UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Hi there,

I've got a quick question to ask whilst I fill in application forms for jobs. For my KC I can quite happily wear my contact lenses for most of the day at the moment, yet on the odd day I need to give my eyes a break I wear my glasses, which whilst I can see out of, activities such are reading take me a lot longer and my eyes are more prone to things such as the level of lighting etc.

Whilst I do not consider myself disabled (I'm not registed blind or in a wheel chair etc) if this something to mention on equal opporunities section of application forms under the disability field? I'm also a bit worried about how my lenses might affect interviews as well as I tend to blink an awful lot when looking someone I don't know in the face and talking, and I don't want to wear my glasses to them as I won't really be able to make out their faces!

Cheers

Andrew

When you go for interview tell them clearly that I wear CL for vision and due to that I blink a lot..so, ask them to bear with this and ignore.

Hopefully, that should not be a problem.

Andrew,

Just be honest, I have always decalred my KC althrough the years post graft when all I needed was glasses. for the role I have now at work I was light sensitive at the time and had tow ear very dark glasses. All I did when I was introduced to everyone doing the interview was remove my glasses so they could see my eyes and before we started I just said I have a sight problem which is simply resolved using dark glasses and I am quite happy for you to ask any questions.

What we have is nothing to be ashamed of and if you get the job (which we hope you will) should you be in the unfortunate position of having a bad eye day, I have found my employers to be very understanding because we had a contingency plan in place.

Good luck with the interview.

Thanks for the replies, I'll tick yes and provide extra details if they want any.

I've no interviews just yet, I just thought I'd tag that part onto the same thread! Hopefully I might get somewhere, there seems to be an unending supply of graduate schemes to apply for - someone must want me!

When applying for teaching posts I had to complete a separate medical questionaire which I took in a sealed envelope to the interview. I declared that I had keratoconus in the questionaire. When appointed I contacted the medical person at work and explained the effect that KC might have at work, before they contacted me. I also got help through Access to work. I have dust extracters/ionisers which helped increase my lens wearing time. Some people get computer software or IT equipment. It depends on your needs. It is best to let them know from the beginning that you have KC, so that if issues come up at least you have already declared it. Remember there is also the Employers KC leaflet that you can give to new employers - it can be downloaded from the website if you dont have it.
Good luck with the job hunting.