Heck Of A Guy

Last week, the first letter in the Wall Street Journal’s “Work & Family Mailbox” column¹ was from a mother whose son has ADHD, asking if the son’s employer should be informed of the diagnosis so accommodations could be made under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

After a discussion of the qualifications for protection under the ADA, Michael Lotito, quoted in the column as “an ADA expert,” advises the mother,

… if your son knows his ADHD is in some way preventing him from performing on the job, “it makes all the sense in the world to engage in a dialogue ” with his employer to determine what, if anything, might be done to help, Mr. Lotito says. “Enlightened employers will welcome the opportunity” to help an employee be more productive.Your son should weigh this step, however, based on whether he trusts his bosses to handle the information in a fair and responsible way. [Bold emphasis mine]

Does anyone else see a teensy-tiny, profoundly subtle potential problem with Mr. Lotito’s plan?

In fact, isn’t this recommendation a particularly cruel Catch-22?

It seems all too likely that an employee’s capacity to “engage in a dialogue” and “weigh this step” after assessing the capacity of his employers to handle the situation “in a fair and responsible way” would be prima facie evidence that that employee could not be afflicted by a case of ADHD so severe that it prevents the performance of the job.

To paraphrase my favorite ADHD joke,

Q: How many kids with attention deficit disorder does it take to engage in a dialogue?
A: Let’s ride bikes!

Footnotes

1. Work & Family Mailbox, Sue Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2006↩

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