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UK government policies over several decades have sought to actively encourage disabled people to take up paid employment, most recently by focusing on the 'gap' between employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people. These policies implicitly assume a clear distinction between people who are and are not disabled, linked to medically-oriented, hierarchical notions of deservingness. They also assume that people who need support will self-identify. This article explores factors that undermine those assumptions or expose their contradictory effects. It presents findings from qualitative research with people with mild learning difficulties, discussing their perceptions of disability and how they negotiated an ever-shifting balance of consequences of identifying as disabled or disclosing needs, linked to risks and experiences of prejudice, discrimination and exclusion. Government policy to support disabled people into paid work suggests that it is obvious who is and who is not disabled. This research looks at what disability means for people with mild learning difficulties who are looking for paid work. People with mild learning difficulties sometimes view themselves as disabled but sometimes refuse that label, even when they accept that they need support. The research participants gave a wide range of reasons for accepting or rejecting the label of disability. They showed how they balanced hopes for support against fears of rejection or abuse, based on their personal experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]