Students Guide to Disclosure in the Workplace

When you leave school and enter the workforce, you are required to share information about your disability if you want your employer to provide you with reasonable accommodations. The laws require that qualified applicants and employees with disabilities be provided with reasonable accommodations. Yet, in order to benefit from the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, you must disclose your disability. An employer is only required to provide work-related accommodations if you disclose your disability to the appropriate individuals.

Making the decision for when to disclose about your disability, whether during the interview process or after an offer, is a personal decision that should be made based on your individual needs. This is a conversation that UW C&IC Career Coaches are happy to have at a career coaching appointment, and help guide you through your decision-making process.

Support for how and when to disclose:

• Job Accommodation Network — Disability Disclosure & Employment
• Interactive Autism Network — To Tell or not to Tell: Disclosing a Disability in the Workplace
• U.S. Department of Labor — Youth, Disclosure and the Workplace: Why, When, What, and How

Your rights from the ADA:
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Job Applicants and the ADA
ADA — A Guide for People with Disabilities Seeking Employment