Grad students who have an invisible disability (i.e. Traumatic Brain Injury, Fibromyalgia, Depression, PTSD)...are you "out of the closet" at school/work?

[MettaSutta]

What are the risks of disclosing that you have a disability?  

[Adelaide9216]

I disclosed publicly my story in a TEDx talk. I do media interviews every now and then about my story and what I have experienced. My TEDx talk was the first time I ever spoke publicly about my MI struggles. It was stressful, but I wanted to do it. But now everyone around me knows, and I don't have to hide and I don't feel the need to hide. I've been in recovery for 8 years, even if I still get high and lows, I don't consider myself to have a disability per say because it doesn't impact my daily functioning and I never needed to go to the Disability Office for accommodations for instance so far. I hope I'll still be okay when I'll start my Ph.D. School is what has helped me the most to get past through this because I have a true passion for what I study and what I do. 

I get a lot of questions from people asking if disclosing has impacted negatively my professional career. The answer to that is no. So far. In the past three years, I've won community awards, been recognized by my community and it happened twice that I disclosed my past struggles in a job interview and still got hired. However, I still warn people that I heard stories of people who have disclosed and for whom the experience has been a lot more negative. I did experience negative aspects after having disclosed, but mostly on the interpersonal level. I still think other people definitely may have it worse than I did. I think my experience has been so positive because I am involved in the social work field, so people tend to be empathetic towards my story and most of the people I know disclosed to me in private having experienced similar issues. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Adelaide9216

[MettaSutta]

16 hours ago, Sigaba said:

For what it's worth, this topic has been discussed in depth a number of times over the years.

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/search/?q=disability

The person who posted that thread on Feb 24 is discussing a physical disability (blindness).  Apples and oranges.  

[Adelaide9216]

She is not the first member of this forum to create a thread on something that has already been addressed in the past. It's not the end of the world. 

[Adelaide9216]

7 hours ago, Bodhicaryavatara said:

Thank you for your perspective.  I'd imagine that law would be a comparatively less forgiving field than SW?

I cannot speak to that because it's not a field of study I am familiar with. Maybe a law student will jump in. 

[lemma]

I am out of the closet to the disability office, to my coursework professors (but we barely do any), and not at all to my supervisors. As an undergrad, I was out to my supervisor, some professors and my academic administrator. 

[Sigaba]

1 hour ago, Bodhicaryavatara said:

What are the risks of disclosing that you have a disability?  

For what it's worth, this topic has been discussed in depth a number of times over the years.

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/search/?q=disability

[MettaSutta]

11 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I disclosed publicly my story in a TEDx talk. I do media interviews every now and then about my story and what I have experienced. My TEDx talk was the first time I ever spoke publicly about my MI struggles. It was stressful, but I wanted to do it. But now everyone around me knows, and I don't have to hide and I don't feel the need to hide. I've been in recovery for 8 years, even if I still get high and lows, I don't consider myself to have a disability per say because it doesn't impact my daily functioning and I never needed to go to the Disability Office for accommodations for instance so far. I hope I'll still be okay when I'll start my Ph.D. School is what has helped me the most to get past through this because I have a true passion for what I study and what I do. 

I get a lot of questions from people asking if disclosing has impacted negatively my professional career. The answer to that is no. So far. In the past three years, I've won community awards, been recognized by my community and it happened twice that I disclosed my past struggles in a job interview and still got hired. However, I still warn people that I heard stories of people who have disclosed and for whom the experience has been a lot more negative. I did experience negative aspects after having disclosed, but mostly on the interpersonal level. I still think other people definitely may have it worse than I did. I think my experience has been so positive because I am involved in the social work field, so people tend to be empathetic towards my story and most of the people I know disclosed to me in private having experienced similar issues. 

Thank you for your perspective.  I'd imagine that law would be a comparatively less forgiving field than SW?

[Sigaba]

4 hours ago, Bodhicaryavatara said:

The person who posted that thread on Feb 24 is discussing a physical disability (blindness).  Apples and oranges.  

The search for "disability" produces over 800 hits, not just one post. Did you read that one post and stop?

Did you do your due diligence to find "apples to apples" matches?

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/search/?&q=depression&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/search/?&q=PTSD&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy