• PorkSoda@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    11 months ago

    Genuinely serious where you draw the line when it comes to the health of a candidate.

    Someone with three previous heart attacks? Someone with anxiety?

    I ask that last one as someone with anxiety and a trigger being stress. To me those are not ableist concerns. Though the previous commenter could have used a better phrase than “presidential material.”

    • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      I’m responding as a hiring manager for a big tech company.

      I am not allowed, by law as well as very strict company policy, to ask any questions relating to the candidate’s health. I can’t know whether they’ve had four heart attacks, plan to get pregnant in the next six months, had a history of psychological issues, or anything like that. I think that most people would generally agree that’s a very good thing.

      There are certainly roles where physical performance is key to the job, and so they’re able to take that kind of thing into account.

      I guess what I’m saying is that, while your concern is of course valid, it feels different because we tend to see the president as someone with more of a job than, say, a senior software engineer. Okay, that’s fair in a very real sense. But I think that it’s different between the president and a prime minister, and that’s where it gets interesting. I think there’s an idealization of the role of president. And, bizarrely, that’s one reason Trump was so wrong but so beloved by so many.