This page provides examples of the templates I use to communicate my disability needs and cope with the trauma of my advocacy work.
I am making these publicly available to help others with disabilities see examples of tools to communicate about their needs for accommodations, navigate trauma, and raise awareness of inadvertent stigma and discrimination.
General Disability Communication Notice
The message below can be included as an e-mail footer or a file attachment showing my general communication needs, or I can link to www.danberstein.com/disability for people to read it:
My Disability Needs
I have been working with my therapist and support system to become more transparent about my disability needs in light of my mental illness and neurodivergence. We’ve identified three things that can be very helpful for me:
- Clear structure to know if/when people receive messages, are able to answer questions, and plan to reply. This prevents me from obsessing and worrying about whether to follow-up.
- Clear notice of any word limits, minimum time you need between messages from me, or off-limit topics so I can follow those constraints and avoid overwhelming you.
- Clear references to any external people or sources of policy guidance or other reference material so I can learn more about the norms, rules, and policies of your organization. This helps me follow those policies and also resolve anxieties I feel about possible disparities
Thank you for any help with these items, I appreciate that this is not typical.
Delayed E-mail Notice for Stressful Communications
The message below can be sent in response to any difficult communications so I can have structure to not rush and respond. I created this with the help of my therapist in managing these challenging situations:
NOTICE OF DELAYED RESPONSE
I live with a disability of bipolar disorder which can cause me problems with my emotional regulation, including sometimes getting thrown off of my self-care routine by surprising, stimulating, or stressful communications. I have worked with my therapist to flag Friday evenings as the time I try to revisit any messages that cause me distress, so it does not disrupt my work week. I have marked this message as one I will revisit starting on Friday DATE at 5PM ET.
In the meantime, please feel free to visit www.danberstein.com/disability to view some more about the communication strategies I use to manage my psychosocial disability needs,.
Requests for Reasonable Accommodations
Request: Please Acknowledge My E-mails
Click here to see the Reasonable Accommodation Request Template for E-mail Acknowledgments, which stop me from worrying about whether you are planning to answer me and whether I should follow-up, which can become extreme due to my mental health problems.
Request: Please Work With My Trauma Delays
Click here to see the Reasonable Accommodation Request Template for Patience During Trauma Delays, which happen because the trauma of my mental health advocacy work can trigger mental health symptoms
Other Requests I Have Made (Templates Not Yet Created)
-Requesting a low noise room at hotels or academic housing due to the sleep challenges from my mental illness
-Requesting to participate in all-in-person conferences by remote or pre-recorded video due to psychosocial disabilities
-Requesting to communicate over chat or e-mail instead of video or audio due to emotional dysregulation in times of stress
-Requesting the use of a support person to assist with emotional difficulties
-Request to explanation of policies and structures to help me have my bearings
More Resources
This website is part of a project to make it easier for people to ask for reasonable accommodations related to their disabilities. One goal is to post more resources here to help people have tools for deciding whether to ask for something and how much to disclose, as well as resources for navigating obstacles and backlash.
Personal Accounts
Here are some stories of challenges accessing accommodations as part of efforts to raise awareness:
- Learn more about the challenges I experienced before I learned to ask for help, in my Mediate.com piece Suffering with Bipolar Disorder While Striving for Peace (2021)
- Learn more about the challenges of deciding to speak up in The Advocacy, Avoidance & Collaboration Parts in Conflict: Applying Riskin’s Mindfulness Tactics to Mental Health Advocacy Conflicts (2023).
- View a one-hour ABA presentation where I share about challenges being labeled, along with resources to respond to challenging behaviors without labeling people, at Avoiding Labels and Enhancing Access to Justice: Rethinking Approaches to Trauma and Mental Health
Conflict Resolution Skills for Addressing Stigma
Through the Mental Health Safe Project, and via programs funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health Statewide Stigma Reduction Efforts and from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, I launched a Stigma Resolver training program helping people learn conflict resolution skills to work through the 5C’s of responding to possible mental illness stigma and discrimination. Click here to access the replays and resources.
Dispute Resolution in Mental Health Initiative Resources
My company, MH Mediate, collaborated with the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center via funding from the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) Foundation, to develop a variety of free online resources to help mental health stakeholders learn conflict resolution and mental health communication skills. Click here to access them.