Interview questions as reasonable adjustment

disjobsearcher

Hi
I haven't interviewed for a while as I've been in my job 25 years but due to various reasons am hoping to get an interview for a new job 
I am hard of hearing and also an illness that causes memory loss. I can't remember anything over 6 months without reviewing it ( I have a book where I write everything I've achieved down)
Would I be able to request the interview questions in advance on the basis that I don't want to keep asking them to repeat and need to try and recall relevant examples which I can't do on spur of moment?
I have reasonable adjustments at work place currently 

Comms69

That would not be a reasonable adjustment. And whilst your memory problems may constitute a disability, it does not mean it must be excluded in terms of criteria. 

The process is designed to in effect level the playing field, and this would tip it too far the other way

AskAsk

it won't happen as you would get an unfair advantage.  if you do have memory issues, this may work against you at the interview anyway as the employer may not want to employ someone who can not remember!

i have a problem with memory myself, which i have always had as a child, but i have found ways to cope with it and it hasn't really had a serious negative effect on me as my brain has learnt of ways to deal with it.

you could ask them permission to write down your experience on paper and bring this with you.  this is probably where they will be asking you questions about what you have done in the past and how you had coped with certain scenarios, so you could guess what they would be asking and write down the experience that you had at work or outside of work, where this has been dealt with.

for me, this would be a reminder rather than the whole story, as i can recall once i have had a reminder of the event, most of the time anyway.

TBagpuss

You don't need their permission to take your book or other notes with you. What I would suggest that you do is at the interview, when they first ask you a question of that kind, s to briefly explain the situation and then check your notes. 
You may also want to prepare for the interview by making notes for yourself (i.e. rather than take your normal ongoing book, prepare notes and sort them, perhaps using colour coding or marked tags so you have (say) "Achievements" "examples of problem solving" etc - consider what the job description / ad suggest may be key areas that you might be asked about. 
Also, reviewing your notes and your book in preparation for the interview should help you to remember, as you will then be remembering the notes you have re-read / made in the days leading up to the interview, rather than trying to remember specific events.

It would be reasonable to let them know ahead of time that you have hearing difficulties and to set out suggestions as to what might help -  particularly now, when they may well be wearing, and expecting you to wear, a mask in the meeting, having prior warning may enable them to arrange to wear clear clear visors instead, or to move the interview to a bigger room to allow them to remove their masks and stay 2m + away, or even suggest that the interview takes place via video rather than in person  if you rely at all on lip reading (think about whether you do - I believe a lot of people with hearing loss do use some level of lipreading subconsciously)

spectrum21

Comms69 said:

That would not be a reasonable adjustment. And whilst your memory problems may constitute AskAsk said:

it won't happen as you would get an unfair advantage.  if you do have memory issues, this may work against you at the interview anyway as the employer may not want to employ someone who can not remember!

i have a problem with memory myself, which i have always had as a child, but i have found ways to cope with it and it hasn't really had a serious negative effect on me as my brain has learnt of ways to deal with it.

you could ask them permission to write down your experience on paper and bring this with you.  this is probably where they will be asking you questions about what you have done in the past and how you had coped with certain scenarios, so you could guess what they would be asking and write down the experience that you had at work or outside of work, where this has been dealt with.

for me, this would be a reminder rather than the whole story, as i can recall once i have had a reminder of the event, most of the time anyway.

a disability, it does not mean it must be excluded in terms of criteria. 

The process is designed to in effect level the playing field, and this would tip it too far the other way

Interesting, is the an unfair advantage for someone with memory loss or all disabilities? I was diagnosed as Autistic last year and one of the recommendations of the Psychologist was that I could ask for  interview questions before hand as a reasonable adjustment. I’m sure I also have read on at least one Autism charity’s website that it is a reasonable adjustment. Perhaps that would only apply to Autistic people but I’m not sure why it would not apply to someone with memory issues?

AskAsk

spectrum21 said:

Comms69 said:

That would not be a reasonable adjustment. And whilst your memory problems may constitute AskAsk said:

it won't happen as you would get an unfair advantage.  if you do have memory issues, this may work against you at the interview anyway as the employer may not want to employ someone who can not remember!

i have a problem with memory myself, which i have always had as a child, but i have found ways to cope with it and it hasn't really had a serious negative effect on me as my brain has learnt of ways to deal with it.

you could ask them permission to write down your experience on paper and bring this with you.  this is probably where they will be asking you questions about what you have done in the past and how you had coped with certain scenarios, so you could guess what they would be asking and write down the experience that you had at work or outside of work, where this has been dealt with.

for me, this would be a reminder rather than the whole story, as i can recall once i have had a reminder of the event, most of the time anyway.

a disability, it does not mean it must be excluded in terms of criteria. 

The process is designed to in effect level the playing field, and this would tip it too far the other way

Interesting, is the an unfair advantage for someone with memory loss or all disabilities? I was diagnosed as Autistic last year and one of the recommendations of the Psychologist was that I could ask for  interview questions before hand as a reasonable adjustment. I’m sure I also have read on at least one Autism charity’s website that it is a reasonable adjustment. Perhaps that would only apply to Autistic people but I’m not sure why it would not apply to someone with memory issues?

i don't know much about autism, but i am guessing that it stops you being able to answer interview questions?
from my point of view, having a memory problem doesn't stop me answering questions at interview.  it may take me longer to answer if i have to recall something, and i would just say, let me think and take my time.  they tend to be fine to allow me time to do this.  i never mention my memory problem to anyone at interview as i don't want to be disadvantaged and i don't tend to mention it at work either, unless it was to colleagues.

i have found ways to deal with it, so it is not always apparent to other people that i have an issue unless i tell them.  the OP could just bring his book with him if he has problem recalling events, so this would not justify him having the questions in advance.  memory problem is not a recognised disability like autism as far as i am aware, but i may be mistaken.

Savvy_Sue

TBagpuss said:

It would be reasonable to let them know ahead of time that you have hearing difficulties and to set out suggestions as to what might help -  particularly now, when they may well be wearing, and expecting you to wear, a mask in the meeting, having prior warning may enable them to arrange to wear clear clear visors instead, or to move the interview to a bigger room to allow them to remove their masks and stay 2m + away, or even suggest that the interview takes place via video rather than in person  if you rely at all on lip reading (think about whether you do - I believe a lot of people with hearing loss do use some level of lipreading subconsciously)

Actually most people do a certain amount of lipreading, even without a hearing loss. 

I'd say essential to let them know what would help: the masks would be pretty much a killer for me in talking to people I don't know. I only have a mild loss but feel very deaf indeed in shops: partly because the mask muffles people's voices, but mostly because I can't see their lips. 

Also when asking for adjustments, make it clear how you get round any difficulties with this, eg if there's any element of phone use in the job, how you handle calls. And how with your memory you make sure you always have pen and paper handy to record things you need to remember. 

spectrum21

AskAsk said:

spectrum21 said:

Comms69 said:

That would not be a reasonable adjustment. And whilst your memory problems may constitute AskAsk said:

it won't happen as you would get an unfair advantage.  if you do have memory issues, this may work against you at the interview anyway as the employer may not want to employ someone who can not remember!

i have a problem with memory myself, which i have always had as a child, but i have found ways to cope with it and it hasn't really had a serious negative effect on me as my brain has learnt of ways to deal with it.

you could ask them permission to write down your experience on paper and bring this with you.  this is probably where they will be asking you questions about what you have done in the past and how you had coped with certain scenarios, so you could guess what they would be asking and write down the experience that you had at work or outside of work, where this has been dealt with.

for me, this would be a reminder rather than the whole story, as i can recall once i have had a reminder of the event, most of the time anyway.

a disability, it does not mean it must be excluded in terms of criteria. 

The process is designed to in effect level the playing field, and this would tip it too far the other way

Interesting, is the an unfair advantage for someone with memory loss or all disabilities? I was diagnosed as Autistic last year and one of the recommendations of the Psychologist was that I could ask for  interview questions before hand as a reasonable adjustment. I’m sure I also have read on at least one Autism charity’s website that it is a reasonable adjustment. Perhaps that would only apply to Autistic people but I’m not sure why it would not apply to someone with memory issues?

i don't know much about autism, but i am guessing that it stops you being able to answer interview questions?
from my point of view, having a memory problem doesn't stop me answering questions at interview.  it may take me longer to answer if i have to recall something, and i would just say, let me think and take my time.  they tend to be fine to allow me time to do this.  i never mention my memory problem to anyone at interview as i don't want to be disadvantaged and i don't tend to mention it at work either, unless it was to colleagues.

i have found ways to deal with it, so it is not always apparent to other people that i have an issue unless i tell them.  the OP could just bring his book with him if he has problem recalling events, so this would not justify him having the questions in advance.  memory problem is not a recognised disability like autism as far as i am aware, but i may be mistaken.

I’ll not derail the thread and start going into all the details of Autism. It is a spectrum and no two people are the same. However, interviews contain all the things Autistics have difficulties with which probably goes a long way to explain the 80% unemployment rate for people with ASD. One of the issues that Autistics have is their memory, so in regards to the OP it may depend on what causes his memory loss as to whether it qualifies as a disability. I certainly would rule out completely asking for questions beforehand, they could ask anyway and see what the interviewers response is. The downside is that they’re revealing their disability/condition and of course some employers will be put off straight away by this, disjobsearcher has to think carefully about whether they want to reveal anything.

[Deleted User]

 I have epilepsy and associated cognitive problems. I always get interview questions in advance, usually local authority jobs. Never been questioned or denied as unfair advantage. 
 How is it unfair when I am at a disadvantage without it. 

unforeseen

_shel said:

 I have epilepsy and associated cognitive problems. I always get interview questions in advance, usually local authority jobs. Never been questioned or denied as unfair advantage. 
 How is it unfair when I am at a disadvantage without it. 

Because with it you have an unfair advantage, not a level playing field. 
My experience of LA and public body interviews is that they err heavily on the side of tailoring for disabilities to prevent them being accused of discriminating. This does put those who do not identify as disabled at a disadvantage

The obvious way to get a proper level playing field would be for all candidates to receive the questions prior to interview. 

Undervalued

spectrum21 said:

Comms69 said:

That would not be a reasonable adjustment. And whilst your memory problems may constitute AskAsk said:

it won't happen as you would get an unfair advantage.  if you do have memory issues, this may work against you at the interview anyway as the employer may not want to employ someone who can not remember!

i have a problem with memory myself, which i have always had as a child, but i have found ways to cope with it and it hasn't really had a serious negative effect on me as my brain has learnt of ways to deal with it.

you could ask them permission to write down your experience on paper and bring this with you.  this is probably where they will be asking you questions about what you have done in the past and how you had coped with certain scenarios, so you could guess what they would be asking and write down the experience that you had at work or outside of work, where this has been dealt with.

for me, this would be a reminder rather than the whole story, as i can recall once i have had a reminder of the event, most of the time anyway.

a disability, it does not mean it must be excluded in terms of criteria. 

The process is designed to in effect level the playing field, and this would tip it too far the other way

Interesting, is the an unfair advantage for someone with memory loss or all disabilities? I was diagnosed as Autistic last year and one of the recommendations of the Psychologist was that I could ask for  interview questions before hand as a reasonable adjustment. I’m sure I also have read on at least one Autism charity’s website that it is a reasonable adjustment. Perhaps that would only apply to Autistic people but I’m not sure why it would not apply to someone with memory issues?

Nobody can tell you for certain what would or would not be a "reasonable adjustment" in a particular case. The best they can do is offer some guidance as to what they think a court would find reasonable. There are so many factors and no two situations are exactly the same. Generally more is expected of a large employer than if you were hoping to to be the only employee of a "one man band" or small partnership.