Hey,
Long story short I was told that I had LD since I was in elementary school. I always laughed it off and thought nothing of it until now. I am 24 years old and have always had office jobs. It wasnt until I decided to go to college that I found out the hard way that I had LD because I was failing many of my courses and couldnt understand why until someone said something and my disabilities were finally sent to college to get the extra stuff that I needed to succeed. I also became a waitress at this time aswell and have a hard time with it. I was told by my Disabilities Advisor of what I truly had and how it will affect me. I decided the to laugh it off and thought nothing of it until last month when we went through my file. I finally realized what I was dealing with and how it affects me and why I was having a hard time. So I did all my advisor said to help me out at work and I finally today just got the talk that they are begging me to quit.
They dont want to fire me because of my disability yet I know if it comes down to it they will find a “reason”. They arnt willing to work with me and I am soo torn up because I have been doing everything that I can to make it work and am hurt and have never felt more disabled than I have today. Not to mention I have no family supporting my college and have to pay tuition on my own with out financial aid. Im scared that the only job good for me is a stupid desk job that Ill hate when my goal was to be a teacher that taught kids with special needs (my advisor says this isnt the job that I should do because of my disability) so I feel as if I am hitting a brick wall.
Sorry to complain and ect Im just trying to understand this and am very torn with my job and my future with them because I never thought of my disability being a wall for me.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Tiffany
Re: Im New and getting fired because of LD
[quote]First question did they no about your disability before they hired you? If they did then they should be working with you to make suitable accommodations. If they didn’t then its a bit harder to make a claim for accommodations in my opinion.[/quote]
I will put my 2 cents in about this area. I am on the fence when it comes to disclosure of the disability. If you disclose during the interview, you may not get hired. If you don’t and have difficulties later, you may not have a leg to stand on. This is a very scary issue because one is never sure what to do.
Here is my advice:
1) I would start looking for another job. Dont quit until you have one. Make sure the job plays on your strengths not weaknesses. If there is a job you love but some requirements play into weaknesses, try to see them as a challenge. Don’t be afraid(pot calling the kettle black).
2) Find a job that will pay for school! Don’t give up your dream of being a teacher. I worked as a circulation assistant at Syracuse University College of Law, and they paid for my master’s degree. I am now a librarian & Information Literacy instructor at a small academic college,who deals with information processing. This is somewhat funny because this is where my disability lies. Years ago, when I was diagnosed, I already had a BA degree. The disability clinic told me I would only be able to work at consoldidated industries making widgets(I told her BS and I proved them wrong).
3)Make sure you research the job and find out their policy regarding learning disabilities(you could always pretend you are doing a research paper and interview them).
Good luck!
Well I don’t really no what to suggest but I can really feel you pain :(
They no they can’t fire you if its disability related but you recognise that there is nothing to stop them looking for a reason to fire you. If it was me I wouldn’t be going down without a fight.
First question did they no about your disability before they hired you? If they did then they should be working with you to make suitable accommodations. If they didn’t then its a bit harder to make a claim for accommodations in my opinion.
If it was me I would be asking for an official appointment to discuss the issues with a view to coming to some kind of understanding. I don’t no what kind of company this is so its a bit hard giving advice that’s to pointed. But I’d be asking them to explain EXACTLY what there issues are. This gives you the opportunity to defend yourself. Also ask about further training in the areas that you need it and see if they will agree to some kind of action plan to help you improve your skills. Make sure the action plan has some goals and REALISTIC deadlines on it and make sure its in paper form and agreed by everybody. I would hop that any company would have to show they had at least TRIED to work with you on this before firing you. But this depends were you live and I no some countries fire people quicker and easier then in UK were I am. I have a similar thing going on at work about a skills shortage and I have agreed an action plan with my company but its always at the back of my mind that they could still think I’m not up to scratch and fire me. If you want to talk email me. Louise x