lol giz a loony a job

Ok guys you going to love this one.. :D :D :D

I while back I applied for a teaching job out in China teaching English (I have MSc) I completed the relevent paperwork a month ago and got a reply today.

Seem people with SAD suffer from depression and therfore it was company policy not to employ people that suffer from depression :shock:

man these guys really need some education as to what SAD is and how we can treat it. Its not even thought of Im going more near the equator, all these people see is one word "Depression" and think of us all as raving loonies :twisted: :twisted: :lol: :shock: :D

Well one of these days I will get da job :roll:

Just thought I would share this experence in the vain hope some employer looks and thinks "hey SAD sufferers can be treated with light" and not think we are all round the twist :mrgreen: 8)

Sure right there Donna. I think its will be a secret from now on. but it just goes to show honesty it not aways well recived..

To decide whether you should admit you have SAD to empoyers is certainly a tricky one. I think you have to balance whether your consience pricking you for keeping SAD a secret is harder to bear than the possibly negative reaction you will get from employers if you 'come clean'.

I started work as a graduate trainee for a well known retailer back in 1989. I was going through the first depressive period of my life, and had been to the docs but they had not taken me seriously. My mum was round the twist with worry about me, and so I started to try and hide it. Being depressed for the first time made it really hard for me to get used to working, and I was actually close to losing my job on 2 occasions as others thought I was a space cadet. I just could not concentrate and I had no interest in work (or anything else for that matter), but I was too embarrassed and afraid to admit what was wrong. Because doctors had not taken me seriously I thought I was imagining things and should shake it off. But of course I couldn't shake it off and it just dragged on and on...

In hindsight, although it was painful to be regarded as a crap employee when I was in fact ill, I think for me at that time, I did the best thing to keep quiet. People do change their impressions of you once they know you have been depressed and I would not have been mature or clued up enough to handle that. It is wrong that this happens to people, but we have to accept reality.

In other areas of life too we are sometimes faced with a similar dilemma. After I had my first baby I was very down (I thought it was postnatal but I actually think it was SAD on reflection). Around that time we were buying a flat and getting life insurance sorted etc. I wanted to be honest about my history and so when I filled out the forms I admitted to postnatal depression. Well did I wish I hadn't afterwards!! It delayed the process by weeks!!! They had to write to my doctor and put me on a special premium blah blah blah. And for what? I got over the depression, and I now have 2 kids, I am still married and I am a reliable employee despite the SAD. Did they really have to make me feel such a freak??