Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.
Last night I applied in the employ of the state government, which meant the application process included a page of optional diversity information to submit (gender, race, language and disability).
I felt very conflicted about that. On the one hand, I believe accurate information is important for providing support and shaping policy. On the other, despite those questions being marked as optional and not taken into consideration for assessing my application, so far as I could see answering honestly would only either hurt or not help my chances.
After hesitation I left the disability and gender questions unanswered. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to establish myself as a competent candidate before anything comes up, altthough I doubt it.