Inadvertantly disclosing Learning Disability on a resume - remove?

Parent Cafe
1

A young woman in my family who has a learning disability is in the process of applying for a summer internship in the social work arena. She is at her state flagship and doing well, although she does get support services there. The disability centers around processing speed, so it takes her much longer to read things, and she also has an issue with math. However, when you meet her, there is no indication that she has a disability of any kind - she is well-spoken and social, and extremely kind and empathetic. I think a social services career will be perfect for her.

Her resume does not give any indication of her learning disability, except that she participated in an organization through her high school which is named for the high school and is still on her resume since the experience is relevant to the career she is pursuing. Anyone can look up this high school and see that it is a high school for kids with learning disabilities, or some may be familiar with the high school without looking it up.

I’m wondering if she should remove this organization, or just take the tack that any employer that will judge her because of her learning disability is not one for which she wants to work. Then again, internships are not easy to come by. Then again, she wonders if she should disclose at some point in case something is taking her longer than expected. Very hard to know how to handle this. Many say that they are accepting of people who have disabilities but in reality it doesn’t always work out that way.

Advice anyone?

Thanks.

2

Hi,

I was also in the same shoes as her when I was applying to colleges. It was very difficult because I didn’t want to be discriminated against for my learning disability and looked down upon. However, with many talks with special ed. teachers and advisers that specialize in learning disabilities, they have told me that it is illegal to discriminate against individuals who have a learning disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Having a learning disability doesn’t make them less capable or less intelligent; everyone has a different learning speed.

As for the resume, I would recommend two options: keep the organization on the resume and when she is called in for a interview she can speak more to that organization and her journey of coping with her learning disability and how she is still capable of doing a good job. Second, take off organization but I think she should still talk to them about her journey of coping with her learning disability. Make sure it sounds like a positive experience and that it won’t enable her from doing poorly. Also, she can choose not to disclose that information

3

When do college students remove all high school time period-related activities from their college resume?

4

^ Unless it’s paid work ie. like a job at McDonalds… I assume it’s when they have enough college stuff to put on there. I would think by the time they are Juniors there should be other things to list that would be more recent/relevent.