Adhd accommodations at work6/22/2023 But the following tips, based on my own experience, can be a useful guide to navigate the process.įirst, and this is incredibly hard: if the situation warrants it, reach out to your doctor for a formal diagnosis. You do not have to have a law degree to use it. When I say the ADA is a piece of legislation, I point out that it’s already in a different tier of legibility because it’s written in legalese. This is particularly important because it’s information that fellow ADHDers may not otherwise be receiving.īecause of the barriers we face, people with ADHD are less likely to go to college it’s not common for us to have three years of law school under our belts. However, I wanted to provide my community, to the best of my ability, with the knowledge, resources, and experiences I’ve amassed in the spirit of paying it forward. I know the ADA is complicated this isn’t a deep dive on that. It also felt like requesting accommodations would invite stigma. It was, after all, written before work looked like what it does for some now. For years, I avoided learning about the ADA because it felt inaccessibly elaborate, not relevant or applicable to me, and a little last-century. Knowing how to use the ADA as an ADHDer could have helped me hold down other jobs, survive in inhospitable workplaces, and feel like I wasn’t the problem. I would apologize for not being able to work in certain conditions, rather than demanding the conditions be changed. I think I had some cognitive dissonance I didn’t see myself as disabled because I saw my ADHD as an annoyance, a character flaw. ![]() I was even grateful for the ADA when I was heavily pregnant, because it enabled me to teach daytime high school and evening college classes. I’d softly nod when I saw a building retrofitted with ramps and accessible bathroom equipment. Under the Job Accommodations Network (JAN), there were dozens of suggested accommodations I could seek.įor the entirety of my adult life, I had no idea the ADA included me. I recently discovered that my workplace can: provide schedule flexibility and work-from-home opportunities provide quiet, non-distracting spaces and even require supervisors to learn about ADHD so that they improve their supervision techniques and practices. I disclosed having ADHD long before I realized that I was disclosing a disability. ![]() This piece of legislation guarantees certain civil rights, including those regarding your employment. This means that you might be one of the titular people with disabilities referenced in the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At least, it is one if you choose to identify as such. But there’s one you might only be peripherally aware of that you’re probably not using-yet. In fact, there are medications, therapies, tools, resources, and support networks that are here to help improve the quality of your life. When I speak to other ADHDers who were diagnosed as adults, they share a common refrain: “Why didn’t anybody tell me sooner?” No, it’s not supposed to be hard to sustain friendships or clean the house.
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