Bipolar Disorder and career choice

Steven999

After self-educating myself for a military career since I was 10 a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder has seemingly shut that chosen calling down .

After a moderate search of the internet it seems no army(Western one at least ) is willing to take a bipolar dude on , treated or not. It's annoying coz i aint met a serving officer yet whom i couldn't outthink and wasn't mightily impressed with me .

There's no other career i want or would have .I've spend too long innuring myself to luxury and the decadence of the modern man to work alongside the average joe who thinks of nothing more than his 9-5 job , his weekend beer
and his once a year holiday , who cares only of satisfing his ever expanding set of needs and shelters beneath the shield which the military provides .mmmmmm.......this is turning into a rant :rolleyes:

I'm just plain lost as to what i should do . Maybe I should become a mercenary or something , lol .

Any ideas or whatever?

Falkorre

I have close personal experience with Bipolar every day.....
As far as career goes, well i guess it depends on how ur bipolar affects u on a day to day basis.
Some people, go manic at the drop of a hat and would happilly take a chainsaw to the nearest annoying person, wheras others just become plazaphobic and never leave the house if its at all avoidable.

or,

Some people, i assume, are down to earth enough to try treatment, and give it a real chance. And as a result, can live a relatively normal life and get any job they are qualified for (if u are refused a job you are qualified for, purely because u have bipolar, that is against the law and u shud contact the employment equality tribunal).

And to my knowledge, this applies to private buisnesses AND government bodies. The army cant refuse to employ u because you *have* bipolar, but they would have to give you a position that fits your abilities and *disabilities*. In other words, i doubt ud see anything more than a desk.

but there are other jobs, take some time out to explore ur options, and always remember u *have* options. Coz many people forget way too easilly, believe me.

B

(This might be more suited to the "Disability" forum maybe?)

Steven999

Falkorre wrote:

(if u are refused a job you are qualified for, purely because u have bipolar, that is against the law and u shud contact the employment equality tribunal).

And to my knowledge, this applies to private buisnesses AND government bodies. The army cant refuse to employ u because you *have* bipolar, but they would have to give you a position that fits your abilities and *disabilities*. In other words, i doubt ud see anything more than a desk.


B

(This might be more suited to the "Disability" forum maybe?)

thanks for answering , i had wondered about discrimination and such and I have sent an email to the Defence Forces for specifics(their being a bit laggardly in reply so i sent it again ) . a while ago i saw an article (have no idea where some British medical journal ) which talked about bipolar and the british army (it denies them entry ) .the article said that it was just plain illegal coz Britain had signed some European Human Rights Act or something ,along with everyone else . the said Act says something about that if a person can do the job stated you cant deny them it would be like denying it to them coz they were black or female , you know .

Anyway the article finished by saying that the contradiction between the law and in practice was obvious but that nobody seemed to give a damn . before my diagnosis I of hoped on this blaring contradiction in any society so fast
but now I just dont know ...

p.s. maybe i should move this thread ,i dont know my way around here normally i stick to the computer side of boards.ie

GuanYin

There may be some stipulations regarding conditions such as bi-polar disorder in the military, I'm not sure, but I'll ask a neurologist next time I see one.

There are some cases where certain medical conditions such as epilepsy, exclude the use of heavy machinery, vehicular based work and firearms in employment. This may apply to bi-polar disorder and the medical details should be on the web/application forms for the defence bosy you are applying for. In any case, there is usually a medical screening procedure.

If you still can't find the details, your best bet is to contact them directly for clarification. I'm going to move this to A/M/D forum as you may get a better response from people with experience in disability and employment there.

Falkorre

This may interest you -> http://www.comhairle.ie/publications/entitlements/publications_entitlements_for_people_with_disabilities22.html#Legislation

B

pork99

Steven999 wrote:

After self-educating myself for a military career since I was 10 a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder has seemingly shut that chosen calling down .

After a moderate search of the internet it seems no army(Western one at least ) is willing to take a bipolar dude on , treated or not. It's annoying coz i aint met a serving officer yet whom i couldn't outthink and wasn't mightily impressed with me .

Any ideas or whatever?

Can this be detected by a physical exam?

You've probably considered this before but what about la Legion Etrangere? I think they have a tradition of not asking too many questions about their recruits.

Victor

I don't think you will have much luck. Armies are loathe to accept people who suffer chronic conditions - epilepsy, diabetes, coliac disease. Deprivation (medical, threraputic, social, dietary), chronic conditions and firearms (pointing either direction) don't mix.

Try posting on www.irishmilitaryonline.ie (you need to register to see some forums).

You could of course try some other security related field which doesn't involve the deprevation end of things.

Steven999

Victor wrote:

Deprivation (medical, threraputic, social, dietary), chronic conditions and firearms (pointing either direction) don't mix.

Can't say I agree with that part . From what my experience is in the Reserve Defence Forces , it's why drill and dicipline were invented .

Victor

Steven999 wrote:

Can't say I agree with that part . From what my experience is in the Reserve Defence Forces , it's why drill and dicipline were invented .

Drill can't help you when you are hypoglycemic, you are losing your sight and you don't know where you are.

Steven999

well i ain't . and i assumed people would know i wasn't talking about disabilities like that .

Falkorre

Thing is,
In equality legislation, there is somthing called "Reasonable Accomodation"..... which means they are required to "reasonably accomodate" *ANY* disability of somone who passes the interview, and if they dont pass the interview purely because of a disability, *that* is discrimination and a case for the employment equality tribunal.

The army, like any other employer, has to be required to stick within this legislation.

b

pork99

Falkorre wrote:

Thing is,
In equality legislation, there is somthing called "Reasonable Accomodation"..... which means they are required to "reasonably accomodate" *ANY* disability of somone who passes the interview, and if they dont pass the interview purely because of a disability, *that* is discrimination and a case for the employment equality tribunal.

The army, like any other employer, has to be required to stick within this legislation.

b

Well the Defence Forces and the Gardai are exempt from some equality legislation for instance the Employment Equality Act of 1998 (I think).

Under this act it's illegal to use gender, marital status, nationality or age as criteria for selection for employment.

The Defence Forces and Gardai are certainly exempt from the age and nationality part of that legislation and I think possibly the Defence Forces from the gender part (no women in frontline combat units afaik)