Should I tick the disability box on application?

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The way the question is phrased is indeed confusing: do you consider that you may have a disability? Personally, now that I know about AS, and feel it affects me in different areas of my life, I consider I have a disability. I also consider that it impacts on my work because when I get very OCD or have difficulties talking to people and relating to them, to me, that means it is impacting. HOWEVER, I am not diagnosed. I am an adult, I learned ways of functioning even with what possibly is AS. Also, when I say I feel AS impacts on my work, I kow it does, but I am such a high achiever and I spend so much time fighting my Aspie traits most of my colleagues would laugh in my face if they were to know. If high achiever me didn't have AS, I'd be an even better worker, but I look pretty professional as it is.
Also, maybe I am so little autistic that I would get a diagnosis saying I do not have this, even if I consider I have a disability. So the whole "consider" thing is rather weird. It would be better to ask if you had been officially diagnosed with something.

The question itself is a Catch 22 one. The REAL question though is would you want to work for someone who discriminated against you because you ticked that box. So given a chance, I would tick that box, because if you are going to discriminate AS people, guess what, even in a recession I will have NOTHING to do with you. A matter of self respect really.

Don't check that box - no way don't do it.
First people to screen are the HR folks, they are not the ones you are going to work for by the way, all they see is your mentally ill with some strange syndrome they never heard of. Don't give them an excuse. And the actual people your going to work for dont need to know ether, there going to think hey what are we doing hiring rain man, you don't want them thinking that, don't give them an excuse.

Never disclose learned that lesson the hard way. Did get hired on but was treated like I was ret*d by my manager.

I did tick the box and I've not heard a thing from them so figure that may be why, or the fact that I have been out of work for nearly 2 years.

In teh UK, companies can be award a double tick symbol, which will be displayed on their correspondence. If you tick the disability box on a double tick company's application form, you are guaranteed an interview, so long as you meet the minimum criteria for the job.

Check out this website:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeo ... DG_4000314

It is a bit late now but I wouldn't recomend ticking the box unless you have a diagnosis. Some companies do actively look for people with disabilities, both to 'fill the quota' and because they often get grants or other benefits. However if you don't have an official diagnosis you don't fill the quota or qualify for grants so to them you are more of a liability. 'Self diagnosed' is also often associated with 'hypochondriac' in many people's minds.

As someone with a lot of experience in this, I would get yourself diagnosed and tick the box.

Having said that, between 1998 and 2001 I didn't tick any boxes and had no diagnosis and never had any major problems at work. But that is because the UK computer contracting market was different then than it is now.

I did know at the time it was nearly impossible to get permanent jobs because it involved an HR interview and silly meaningless questions they didn't bother with when I applied for contract jobs, where they cared simply whether or not I could do the work.

I did have a case in 2000 when a course tutor at Learning Tree wanted to throw me off a course on design with UML because he said I couldn't work in a team. If he said anything like that to me now, I would say to him that if I hear the "T" word one more time from you, I will take you, personally, to a tribunal for disability discrimination, not to mention I will ensure that Learning Tree never let you teach a course there again.

The only reason I really did that course was under the misguided assumption that if I did I would be able to participate in more totally green-field projects from the design stage rather than enter them later (and have to work with the poor design decisions of others). This just after the first experience of a job where I was hired as an expert then treated as an idiot once I started work.

Aspergers is only a disability if your stuck at home doing nothing with your life it seems.

I recently applied for something I was very well qualified for but in which I took the part about legally certifying truthful responses too seriously and checked "choose not to answer." Predictably it was rejected out of hand.

From no on I'm checking "no" even if it is a lie. If I'm going to be employed I want my employer to want me on the job not just on the payroll to fill a quota.

I personally would say no because I didn't get my dx until a few years ago (I'm almost 48) and I've never been disabled by it or gotten any kind of special services or treatment for it. However, if there was a place to explain ("If yes, please explain") then I would check yes and say that I have been dx'd with AS a few years ago but it's never been a disability nor impacted my ability to work or carry on with my life. I would also put that I don't consider mine to be a disability at all. This way, if they needed to hire people with a disability but didn't want to sacrifice productivity because of it, I would be more likely to get the job.

I'd also bring it up at the first interview if the guy interviewing me didn't.

Since you haven't gotten a formal dx, and you don't need any kind of special accomodations, I wouldn't mention it to the employer at all.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
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