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Discrimination Against Bipolar Disorder - A Safety Measure?



I can't believe that I never thought of this before, but I probably wouldn't be hired as a flight attendant because I'm bipolar. How would they find out? I am almost certain that they'd need to know what medications you take, would ask something like that along with emergency contacts information, etc. My mother told me that she read in an article about becoming a flight attendant that they do an extensive background check (which might include medical stuff?) If they were somehow able to find out that the reason I was in the hospital last summer is because I was suicidal, I would never be hired. I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell ...

It simply comes down to safety and liability issues, probably. Only the calmest, steadiest people can work in such an environment. Even if that didn't keep me from getting hired, my credit probably would - all the student loan payments I've not been able to make since I was laid off ... and I had used up my deferment/deferral time on my loans at the end of ... was it September? Anyway ... and even before that, there were bills I couldn't pay while I was working - hospital bills from last summer, etc. They wouldn't take less than a certain amount per month and I couldn't afford to pay them that amount ...

In regards to bipolar disorder and it preventing me from getting hired: even if I was able to get a letter from my psyciatrist stating that I am completely stable (not depressed) now, it would probably not be enough ... I would never reveal that I'm bipolar to a potential employer unless I would otherwise have to lie, but I wouldn't voluntarily reveal it for sure. Most likely, any job involving public safety and in which the lives of other people could be in my hands, I would never be hired for ... EMT, firefighter, nurse, doctor, police, pilot, working anywhere inside an airport or any other transportation or travel facility, driving a bus or some other vehicle with passengers aboard, possibly even being a teacher or something like that ...

On some level, I can understand. An airline could be sued if they knowingly hired a "mentally ill" (how I detest and decry such a label for people who are actually perfectly sane ...) personnel and if that person flipped out and did something like opening the emergency exit doors in midair or something ... eek It's simply a matter of safety, probably ... Whereas I know that I am completely sane and okay and that I would never, ever do anything to harm or endanger anyone else, how could I ever prove that to them? emo Could I hide the fact that I am bipolar from them? Would that be ethical? Would they be allowed to ask what medications I take on an application or some other form? Would they be allowed to dig up information about my medical past that they hadn't specifically asked for directly from me? If they don't ask in such a way that I would be absolutely required to state it, there's no way I'd ever say it, that I'd ever give up such a dream ... I have confidence in my ability to do something like being a flight attendant. I know without the shadow of a doubt that I could do it, except ... the luggage thing and my back injury earlier this year, but I am completely fine now, and as long as I'm careful, I should be able to lift carryon luggage up and put it in overhead bins ... that is really the only thing that I'm in doubt about.

It really doesn't seem quite ethical to discriminate against people who are bipolar. There are many bipolars who are high-functioning and are basically completely normal as long as they take their medication. *sighs* And just how far down the scale of mood/mental disorders would they discriminate or refuse to hire? What if someone was only mildly clinically depressed and had to reveal that they take an antidepressant? That would really tick me off, personally *growls* because though I can understand that the word "bipolar" has a lot of stigma attached to it, something like mere mild clinical depression should never be enough to keep someone from doing something like that. I can see why they might think a bipolar would be a liability, but someone who is merely lightly clinically depressed (unlike me) should be safe enough. I wonder, would someone like that be barred from getting such a job too?

I'm just not sure if it's right or wrong to keep bipolars from getting jobs as flight attendants, because some bipolars are completely out of control, and have scary highs and lows in which (maybe?) they might?do things which could potentially endanger other people. I am not that kind of bipolar, I have never had an extended period of mania (just the short "up" moods that do no harm), though I have had extended periods of depression ...

I should probably still go to that interview anyway, even though it may be impossible. I doubt that my unemployment check will come in time for me to buy the plane ticket to get to the interview, though ...

Even if I can't be in the sky, I think that for a long time, I might still be looking up and wishing I was ...

It's like the scene in Gattaca in which Vincent is watching the rockets take off but he could never be on one because of his "inferior" genes ... I understand the longing that he was feeling as he was watching the rockets take off ...

Or the scene in October Sky in which Homer is forced to give up his dream of working with rockets (for awhile) and he is staring up at the starry sky as the elevator takes him down into the tomb that is a coal mine. Every time I see that, I almost cry ...

The scene in Gattaca is most relevant to my situation, of course - my genetically inherited condition, bipolar disorder, would most likely keep me from being able to be a flight attendant ... and maybe all I'll ever be able to do is to stare up at the sky with longing too ...