Should I tell work about my autism?

In this case, you required your managers to know this information, so it was fine for you to allow your Occupational Therapist to divulge this information.

Having said that, what happened next was well out of order and very insensitive.  I am appalled that you experienced this and doubts from the dean of your faculty. :O

According to what I've read, companies divulging information to third parties, without the person's prior permission, are breaking the law and what they did was totally immoral. 

As a result of their incompetence, you ended up bearing the brunt of private information being known to everyone and having to clear up their mess.  I hope this sort of thing isn't commonplace is business, as nobody should have to go through all this unwarranted stress.

longman said:

I was diagnosed ten years ago. Perhaps things have improved since then, but my experience shows just how bad it can get, and bear in mind I was a lecturer (now retired) - supposed to be a more disability sensitive environment.

I told Human Resources about my diagnosis, and had an interview with the Occupational Therapist to evaluate my needs. She asked if I minded if they told my managers I had an asperger's diagnosis.

Well without exploring it further I said it was OK because that was the point, I needed my managers to know.

So Human Resources scanned a copy of my diagnosis, and sent it round everybody in my chain of management, right up to directorate level as an electronic attachment to an email!

Well if you know what most diagnoses look like - it sets out the evidence, largely responses to questions and gives an evaluation, so it looks a bit like I'd diagnosed myself. So the dean of my faculty thought I was just being silly.

It took months to resolve all the issues resulting from this piece of idiocy by Human Resources (lets face it HR/Personnel Management is one of the weakest aspects of British industry - where while junior staff have to get a qualification, the senior staff running it often don't have any training at all).

Possibly you need to find out first whether Human Resources where you work have much going on between their ears.

In this case, you required your managers to know this information, so it was fine for you to allow your Occupational Therapist to divulge this information.

Having said that, what happened next was well out of order and very insensitive.  I am appalled that you experienced this and doubts from the dean of your faculty. :O

According to what I've read, companies divulging information to third parties, without the person's prior permission, are breaking the law and what they did was totally immoral. 

As a result of their incompetence, you ended up bearing the brunt of private information being known to everyone and having to clear up their mess.  I hope this sort of thing isn't commonplace is business, as nobody should have to go through all this unwarranted stress.

longman said:

I was diagnosed ten years ago. Perhaps things have improved since then, but my experience shows just how bad it can get, and bear in mind I was a lecturer (now retired) - supposed to be a more disability sensitive environment.

I told Human Resources about my diagnosis, and had an interview with the Occupational Therapist to evaluate my needs. She asked if I minded if they told my managers I had an asperger's diagnosis.

Well without exploring it further I said it was OK because that was the point, I needed my managers to know.

So Human Resources scanned a copy of my diagnosis, and sent it round everybody in my chain of management, right up to directorate level as an electronic attachment to an email!

Well if you know what most diagnoses look like - it sets out the evidence, largely responses to questions and gives an evaluation, so it looks a bit like I'd diagnosed myself. So the dean of my faculty thought I was just being silly.

It took months to resolve all the issues resulting from this piece of idiocy by Human Resources (lets face it HR/Personnel Management is one of the weakest aspects of British industry - where while junior staff have to get a qualification, the senior staff running it often don't have any training at all).

Possibly you need to find out first whether Human Resources where you work have much going on between their ears.