APPIC Process - When to Disclose Disability?

[PsychPhDMama]

Hi Everyone, I have disability accommodations at school and will need accommodations at internship. In brief, I need to either be partially remote (2-3 days/wk) or work reduced hours. When would you raise this during the process? Would you tell your program directors? I'm a strong candidate from a reputable PhD program. My 2 clinical letters of recommendation ranked me in the top 5% of trainees. I have a 3.9 GPA. 1800 total hours, 850 direct. Strong previous work experience. I would commit to longer than 1 year if a site was interested. I appreciate your thoughts!

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[WisNeuro]

Given that you may need reduced hours, and depending on what that looks like, an internship that is longer than a year, sooner is probably better. Some sites may be able to accommodate fairly easily. But, some sites have pretty tight budgets that are approved yearly. Either way, it sounds like staff will need to shift how they normally do things, which is not something I would spring on them last minute, as it sometimes takes a long time to shift schedules around as they may be booked very far in advance.

 

[beantownpsych]

As soon as possible. While many sites can accommodate, not all can d/t funding structure, insurance/billing requirements etc. Providing accommodations also takes time to work out and depending on the accommodation can require several levels of institutional approval outside of the internship program.

 

[msc545]

As soon as possible after being accepted. If you do it before, there are many sites that will not accept you based on the hassle of accommodations.

 

[WisNeuro]

Some sites may not be able to accommodate a >1year timeline. Better to find this out up front than to have to pull out of that site after matching and have to enter the post match process.

 

[futureapppsy2]

This is hard because this particular type of accommodation may actually fall under “undue burden” or “alteration of essential function” and thus could be denied fully legally, so I would recommend disclosing upfront, because you don’t want to match to a site and then have to break the agreement if this isn’t a reasonable accommodation for that site.

 

[summerbabe]

Agreed with the undue burden/alteration of essential function piece, which can and will be used to deny employees certain accommodations, especially at more rigid sites (maybe due to things like budget/timelines that an internship program can't control or sometimes due to management philosophy).

Since it's still early in the game, could you ‘test the waters’ as you narrow down sites to apply to? Such as emailing training directors now about whether their sites anticipate providing telehealth care during your training year and if all interns might have partial telework capability?

You might get an informal sense of what care looks like at the site and flexibility versus rigidity of the program. And if you have a dream site that appears on the no telework ever/rigid side of things, then you can make a more informed decision about if/when to ask about specific accommodations, consider whether your accommodations might fall under undue burden/alteration of essential function, and perhaps not apply due to poor non-clinical fit.

If you're a strong candidate without geographic restriction or in need of a very niche internship, I imagine you'd still be able to put together a nice list of sites, even if you self select out of some otherwise appealing locations. Good luck!

 

[ccpsych16]

Recent intern here—I don’t have any directive advice on whether you should or shouldn’t disclose. Other posters gave you good things to think about.

I had/have a similar accommodation (full or partial telehealth, regardless of whether I was at home or on site). I didn’t say anything beforehand. I applied during a different time in the pandemic (vaccines had only just come out) so most sites were still virtual. I asked questions about virtual training as well as their beliefs about the future of virtual care during the interviews. That gave me insight and heavily factored into my rankings. The site I matched with was heavily virtual for all MH staff with a few exceptions, so it was extremely easy to go all virtual. It helped that I already had an approved accommodation that I informally transferred over (in other words, forwarded the old approval form to my new training director). At my current job, everyone is shocked when I tell them most MH staff were still virtual and working from home.

tldr, I agree with above advice to send out some feeler emails now if it’s not already clear from brochures/training manuals. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about telehealth for ALL interns during interviews. Disclosing vs not have their own risks, and there will always be that questioning in the back of your mind about whether disclosing had a negative impact on your prospects. I wish you the best and hope you land somewhere that’s accommodating.

 

[PsychPhDMama]

Thank you everyone for your helpful guidance!