Should I tell work about my autism?

shoekitten said:

It's definitely a judgement call. Personally I mentioned the fact I was seeking diagnosis to my line manager who used it against me as a weapon later when staff were being reshuffled due to cutbacks.These cutbacks meant we would be in direct competition for the same job.

She then went on bully me, claim my work as hers, manipulate me and switch my schedules around to upset me because she knew I couldn't bear sudden changes and confrontation . I have since resigned and am now jobless.

Please tread carefully, I'd hate this to happen to anyone else.

That can happen even when you don't have a diagnosis or know anything about Asperger's too though.  I suffered workplace bullying and had to leave through stress in the end because I had a vindictive line manager who sabotaged my work when I wasn't there, called me up on tiny unfair things (such as being a few minutes late even though I more than made the time up out of lunches) when he was behaving 100 times worse and abusing organisational funds.

I didn't even know what Asperger's was in those days, but clearly I was taken advantage of becaus they sensed I wasn't a team player and they wanted me out.  I was honest and didn't join in the conniving and gossiping and had gone to a superior after the department head came in drunk and had a go at me for no reason.

NTs do pick up on how they can abuse you if they sense you don't fit, and in fact once you have the diagnosis legally they have to be much more careful.  I think what went wrong in your case was telling them you were seeking an assessment, you had no protection without one so you couldn't claim discrimination, but you gave them the information with which they abused you.

shoekitten said:

It's definitely a judgement call. Personally I mentioned the fact I was seeking diagnosis to my line manager who used it against me as a weapon later when staff were being reshuffled due to cutbacks.These cutbacks meant we would be in direct competition for the same job.

She then went on bully me, claim my work as hers, manipulate me and switch my schedules around to upset me because she knew I couldn't bear sudden changes and confrontation . I have since resigned and am now jobless.

Please tread carefully, I'd hate this to happen to anyone else.

That can happen even when you don't have a diagnosis or know anything about Asperger's too though.  I suffered workplace bullying and had to leave through stress in the end because I had a vindictive line manager who sabotaged my work when I wasn't there, called me up on tiny unfair things (such as being a few minutes late even though I more than made the time up out of lunches) when he was behaving 100 times worse and abusing organisational funds.

I didn't even know what Asperger's was in those days, but clearly I was taken advantage of becaus they sensed I wasn't a team player and they wanted me out.  I was honest and didn't join in the conniving and gossiping and had gone to a superior after the department head came in drunk and had a go at me for no reason.

NTs do pick up on how they can abuse you if they sense you don't fit, and in fact once you have the diagnosis legally they have to be much more careful.  I think what went wrong in your case was telling them you were seeking an assessment, you had no protection without one so you couldn't claim discrimination, but you gave them the information with which they abused you.