{"id":52801,"date":"2013-12-06T10:11:42","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T15:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=52801"},"modified":"2013-12-05T13:19:17","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T18:19:17","slug":"should-you-list-your-disability-on-your-cover-letter-or-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=52801","title":{"rendered":"Should You List your Disability on your Cover Letter or Resume?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 dir=\"ltr\" id=\"docs-internal-guid-56055b50-c3f6-9813-17b8-6bb5c0d563ca\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Should You List your Disability on your Cover Letter or Resume?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>by Roselle Pendergast, Head Editor, <a title=\"INALJ Minnesota\" href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?page_id=5699\" target=\"_blank\">INALJ Minnesota<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Roselle.Pendergast.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-45845 alignleft\" alt=\"Roselle.Pendergast\" src=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Roselle.Pendergast-300x200.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Roselle.Pendergast-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Roselle.Pendergast.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" id=\"docs-internal-guid-6aa60e8d-c3f7-556b-6273-77ae3a5da914\">As a person who does not feel disabled despite being deafened in one ear and wearing a cochlear implant in the other, I\u2019ve never listed my disability in the cover letter or on my resume. Regardless, I worry about \u2018deceiving\u2019 my interviewer by not saying something or making it clear that my disability does not inhibit me from performing my job to the fullest. \u00a0That got me thinking about the pros and cons for people with disabilities and resumes.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Monster Resume Expert, Kim Isaacs made a great point in her article, <a href=\"http:\/\/career-advice.monster.com\/resumes-cover-letters\/resume-writing-tips\/disclose-disability-on-resume\/article.aspx\">Should You Disclose a Disability on Your Resume?,<\/a> \u201c[the] first thing job seekers need to ask themselves is, \u2018Can I do the job?\u2019 [\u2026] If the answer is yes and the disability doesn\u2019t affect job performance then don\u2019t mention it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She listed three top reasons why you should avoid disclosing a disability:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Fewer interview invitations:<\/strong> Not securing an interview is one of the major potential pitfalls of revealing a disability on a resume.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>A reason to eliminate you:<\/strong> Your resume is a marketing document. Show that you have the requirements the employer is seeking, and eliminate anything that might move you to the \u2018reject pile\u2019, whether that\u2019s typos, coffee stains on your document or having a disability.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>The law is on your side:<\/strong> Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you don\u2019t have to say anything.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Isaacs does go on to say \u201c[people] with visible disabilities (e.g., noticeable impairments to speech, hearing, sight or mobility) might want to disclose the disability so there are no surprises at the interview\u201d. \u00a0Another person disagreed entirely and strongly urges to let your resume do the talking in order to get you in the door. \u201c[If] the disability is visible, put their minds at ease early on in the process, assuring employers that you have the skills to do the job\u201d.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">My personal advice is to use your best judgment. \u00a0How much does your ability affect your everyday life? \u00a0What accommodations would you require in order to perform your job to the fullest? \u00a0Having answers to those questions will make your decision much easier. \u00a0Like I said, I leave out my disability on my cover letters and resume BUT I do make it clear when communicating with my potential employer via email that I have a difficulty understanding people on the phone. \u00a0I often offer other solutions for different modes of communication if not face-to-face.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Your disability doesn\u2019t need to be on the cover letter or resume but when communications open up between you and your potential employer while wrangling a date for an interview, make a casual mention about your disability so your interviewer is not caught by a surprise. \u00a0I think of it as polite courtesy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Should You List your Disability on your Cover Letter or Resume? by Roselle Pendergast, Head Editor, INALJ Minnesota As a person who does not feel disabled despite being deafened in one ear and wearing a cochlear implant in the other, I\u2019ve never listed my disability in the cover letter or on my resume. Regardless, I&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=52801\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,3850,5831,3643,5605],"class_list":["post-52801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-disabilities","tag-disability","tag-inalj-minnesota","tag-roselle-pendergast"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Roselle.Pendergast.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-dJD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}