noted that the "ability to perform cognitive functions" is a major life activity. In Gagliardo v. Connaught Laboratories, Inc., 311 F.3d 565 (3d Cir. 2002), the court held that "concentrating and remembering (more generally, cognitive function)" are major life activities (Fram, 2004).
For more information about how to determine whether a person has a disability under the ADA, visit http://www.jan.wvu.edu/corner/vol02iss04.htm.
If you go to that website looking for info on ADHD under the disability ACT, you won't find it. So far this is the closest thing I have found saying that it can be considered. You can go to the website and find more information on items under these Headings.
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/LD.html
Accommodating Employees with Learning Disabilities
Questions to Consider:
Accommodation Ideas:
Reading:
Spelling:
Writing:
Cognitive process of writing:
Physical process of writing:
Mathematics:
Speaking/Communicating:
Organizational Skills:
Memory:
Time Management:
Social Skills:
Situations and Solutions:
My conclusions are, if you don't look like you have a disability, it is a good chance that you won't be protected. There are very small white and black areas and very large gray areas left to someone's judgement but I don't know who that would be. Not only that but one person may make a judgement for ADHD to be protected while another may be against it. It just isnt very clear.
That isn't fair to us who suffere with ADHD. I have to work so hard just to do things that others do with ease. I recently started looking again because as I was filling out an application for a job, it asked if I wanted to be considered for Affirmative Action based upon a disability? I never thought about this before. I have been having such a hard time finding a job, especially one that will pay me something worthwhile.
I thought that maybe if I could fit under the Disability Act, I could be considered for Affirmative action and have a helping hand to get a job. One of the complaints of my last job is that I have a problem with focusing especially during a lecture training. Sadly, they did not ask me what was going on, they just judged me as not caring for my job. They also said that I wasn't picking things up like everyone else. (Yea, its called ADHD) API Inc said that they treat their employees as humans first. Sadly enough I found this to not be true in my case.
Why shouldn't I be protected? I'm not "normal" like everyone else. I learn different than the masses. My memory, focus ability and attention is not like everyone else. I have mood swings, emotional and confidence problems. I get very frustrated and I can't stay organized. I can't even stay on top of writing a blog. Ugh. Yet, I am lumped into a group of normal people without help or protection.
I want to be normal. I try to hide that I have ADHD because I don't think it matters that anyone knows or at least until they see I am having a problem. I really just want to live normal and not need "special attention" or help from anyone. if it wasnt for me using vibe www.powersession.com then I would be 100x's worse. I also try to keep a good diet. As much as this helps, it still doesnt take away my problems and I am still not normal. So now I made my speel and I was only going to paste some information from a nother website. Here it is.
Learning Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act
Is a learning disability a disability under the ADA?
The ADA does not contain a list of medical conditions that constitute disabilities. Instead, the ADA has a general definition of disability that each person must meet (EEOC, 1992). Therefore, some people with learning disabilities will have a disability under the ADA and some will not.
A person has a disability if he/she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such impairment (EEOC, 1992). To be a disability covered by the ADA, the impairment must substantially limit one or more major life activities. These are activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty. Examples are: walking, seeing, speaking, hearing, breathing, learning, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, and working. These are examples only. Other activities such as sitting, standing, lifting, or reading are also major life activities (EEOC, 1992).
Most courts have agreed with the activities listed by the EEOC. For example, in Brown v. Cox Medical Centers, 286 F.3d 1040 (8th Cir. 2002), the court noted that the "ability to perform cognitive functions" is a major life activity. In Gagliardo v. Connaught Laboratories, Inc., 311 F.3d 565 (3d Cir. 2002), the court held that "concentrating and remembering (more generally, cognitive function)" are major life activities (Fram, 2004).
For more information about how to determine whether a person has a disability under the ADA, visit http://www.jan.wvu.edu/corner/vol02iss04.htm.
If you go to that website looking for info on ADHD under the disability ACT, you won't find it. So far this is the closest thing I have found saying that it can be considered. You can go to the website and find more information on items under these Headings.
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/LD.html
Accommodating Employees with Learning Disabilities
Questions to Consider:
Accommodation Ideas:
Reading:
Spelling:
Writing:
Cognitive process of writing:
Physical process of writing:
Mathematics:
Speaking/Communicating:
Organizational Skills:
Memory:
Time Management:
Social Skills:
Situations and Solutions:
posted by TJ Chambers at 3:37 PM
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