In high school I had a ski crash. Tore my right ACL. Another thing that happened was that I damaged a nerve that went to my foot. I can’t raise my right great toe, and there is very little feeling in it.
Exactly a year later I was in a car crash. This one cost me a third of my left kneecap. Somewhere along the line I lost the tendon on my knee. As a result I can’t extend my left leg fully, and my knee occasionally ‘goes out’ causing me to fall.
Now I’m filling out job applications. Sometimes they ask, ‘Are you disabled?’ I’ve always answered ‘no’, since it’s not as if I’m actually missing a limb or am paralyzed (except for my right great toe, in one direction).
Technically, am I ‘disabled’? If I am, should I say so; or would I be exaggerating something that’s more of an inconvenience than anything else?
Personally, I’m inclined to continue answering ‘no’.
God forbid that it should ever happen but I think your failure to mention your “falling over” could be used by an insurance company to weasle its way out of a compensation claim. I would check with an HR or union type to see what they think.
Actually, it’s ‘falling back’. Not an issue in an office setting, but sometimes I’ll step on an uneven piece of ground or an obstacle behind me. Unlike most people, who have a tendon in their knees, I sometimes can’t ‘pull myself up’ and fall backward. But in an office setting (which is where I’ve always worked, except for bits at the last job) it only rarely happens and there is usually something I can catch myself on.
Oh, don’t ask: Does that mean you think I should claim a disability? It hardly seems worth mentioning.
There are a couple of issues. If I claim a disability, then it may make a potential employer drop me from consideration. Or it may allow them to say ‘See? We hire disabled people!’ As I said, there are people out there looking for jobs who are amputees, paralized, etc. I don’t think it would be fair of me to ‘steal’ a job from them just because I can’t raise one of my toes and have bad knees.
IANAL, but disabled in this sense is a legal definition. Do you file your taxes as a disabled person?
Possibly it’s a “are you getting money from the government because you physically can’t work” type question.
No to both questions.
FWIW, I claimed ‘I am not disabled’ on the job application I just filed.
I think you need an official doctor’s opinion if you think it could possibly affect you at a work site. It might make a difference to the people who plan to hire you when they see that checkmark on your app. If you get a call back, and they ask you about your disability, and you say “Well, I got this big toe I can’t get to point up…” They might have been in the process of getting a parking space ready for you or something. It could lead to an awkward situation if you know what I mean.
To be disabled implies that you have a physical problem which prevents you from functioning normally, so your experience of day to day activities is limited or impaired. If you are able to function normally and don’t need your company to make special adaptations or allowances for you, you’re not disabled.
If you walk with a stick, need to use a ramp or elevator instead of stairs, have to take frequent rest breaks or need equipment to help you carry out your day to day life, you’re disabled.
If not, you have a medical condition, not a disability.
If I had severe back pain but could still drive, sit at a desk and walk around, I would not be disabled. If I had severe back pain and I couldn’t move from my bed unaided, needed to use a wheelchair or couldn’t drive, I would be disabled.