I just happened upon this forum by accident, and was wondering if anybody out there with the condition, had hit problems finding work?

Tha'ts a good question. I would think it is illegal to ask about your health during and interview, just as it is illegal to ask your marital status. I do know that we had a person in our office that had alot of health problems and we were told because of her everyone else had to pay hire premiums.

Ah ha!

Just realised that this site is US based.

In the UK there is a lot of legislation around having to declare stuff, so that minority groups, people with disabilities etc are given a fair shot at getting work.
This is sold to us as equality.

I only discovered the other week that in the US the opposite applies - it can be seen as discriminatory to ask.

Now I'm not sure if here you are obligated to mention diabetes, but I used to find work for people with problems. Quite a few people with a severe form of diabetes, used to find it difficult either to find work or to hold onto it when they got it, because of hypo attacks etc.

Jobs can ask if diabetes interferes with physical or mental ability to do work. If you need to take insulin on the job or have times when you must rest or test, they have a right to know as you will be doing it on their premises.

If you get a health plan and have to manifest current diagnoses, they will notify employer anyway. Drug screens will pick up meds. That's when it will look really weird you didn't tell them. They might be able to fire you for not telling them.

For labor it is a fair question to ask. For a 9 to 5 desk job should not affect.

I was going to ask if it was standard to ask if your application forms had a medical history on them.

The women that I knew had 9-5 jobs desk jobs, but still had problems. Possibly due to the fact that their levels were unstable and they had quite a few hypos whilst at work.

But, as I say, these cases were severe.

I think it would depend how you presented during the interview. if you looked like you had your act together, it's just a minor thing. Halle Berry has diabetes. But if you start moaning that everything has to be a special case for you, they might think twice before hiring.

Yes it is part of a standard application to ask if you have any medical condition that interferes with your ability to do your job.

I suppose the people I knew were exactly the opposite.

They actually used to play the severity of their diabetes down, then when they had a hypo at work all hell used to break loose, because in a lot of cases the employer really didn't know what was going on.

For some people, the problems it causes and the subsequent stigma that is attached to it, makes them hide it. A catch22 really, because eventually it did come out and a lot of them used to lose their jobs because they didn't declare it in the first place.

I would include it in a discussion with my employer as a medical fact if I had to inject myself during the day - if only for their knowledge if I fell ill, for example, or if someone saw me injecting myself.

general knowledge is pretty good these days out there informing people.

I think that makes sense, Thumper, but the people that I am thinking of didn't do this.

I used to set up work placements for people returning to work. People with severe diabetes tended to do this opposite of what you are suggesting and with held the information. First I knew of it was when I got an employer phoning me to say they had collapsed.

It obviously caused some problems, but on the personal side, it just goes to show that there must be some kind of stigma attached or people wouldn't risk their health.

My suggestion (which is what my friend in US did and totally legal) is to wait until after you're hired to give your HR dept a letter from you and from your doctor stating you're a diabetic and you need "reasonable accommodations" for certain lunch times, testing times, snack/break times. Diabetics shouldn't sit for periods over 30mins at a time and need to get up and move around. If you don't have a job that allows that, then you would need a letter for "reasonable accommodations". You cannot be fired for asking for certain things being a diabetic. But if you are and can prove it then the employer would be in violation of the ADA law.