Mild cognitive impairment and working

April 20, 2020 (Chapter 17 Working while Living with a Memory Impairment in my book)

When I was working two jobs, I would tell staff about my diagnosis on a “need to know” basis. At my first job, I worked at an elementary school as a para educator. I only told a teacher who I was working with if I knew that it was going to help me be more successful in their classroom. If I didn’t see any problems, then I felt that they didn’t need to know. My second job was working as a cashier at a retail store. Overall, I think that most people at my jobs didn’t know about my diagnosis.

If you live with a memory impairment and you are working and the job becomes too challenging for you, you should talk to your supervisor. Perhaps there are accommodations that they could make that would help you.