Sorry if this question has been posted previously, but I didn't see any answers when I google searched the website. So, I am currently in the process of looking for my first job since my injury, just part-time so that I can ease my way into it without losing my SSI/SSDI. I am trying to pick out ones that seem doable, where I wouldn't have to stand or anything--things like call centers and reception. Given the poor labor market, who knows if I will find one, but if I do...how do I tell them that I am likely permanently in a wheelchair? I assume that I shouldn't put it on my resume. Do I tell them when they call to schedule the interview? Or just show up and let them find out then?

Show up and let them find out....

Call center jobs are doable but suck ass, I hate em, although Im currently at one now because of the pay. I set at a desk and answer emails all day and sometimes help people through chat, all the while listening to my music/podcast. Sounds great. After 7 months at the job and much overtime for the last 3 days I'm ready to 'walk' out on it and would if I had something else lined up waiting. I'm not an indoors desk person though, some people love the job, I'd rather have less pay for some job where I'm moving around and even better if I'm moving around outside! I've put back on about 15-20 lbs of the 45 or so I lost at this job because I'm just sitting there all day. I don't eat junk or drink pops like everyone else there, just me and my bottle of water. If you lived in my area we're hiring, you'd for sure get hired, $15/hr.

I have never told some on before I showed up for the interview that i was in a wheelchair, I don't apply for jobs that needs me to stand, lift 50 lbs above my head and twist 180 degree's though. Just get out there, apply and hopefully get called in for an interview, show up prepared and let them know what you can do for them. I have only had one person so far ever ask about my chair after i do show up. The rest want to, but you can tell their afraid to, so when they ask if I have any questions I ask if they think me being in a chair would prevent me from doing the job they are hiring for.

I don't give employers advance warning about the wheelchair either. I apply for the job, and let my resume and cover letter speak for my skills and experience. The work I do (teaching, translation, interpreting and editing) doesn't need me to be able-bodied. If it did (for example, teaching kindergarten or interpreting for a traveling businessman), I wouldn't apply for it.

For the most part, I've not been questioned on this. The interviewers occasionally show a little surprise when they see me, but it's very rare for someone to say "You should have told us about the wheelchair".

I've had one or two interviewers say that because they felt like the interview room wasn't accessible enough or that it must've been difficult for me to get there; so, expressing concern at their "failing", not mine.

I had one interview where I was specifically asked to explain how I could possibly teach without being able to stand up, but that was for a school run by people from a culture where wheelchair users are almost invisible, so I put that down to ignorance. And I got the job, so the question didn't matter.

If you're applying for jobs that you can do, don't tell them in advance about the wheelchair. Go for it, and if they question you, tell them you didn't feel it was relevant to the job.

I would do this above as well! Good luck!

I did the above - turned up for a job on my crutches and have been working there since August 2006.

So long as you are capable of doing the job it should not matter how many wheels you have on your office chair.

I did the same too for my first 2 jobs, I am a biomedical scientist, I worked in a very large lab for my second job, so by the time I applied for my job I've got now people knew who I was anyway. Not sure if you have the same system in the US but everywhere I have worked has used government money through access to work to do all of the alterations that I needed to be able to do my job. In my second job this included a power chair that raised up to standing height so I could reach some of the machines at work.

Hope this helps, and good luck job hunting.
Jules
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