Transcript

Interviewer: Mike, I think what comes to mind as I listen to you explain some of the key concepts of customized employment, really is the whole issue of disclosure. I know that some individuals would say that they didn't want to disclose to the employer their disability. How would you respond to that within the concept of customized employment?

Michael Callahan: You know I sure understand and support not only that feeling but of course it's built into our legal system of people not having to disclose a disability in order to become employed. So, I understand that. The problem emerges in customization, that the employer does need a rationale for understanding why would a job need to be customized? And I think the issue of disability is a real-world logical issue of why a job needs to be customized. But it's very important for me to say, I don't think I said it clearly enough in the previous question, that any disclosure has got to be voluntary on the part of the individual. The individual has to give us permission. In fact I recommend written permission. And, in fact I ask that individual to help me determine the best manner in which to disclosure their disability. For instance, I refrain to the greatest degree possible from ever using a diagnosis or any kind of medical condition. I try to refer to the impact of disability on performance as compared to the disability label and that can often help.

The interesting thing is and it's beyond interesting, it's probably a problematic issue. If we don't disclose, I think customization is going to be quite a bit more difficult. You're going to be putting the employer into a position of beginning to guess, "why would this person be wanting this customization?" I think any person can try to customize a job regardless of disability. But, all of us who would do that would need to have a rationale the employer could understand. So if people are to seek customized employment without wanting to disclose their disability, they're going to have to hone a much clearer rationale in two areas. 1) Why I want to customize my job so that the employer can understand it? 2) Can I use a representative? And, I should have actually included that as an ingredient or an element before.

Right now I feel like a representative is very likely to be needed, to make this “negotiation” happen. And that's going to impact that representative's rationale for being there. The employer asking, "why are you representing this person" is a reasonable question to ask. I think that we have a lot to learn about ways that individuals can represent themselves and try to customize their jobs without disclosing their disability. There may be a day that we know how to do that, right now I don't have the answers for that.