A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job in question.

I posted in the Newbies forum my fear for my job... maybe this would have been a better place, but perhaps someone might want to read it and provide feedback.

Meanwhile, what does the above mean? Why would an employer provide any accommodation if the person can perform the job without it??

Would a person who needs to get into some sort of therapeutic situation (meds, therapy, both) to be able to effectively function in a position be protected, or not?

I'm confused - and scared - my job is currently on the line -

Can someone explain?

i have no idea what this means unfortunately,
but i do advise however to consult with your Human Resources department as they are obligated to ensure that you understand your duties, and help with all the 'employment' issues such as hiring and firing and policies pertaining to employment...
do you feel comfortable asking your hr person??

I think "accomodations" are making changes to the work environment to meet the needs of a person with a diagnosed disability --but not changing the actual requirements of the job. You do not need to be in therapy or on meds, but you need to have a diagnosed disability. I'm not sure if ADD is recognized as a disability, depression is ...and ADD and depression go hand in hand, especially when you've reached the point of potentially losing your job.

I read your other post. I assume you were successful in your previous position since they saw fit to give you a promotion. It sounds like your new position is not a good match for you ...in which case, accomodations probably won't be all that helpful. Is it totally impossible to be demoted down to the previous position? Maybe your could speak with your former supervisor to see if there are any openings?

As for accomodations, you could ask for:
Quiet work environment (i.e., not a cubicle)
Gadgets or computer programs that will help you to manage your work responsibilities (timers, planners, etc)
Training in organization skills, team management techniques, whatever skills you need to improve

As far as what steps to take for your own personal sanity...
Go to your doctor. Get a diagnosis. If your regular MD tries to dismiss you, ask for a referral to a pschologist or psychiatrist who specializes in ADD (ideally specializes with ADD in adults, but they're hard to find).

Try an ADD coach. There an ADD coach who has a background in buisness/management ...she might be the perfect coach for you. But I don't know about how much she charges. However, the payoff of keeping your job & functioning more efficiently might make it worth it, even if it seems expensive in the short term. The coach I'm thinking of is Bonnie Mincu. I've done a few teleclasses with her.

Get some meds for ADD. I don't know much about Straterra, but it seems like people have greater success with stimulant medications than they do with Straterra. And it seems like GP's prefer to prescribe Straterra, but doctors who specialize in ADD prefer to prescribe stimulant medications (Adderall, Concerta, Dexadrine, Ritalin).

If you're depressed, try anti-depressants. I was very resistant to trying anti-depressants, but they have really helped me tremendously ...they haven't helped with my ADD directly, but helped me not be so depressed so that I could attempt to deal with my ADD and life in general.

Get therapy ...maybe. I haven't had much success with therapy for my ADD. But I've never found a therapist who was knowledgeable about adult ADD. So my therapy sessions were more your basic therapy ...telling my therapist that my life was a mess somehow didn't help to fix it.

Did you get the feeling that they are entirely fed up and they want to fire you? Or did they seem genuinely interested in keeping you? (...if you'd only get your work done!)
I dunno. You might need to assess whether this job is savable. If it's not, keep struggling with it ...but start looking for a new job.

:reposted from Member Intros
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Oh, I've been there and back VintageMama.

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/pubs/ada.txt

The "Americans with Disabilities Act" aims to eliminate employment discrimination (hiring/firing) based solely on a disabillity

It isn't perfect by any means.

The best book on the topic I've seen is "ADD in the Workplace" by Nadeau, chapter 14.

The first step in the process is disclosing to your employer that you have ADD which can be extremely informal.

Nadeau brings up 3 scenarios when it makes sense:

a) When you feel it will be met with a supportive reaction
b) When all other avenues have been exhausted
c) When in danger of losing your job because of poor performance

And based on personal experience, I agree with her.

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At the end of the day, the ADA legislation has this effect on an employer:

1) Scrambles their HR (and legal) department(s) to watch the situation like a hawk.

2) Have everyone (management, HR) start documenting everything to death in the interest of building a case for court.

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You can gauge the situation often by the amount of effort to bring up every negative possible comment about you in email, evaluations, etc.

If there is a real effort to throw you out the door, you won't be able to breathe correctly based on your employers documents and comments.


Conversely, if this is not the situation, you might get the occasional compliment.


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If you can't tell, I've had a REALLY bad experience with this. And it seems fairly common. The best strategy could very well be one of controlled retreat (extended time to look for a new job, exit package, etc). In the end, I probably bought myself an extra month or so.

The drone I worked for had fired the 3 previous people in my position, and had obviously become pretty good as there was a dense legal/HR beuracracy in place.

It all just becomes a big lawsuit prevention exercise.


IT Project Management huh? I used to think I wanted to do that as well.

Probably more an outgrowth of my complete inability to organize anything than genuine interest. I'm now at the point where I recognize it for what it is: perhaps one of the dullest exercises under the sun. AND one at which I am grossly incompetent.

Good luck with all this.