Internships are crucial for gaining the necessary skills and experience to embark on your professional journey. Not only are internships a key milestone during college, but they also represent a unique opportunity to gain experience when changing careers or reentering the workforce.

We spoke with Lucia Romano, a supervising attorney of the Employment Voting and Access Team (EVA), Client Assistance Program, and a team focused on employment at Disability Rights Texas. Lucia outlined helpful strategies for both chronically ill and disabled professionals as well as employers to make the workplace inviting and accessible.

Do I have to disclose my disability to my employer? What accommodations am I entitled to request? Can I be paid less because of my reasonable accommodation? So many questions might arise as you go through the employment process.

There are simply no excuses for not hiring chronically ill workers. Doing so would detrimentally reduce your available talent pool.

Let’s start by getting this straight: you do not have to disclose anything about your health to an employer. If you wish to disclose, you’re allowed to disclose at any point in time, whether that be during the interview, during the negotiation process, once you’ve started, or even three years into your job.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the monumental passage of the ADA and the 75th annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in buildings, transit, schools, planes, and work enviornments, the ADA finally recognized people with disabilities as the valuable members of society that they are, following years of discrimination and opression prior.

Living with a chronic condition is incredibly time- consuming. Whether it’s frequent doctor appointments, blood draws, treatment schedules, or taking the time to rest, our days are jam-packed to the brim. I know this first hand as I’ve struggled with Lyme disease since 2015.

One of society’s biggest misconceptions is that people living with chronic illness are not able to work. We can — we just have to reimagine what that looks like.

At Chronically Capable, we’re building a platform that does not discriminate - based on race, gender, disability, or even health conditions. Having been in constant contact with employers and job seekers during this time, we recognize how much work there is to be done.