I’ve managed to disclose to four people so far. And their reactions were nothing I’ve anticipated.
First person - my husband. He said it didn’t really matter. He never asked any questions and we never talked about it again.
Second and third - my closest coworkers (I don’t have any contact with them since they’ve left the company) Their reaction to the news was “and what now?” I said “nothing I guess” (because “what now?”) and that was the end of the conversation. We never talked about that again.
Fourth - my line manager. I’ve been building up to disclosing ASD at work and when I’ve finally got that out - my manager reaction completely surprised me. He just said “thanks for letting me know” and basically changed the subject.
So my guess is - he’s never going to mention that again.
On Monday I asked for the meeting with my manager. I talked about my issues first and he kept assuring me - apparently I just need to be more confident and talk to people more about how to organise workload. And be more assertive and “strict” (I’ve got problem with delegating tasks and end up doing everything myself). So finally I said about my diagnosis and he just said “thanks for letting me know”. He didn’t ask for any evidence. Then he said he had to go to another meeting. He hasn’t mention our conversation since then.
Not what I expected.
I guess nothing’s going to change at work.
Nevertheless I feel quite positive (which surprises me).
I gave myself permission “to be more myself” at work (I’ve decided I don’t really care if someone sees my jumping, clapping or whatever)
Communication problems won’t disappear though.
