LD Resources

© Dale Susan Brown

I experienced job discrimination first-hand eight years ago. I had just started a self-help group for people with learning disabilities and appeared on television speaking as a person with a learning disability.

The word got back to my office. Now, as my disability is invisible, I had found my first job through routine channels. I was considered an excellent worker and received pay increases each year. My job, however, was a contract job and was soon to end. I applied for another job within the same company. Due to my documented high performance, I was confident that I was a top contender for the new job. So I felt very hopeful when the woman who was interviewing called me into her office.

“I’m sorry, Dale, but I have bad news,” she said. “I can’t hire you. I’m concerned about your learning disability.”

I was shocked. I looked at her. I said nothing. Finally, after a few moments of numb silence, I said, “I think you’ve made a mistake. I don’t think my learning disabilities have anything to do with whether or not I can do the job. I would like to discuss this later.” Then I left.

I wrote her a letter explaining that I could do the job well and expressing surprise that a person of her caliber in an agency as humanitarian as the one where I worked could knowingly discriminate. I spent several months writing her letters, having long talks with her, and persuading her that she would work well with me.

Interestingly enough, I never went above her head or used legal action. How did I persuade her?

Although I had not yet heard of them, I used techniques recommended by Richard Pimental. Pimentel is Executive Vice President, Milt Wright and Associates (Windmill Training Group), which has trained thousands of employers on equal opportunity for people with disabilities. He recently developed a training program for applicants with disabilities. Here are some of his findings.

“It’s not the best-qualified applicant who gets the job. The decision to hire is the decision to like someone. The applicant with a disability must present the right image and that’s hard, because when the employer without a disability meets someone with a disability, the disability becomes the overriding factor.” In my case, my disability was not an issue, until I appeared on television discussing my self-help group. People with visible disabilities face this issue at each meeting they have with each person.

“Being turned down for a job is not a personal decision, but a personnel decision. It’s not a reflection on your value as a human being. Disabled people have to become stronger with each rejection, not weaker.

Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. I was very upset when I heard my supervisor’s words. If an able-bodied person were discriminated against for having red hair, that person would be indignant and angry. He or she would easily be able to set the other person straight. However, I had been criticized and put down in so many ways, so many times, that a part of me believed that I was not fit to work at that company. I blew every small mistake I made out of proportion. I felt guilty. I blamed myself for being discriminated against. This process of internalizing the negative words of others is typical of people from any minority group which has been oppressed.

I had to ignore these feelings and act on the facts which were that I was a good worker and could do the job, provided I got the new job. That meant persistently requesting the job, despite repeated rejections. It meant being sure I spoke calmly and confidently, without anger or tentatitiveness. I had to look at my boss carefully, neither lowering my eyes with shame nor glaring with disrespect. I couldn’t bow my head. And I had to listen to what she had to say and respond to her fears.

Pimental recommends these steps:

“Anticipate what the employer might think about people with this disability,” Pimental suggests. “Appreciate their concerns. Show that you know the employer is not an evil person, but reacting the same way anyone might react. Then explain how the fear is not valid and give the solution.”

For example, I said, “I can understand how you might be concerned that I can’t read small print. That is true of some people with learning disabilities. However, it isn’t true for me. I can read small print and do not have a reading disability.

“When it comes to the point you raised about my memory, however, you are right. I don’t have the best memory in the world. Let me show you the checklists and systems I use for keeping track of details…..”

I responded to every issue she brought up in conversation. Then, I summed up our discussions in written letters I mailed to her. I appealed to her sense of fair play. It worked. She took me to lunch and offered me the job. We had a good relationship despite this rough start.

My experience is just one small example of how we can market our disabilities successfully to employers. We have to be prepared to answer all the doubts and concerns about our disabilities in addition to demonstrating that we have the right job skills. We need to build our confidence and we can do this through self-help groups and role playing. Above all, we need to keep at it, to press for the job that we know we can do. Neither my boss nor I regret my hiring. It was a positive experience for both of us.

Author’s Note: This story, regarding a discrimination experience I had with my first long-term job, was published and distributed nationally in 1987 as part of the National Employ the Handicapped Week Kit of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.