I want to understand about autistic adults difficulties which they face in workplace.

Hello everyone,

I am postgraduate student and I am working on a project to understand about

difficulties faced by autistic adults in their day to day life particularly in workplace.

By research, I came to know that autistic adults are facing a lot of problems in workplace,

but I am not clear about what exact problems they face. I want to create awareness

about their problems in offices so that they get maximum support at workplace. By doing so,

the gap between autistic adults and their colleagues may disappear.

Hopefully, everyone will start understanding them better. If anyone knows about it,

could you please help me in understanding about their problems?

Parents
  • Most people in the workplace form informal cliques.  Autistics are either unaware of this informal social gathering or unaware how to join in.

    Then there's workplace bullying in all it's forms.  How to deal with it without violence or leaving the job entirely.

    Small talk and gossip.  A bleeding mystery!!!!!!??????

    Norms of social behaviour such as coffee making, sharing and other things most people take for granted. Autistics haven't a clue.  Need to learn each unspoken and unwritten rule at a time.

  • Most people in the workplace form informal cliques.  Autistics are either unaware of this informal social gathering or unaware how to join in.

    Then there's workplace bullying in all it's forms.  How to deal with it without violence or leaving the job entirely.

    Small talk and gossip.  A bleeding mystery!!!!!!??????

    Norms of social behaviour such as coffee making, sharing and other things most people take for granted. Autistics haven't a clue.  Need to learn each unspoken and unwritten rule at a time.

    I'd go with all of that.  Wherever I've worked, I've generally ended up being 'outside' of the cliques.  Pre-diagnosis, I never understood why.  I just thought that no one liked me.  Even in workplaces where I have a lot in common with my colleagues (such as in my current and my last job, both in SEN care), I've generally found myself to be the lone wolf after a short while.  Interestingly, when I was at university, I spent two summers working on summer camps in the US.  For the most part, the staff from the UK who turned up didn't know anyone else there.  We were all strangers to one another.  In those situations, people invariably seek out a few others to team up with - and that happened with me, too.  For a week or so, a few people hung around with me.  Then, gradually, they all began to separate off to other groups.  Usually by the end of the camps - 12 weeks - I was alone again.  To be honest, that isn't really a problem for me any more now, though.  When I see what preoccupies them - gossip, small talk, last night's TV, sport, etc - I'm glad I'm not a part of it.

    Main problems for me have been:

    * Being asked to work extra time without much notice

    * Shift pattern changes

    * Multi-tasking

    * Getting back to the job in hand if I've been called away - even briefly - to do something else

    * Being told to do something another way when the way I'm doing it - and have always done it - works fine, anyway

    * Too much noise

    I now have just about the ideal - even though it's low paid.  I work 9 - 4.30, no overtime, Tuesday to Friday, and I get to focus on one job (service user) at a time.  The one big issue I've had is that a couple of times, a colleague has asked me at hometime if I wouldn't mind dropping her home (if it's raining, for instance, or she's missed her bus).  I really don't mind doing people favours, and I'm also a people-pleaser (though I'm trying to shake that off), but it means going off my normal route and it makes me anything up to 20 minutes late home - which leads to a lot of anxiety.  It also means I have to reschedule my evening.  The last time it happened, I told her that it causes me a problem, and she was fortunately very understanding.  She knows I'm an Aspie, as they all do, so it's led to much more open discussion at work, and more accommodation of my needs.

    I wish you well with your hope to develop a means to bridge the gap of understanding.  Personally, I think it'll always be there to some degree.  My current employer specialises in autism care, so all of my colleagues are trained to understand autistic behaviour.  But they're not autistic themselves, and they still get things wrong.  They still pull my leg, then have to say to me 'Sorry... I'm just joking'.  And they simply cannot understand the fact that I have no friends or a social life, and don't actually want either of those things.  I suppose it's a bit like being heterosexual, and trying to understand what it's like to be a homosexual.  Or a man trying to understand what it's like to be a woman.  We can take it all on board - but there'll still be that gap of complete knowledge and understanding.

Reply
  • Most people in the workplace form informal cliques.  Autistics are either unaware of this informal social gathering or unaware how to join in.

    Then there's workplace bullying in all it's forms.  How to deal with it without violence or leaving the job entirely.

    Small talk and gossip.  A bleeding mystery!!!!!!??????

    Norms of social behaviour such as coffee making, sharing and other things most people take for granted. Autistics haven't a clue.  Need to learn each unspoken and unwritten rule at a time.

    I'd go with all of that.  Wherever I've worked, I've generally ended up being 'outside' of the cliques.  Pre-diagnosis, I never understood why.  I just thought that no one liked me.  Even in workplaces where I have a lot in common with my colleagues (such as in my current and my last job, both in SEN care), I've generally found myself to be the lone wolf after a short while.  Interestingly, when I was at university, I spent two summers working on summer camps in the US.  For the most part, the staff from the UK who turned up didn't know anyone else there.  We were all strangers to one another.  In those situations, people invariably seek out a few others to team up with - and that happened with me, too.  For a week or so, a few people hung around with me.  Then, gradually, they all began to separate off to other groups.  Usually by the end of the camps - 12 weeks - I was alone again.  To be honest, that isn't really a problem for me any more now, though.  When I see what preoccupies them - gossip, small talk, last night's TV, sport, etc - I'm glad I'm not a part of it.

    Main problems for me have been:

    * Being asked to work extra time without much notice

    * Shift pattern changes

    * Multi-tasking

    * Getting back to the job in hand if I've been called away - even briefly - to do something else

    * Being told to do something another way when the way I'm doing it - and have always done it - works fine, anyway

    * Too much noise

    I now have just about the ideal - even though it's low paid.  I work 9 - 4.30, no overtime, Tuesday to Friday, and I get to focus on one job (service user) at a time.  The one big issue I've had is that a couple of times, a colleague has asked me at hometime if I wouldn't mind dropping her home (if it's raining, for instance, or she's missed her bus).  I really don't mind doing people favours, and I'm also a people-pleaser (though I'm trying to shake that off), but it means going off my normal route and it makes me anything up to 20 minutes late home - which leads to a lot of anxiety.  It also means I have to reschedule my evening.  The last time it happened, I told her that it causes me a problem, and she was fortunately very understanding.  She knows I'm an Aspie, as they all do, so it's led to much more open discussion at work, and more accommodation of my needs.

    I wish you well with your hope to develop a means to bridge the gap of understanding.  Personally, I think it'll always be there to some degree.  My current employer specialises in autism care, so all of my colleagues are trained to understand autistic behaviour.  But they're not autistic themselves, and they still get things wrong.  They still pull my leg, then have to say to me 'Sorry... I'm just joking'.  And they simply cannot understand the fact that I have no friends or a social life, and don't actually want either of those things.  I suppose it's a bit like being heterosexual, and trying to understand what it's like to be a homosexual.  Or a man trying to understand what it's like to be a woman.  We can take it all on board - but there'll still be that gap of complete knowledge and understanding.

Children
  • Hello Martian Tom,

    Thanks for sharing your problems and experiences with me. The main problems which you have faced I have taken care about all of them and I am going to put it in my project. Its very important to know about this if someone is working with autistic person.

    Martian, even I wish that I could bridge the gap of understanding. Lets hope that some changes occurs in workplace and you get better environment and support from people around.