Careers - GUIDE TO APPRENTICESHIPS

Disclosing disabilities, medical conditions or illness

There is no obligation for you to disclose a disability, medical condition or illness - it is your own decision.

Employment is covered by the Equality Act. This means it is unlawful for employers to discriminate against people with disabilities or health conditions in their recruitment and selection procedures. Many employers are committed to employing and developing people with disabilities, medical conditions or

illness. The positive about disabled people symbol / scheme (2 ticks) has been replaced with the disability confident scheme. As symbol users of the disability confident scheme, organisations guarantee to interview all applicants who have declared a disability, and who meet the minimum essential criteria for the vacancy/ ies. It is quite natural to worry about disclosing a disability, medical condition or illness to an employer when applying for a job. Although you may be uncertain about how an employer may react, there are good reasons for telling a potential employer about a disability. Under the Equality Act, employers must also consider making any ‘reasonable adjustments’ you might need in order to enable you to work for them. The reasonable adjustments should help remove any disadvantage. Whether or not it is reasonable for your employer to make a particular adjustment will depend on the specific circumstances It is worth remembering that if your employer does not know you have a disability, they cannot make any adjustments to help you undertake the requirements of your job. Deciding how and when to declare a disability, medical condition or illness.

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DISCLOSING DISABILITY