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§ Discrimination in terms of a person’s disability (dyslexia and alcoholism) - the interviewer discriminated by assuming that dyslexia (or alcoholism) would be an issue (or a “very high risk”) rather than asking the candidate if they themselves believe it would impact on their job.
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Dyslexia is a disability - oddly enough it can also be a sign of high I.Q.
I understand alcoholism to be a form of addiction, one that leads to substance abuse, the substance being alcohol.
Some people prefer to define it as a disease, which I'm sure is a better way of dealing with it long term for family and friends.
As far as dealing with it in the workplace I offer this: [broken link removed] but them calling it a disability is not correct IMO
Chronic alcoholics are a risk to life, limb, reputation and profitability of any company they are employed by - especially on building sites or if they drive.
I've seen two people die from alcoholism - they had all the warnings from doctors and family support they could wish for, everything that was humanly possible.
An addictive personality will go to any lengths to feed their habit, involve others in it and protect themselves from scrutiny if its causing problems in their employment.
Chronic alcoholics are potentially unemployable for anything except a well supervised desk job that doesn't involve driving, distractions, social events, or high-risk environments.
Additive disorders tend to get worse over time, unless the addict chooses to face their addiciton and decide to do something about it - this is a matter for them - no one can do it for them.
I've met and worked with enough people who suffer from addiction to drink or are married to people who are addicted to know addiction wrecks marriages and careers.
I didn't see the episode in question [Bill is too much], but if alcoholism was involved, the employer has every right to grill the potential employee in my book.
Because the first step on the road to dealing with alcoholism is to admit you have a problem - any fluffing or denial will come out in the questioning.
If the addict is still in denial about the disease, then they are potentially an unreliable, unaccountable, untrustworthy, unsafe employee.
The pity is that addiction often strikes down the best of us, the intelligent ones with strong personalities and bright futures.
BTW, addiction is closely related to compulsion and both these afflications need to be identified at the interview stage.
I once knew a guy who was a compulsive gambler and another who was a compulsive consumer of goods.
Both ended up in debt for tens of thousands of Euro and had to enter into recovery programmes too.
Dealing with addiction/compulsion is time-consuming and an employers first duty is to his company.
I see nothing wrong in "outing" an alcoholic who is in denial and/or covering up their addiciton.
For the record, I'm not an alcoholic or recovering alcoholic, thank God.
FWIW
ONQ.