The Table: interview coaching
For the conversation you are actually dreading: the record, the gap, the accommodation you need, the first job with no history. Build your answer in your own words, then practice it from your chair and from theirs, because fear sits on both sides of the table.
Built from 21 branching scenarios across five situations, each choice graded against the disclosure and desistance research (Maruna 2001; Pager 2003; Ali, Lyons & Ryan 2017; SHRM 2021; EEOC 2012), and a story builder built on the three-part answer from Invest Hamilton County's re-entry research
Deterministic and device-only: nothing writes your answer for you and nothing you type is sent anywhere. Alex Plus members can choose to send a draft to the coach for one reply, which is not stored. Written at a sixth-grade reading level on purpose.
Hiring fair prep: start with ninety seconds at the table.
I have a disability
Ability first. That is not a slogan, it is the law's own frame.
Name the fear Steady
The fear is being reduced: to a diagnosis, to a cost, to the complicated candidate. The frame the law actually uses is the one that serves you: can you perform the essential functions of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. Your answer is yes, or you would not be applying. Everything else, the diagnosis, the history, the chart, is medical information the interview is not entitled to and does not need.
- Function, never diagnosis. The need, never the chart.
- An accommodation is a work tool, the same category as a chair that fits.
- How they handle your ask is data about them. You are also interviewing.
Build your answer Your ask, in your control
- Whether, when, and how to disclose: a decision tree you control at every branch
- The logistics frame for interview accommodations: telling organizers what the meeting needs
- The one-sentence accommodation ask: the tool, what it does for your work, no diagnosis in it
- After the offer is your strongest moment: the written request that starts the interactive process
Build your ask, in your control
The law asks one question: can you do the essential parts of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. This builds an answer that starts there, and an accommodation ask if you want one.
Before you start
- Everything you write stays in this browser. Nobody at Invest Hamilton County can see it.
- Every question is optional. Skip anything. Short answers work best.
- Do not write details about an open court case. A lawyer should hear those first.
- On a shared or library computer, use the shared-computer setting just below, and delete your drafts before you leave.
If you, a child or a vulnerable adult is in danger right now, stop here and get help: call or text 988, call 911, or call the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-800-5556.
Your drafts on this device
The Table's story builder runs in your browser. What you type here is not sent to Alex's servers. Your work is saved in this browser so you can come back to it.
Your drafts are saved in this browser on this device. They stay here after you close the tab or the browser, until you delete them.
On a shared or library computer: turn on shared-computer mode before you start, and delete your drafts before you leave. Download or print anything you want to keep first.
Start with what you can do
Why we askLeading with ability matches how the law frames the question, and it puts the conversation on the work.
See an example
“I can handle the customer calls, the order entry and the daily reports this job lists.”
Name what helps, if you choose
Why we askA short ask names the tool and what it does for your work. It does not need a diagnosis in it. Leave this blank if you do not need anything, or want to wait.
See an example
“I use screen-reading software, which lets me work through email and reports at full speed.”
Turn to the work
Why we askA number makes a strength easy to remember and hard to doubt.
See an example
“I answered about sixty customer calls a day with high ratings.”
Why we askEnd on the work, where you want the conversation to stay.
See an example
“This job fits what I do best, and I would like to grow with your team.”
Your two-sentence version
These are your words in the order that usually works. Edit it until it sounds like you, then say it out loud.
When to use which part
- Before the interview. If the interview itself needs something, like a ground-floor room or extra time, tell the organizer as logistics. You do not need to explain why.
- In the interview. Talk about the work. Disclosure is your choice, and many people wait.
- After the offer. This is often your strongest moment to ask. A short written request starts the employer's interactive process.
Timing and your rights, as of October 2026
- Before an offer, an employer generally may not ask whether you have a disability or about its nature. They may ask whether you can do the job's duties.
- The Job Accommodation Network gives free, confidential advice on what to ask for and how.
Ways to turn the conversation forward
- “What I can tell you is how I get this kind of work done...”
- “The tool I use lets me...”
- “I would rather show you with an example of my work...”
- “The short answer is yes, I can do that part of the job.”
People who can help, free
- Job Accommodation Network: free, confidential advice
- Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation
- WorkOne disability services
Want help shaping it?
Members of Alex Plus ($15 a month) can ask a private AI coach to help smooth this draft, using only what they wrote. Everything above is free and works without it. Sign in or see what Alex Plus includes.
Run the room Practice
Each one is a real moment from the interview. Pick a choice and see how it usually lands, and why. The other person's fear is on every card too, because fear sits on both sides of the table.
Handle the day The room
- Confirm accessibility logistics when you confirm the time, in the same breath, as logistics.
- If the interview format itself blocks your best performance, ask for the adjusted format. That request is protected.
- Scripts survive nerves. Your disclosure sentence and your ask sentence, written and practiced, travel with you.
- Disability employment services can coach, place, and sometimes fund accommodations. They work for you, use them.
Land it well The offer, and after
- Offer in hand, request in writing, specific and practical. Withdrawing an offer over an accommodation request is unlawful.
- Most accommodations cost employers little or nothing, and knowing that number steadies your ask.
- The interactive process has a name so that it happens. You start it by asking, in writing, without apology.
- Know your number. Your work is worth market rate, full stop.
Find the humans Your people
This tool points to people. It never replaces them. These are yours, free:
Practicing for a particular job rather than a particular conversation? Get interview-ready drills the questions that role actually gets.
The Table gives general information and coaching support. It is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. It never screens, assesses or treats anything. For your own situation, including expungement, licensing or what you must disclose in a regulated field, talk to a licensed attorney. Free and low-cost help: Indiana Legal Services, the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, and your local public defender's reentry program. In danger now: 988, 911, or the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. Facts current as of October 2026.
Talk it through with your Alex coach
A conversation, not a form. Your coach knows Hamilton County's numbers and programs, and it will point you to the right tool for anything it can't answer. It's an AI coach, your chats are private, and they are never used to train anything.
In crisis? Call or text 988, free, 24/7.