- Username
- ThreeLittleBirds
- Date posted
- 4y ago
OCD may be a disability, and it is certainly disabling, but it does NOT mean you don't deserve a job, or that you are broken, or that you are wrong. The world can see us however they want but we can and will live with this disability and function just as well as anyone else. OCD isn't our identity, it is just one small part of a larger whole that makes up any human being. The world may call you disabled but you are not un-able.
Thank you for this, it’s hard to connect this mental illness with my concrete life. Since being diagnosed my ocd hasn’t come up on any official document. So being asked about it on a job application shook me core. It’s a trigger to think of this as a disability. I’ve worked hard to perform at work and in my spare time I suffer in silence. I’ve made a choice to not let this affect me and for an official platform to declare ocd as a disability just makes me want to cry. It feels like it diminishes my worth, I feel stigmatized.
@ThreeLittleBirds I know, I'm dreading getting into a job again myself after failing to follow up an application (which was my "it's OCD" moment). Just remember that though you are struggling with OCD, your worth as an employee and as a human being is not diminished, and labels like disabled are just used to put you in a neat box- they have no idea how it will really affect anything! They probably still think all OCD is is flicking the lights on and off!
@OCDisco You’re so right best of luck to us both!!! There needs to be a network that helps people with mental illness get a job. How cool would it be to work with other people who have ocd lol anyways we still gotta push forward and work hard like everyone else. And I hope we are treated the same as everyone else.
I wouldn’t answer the question. It’s no ones business but your own. Most people with ocd don’t even know they have it and work in high paying jobs. Today, the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation says that the average OCD individual spends more than 9 years searching for help, and is diagnosed by 3 to 4 doctors before finally getting the right diagnosis.
I put that I didn’t have any disabilities. I strongly believe that the only ones who needs to know I have ocd are me and my doctor.
You’re no less deserving of a job than someone in a wheelchair or someone who walks with crutches. No one would say that that person doesn’t deserve the job. Employers ask this question for a variety of reasons. They may want to know if you’ll need reasonable accommodations, which by law they’re required to provide so that you can do your job. But more than likely, they’re asking whether you have a disability so that they can make sure they’re adhering to employment laws, i.e. that they’re complying by not discriminating against those with a disability when considering who to hire for a position.
In a rural state with few jobs admission seems like the possibility of elimination even if it’s against the law.
@ThreeLittleBirds Ain’t that the truth - my job has me working with a lot of people in rural areas and I feel like unfortunately a lot of employers are not following the law regarding disabilities
You don’t have to answer this question and you don’t have to tell your employer that you have a disability unless you find that you need an accommodation to keep doing your job. In that case, a letter from your doctor can lay out what you need to continue working but they do not need to state what your disability is.
I’m fairly new to treating my OCD and have felt crazy for most of my life. It didn’t help that no one in my life truly understood OCD and always said I was being dramatic. I very recently (within the past few months) finally got diagnosed with OCD and my whole life started to make sense. However, I recently opened up to someone I really believed I trusted about the intrusive thoughts I have and now feel worse than I ever have before. They essentially called me a psychopath and said they are worried for the people around me. Even though I would and could never hurt anyone. I’ve never felt more alone and broken in my life. I already try very hard to hide my OCD and everything associated with it because no one in my life understands so it’s been easier to deal with it myself than listen to everyone say whatever they have to say about my situation. After what happened today I’m even more inclined to just keep it to myself. I don’t know what I’m expecting from writing this but I figure this is the best place to write what I’m feeling. Going through OCD is hard enough on it’s own. But when people are telling you they think you’re a danger to society and are crazy because of your intrusive thoughts it really hurts. I’m just tired.
I was wondering if you guys agree. I have PTSD, GAD, depression, an eating disorder and OCD. I feel like every time, OCD is taken the least serious, while to me its the worse... Also, my OCD makes it hard for me to search for help cause my OCD tells me Im a bad person, I dont deserve help, Im not allowed to show my emotions Because of that I cant show how bad it is, especially cause its pure ocd, so people dont mention my struggle or take me serious. But i feel like, in general, of all my disorders, OCD is taken the least serious, while to me its the worst of all. I hate it... i hate OCD so much, its debilitating and nobody can see it.
I feel like OCD ruins so much. My boyfriend broke up with me because of it. It got to a point where I made him do compulsions (ex: open and close the door a certain amount of times). I have OCD in combination with PTSD so I would get triggers often. He got to a point where he got up and left me while I was at work and cut contact completely. I don’t know how to feel and I feel like a failure. It’s been two months and my OCD has been nonstop telling me I was an abuser or narcissistic and that’s why he left. Everyone tells me I’m a broken record… but they don’t know that this is torture for me, too. I wish I could start over with my ex, but I can’t, and that bothers my OCD, too. Lack of control. I also seem to have memory issues in that relationship, I can’t remember what happened or not, and I’m not sure if that’s part of my OCD.
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