Hi all - finally received my diagnosis this week (BPD + Bipolar) and I’m now thinking about next steps and how treating and managing these will look for the foreseeable future, and I’d love some advice on this! 

So I am in the last stretch of a teaching program right now and will be applying for teaching jobs over the next month or two. Obviously I’m not planning to disclose my diagnoses on my applications, but what about after I get hired? I guess my big concern is that the hours I’ll be teaching are the exact hours most therapists, including my current therapist, have availability, and I want to make sure I’ll be supported when I have to miss a chunk of the day for therapy every week or two. 

I know there are legal protections so losing my job isn’t necessarily my concern, I’m more concerned about how I would be treated/how their perception of me would change if it comes down to it and I feel the need to disclose to protect my therapy schedule. Does anyone have experience with this and want to share either the benefits they got from disclosing or the consequences? 

I’m also curious to know if there’s more of a roundabout way of disclosing without actually saying what your diagnosis is, i.e. having your therapist or psych write a brief note confirming periodic therapy is medically necessary? Again, I’d love to hear what others experience has been with this.