Published on 12, July, 2020
I was wondering if anyone might have any experiences (either positive or negative) disclosing ASD to your boss/supervisor/line manager who is from the older generation?
Asperger Syndrome wasn't discovered until the mid-1900s, and wasn't really known of by most people until maybe the past 20 years or so. So it seems plausible that some people who are from an older generation might not have heard of ASD or know much about it. And because of this, it seems quite scary to tell a boss/supervisor/line manager who is in their 60s-70s that you have ASD, because it's something that didn't really exist in their time, so there's the worry that they might not believe it. I don't know if this kind of worry makes sense. I'm afraid they might just think you're not "trying hard enough" with the social stuff, rather than it's due to autism.
I declared myself as autistic (before diagnosis) and in fact it helped me tremendously.
I am sure I would have been dismissed if they hadn't known. You will have to remember that unless your company is aware of an impairment, they are under no obligation to do anything about it.
I would not say it was an easy journey after disclosure, but they did make some noises. And with the help of access to work (they would have wondered why I was getting Access to Work in and in any case it is a condition of Access to Work that your employer knows about your condition) I have received great help.
If you think your condition does not affect you at work, and you don't want any assistance, you may decide that there is no advantage in disclosing. But just because you don't disclose does not mean that other people do not realise you are 'different'. And there may have an inner firework waiting for its touch paper to be ignited for a spectacular display simply because others do not know of your condition. If you are affected by delayed comprehension, sensory overload in any of your senses, do not like change, like to do things your own way, are liable to misunderstand what others are saying, take things literally, do not have good 'social interraction', get flustered by too many instructions at once, and many other things, you are liable at some time to be criticised or put on a 'performance plan' because your work is being affected by the environment of a workplace.
Disclosing your condition will open doors for you. If you do not think your employer would understand, there are some good resources available for employers, and you could print these out and give them to your employer along with anything which will help explain how you are affected. If there is a local autism charity they may be able to help you if you make an appointment for a chat with them.
Autism West Midlands has some useful documents which you print out:
https://www.autismwestmidlands.org.uk/online-resources/information-resources/
You should be able to ask for someone to accompany you to any 'meeting' with your manager (workplace colleague, union official, or autism support worker) as a 'reasonable adjustment' at the very least, but there again only if you disclose. Many situations you have a statutory right, but things like ''iniitial investigations' you don't, so having the assurance that you will can have some support with you is very helpful.
Access to Work can provide funding for a support worker, training for managers and colleagues, and suggest to the managers what adjustments should be provided. Training is very helpful as it will assist if things are not done to help you later as your managers could not then try to plead ignorance of your needs and the way you are affected.
Thanks @Trainspotter - I've disclosed recently and have access to work involved but in many ways it's made things worse. The issue for me is that the management structure is totally unworkable leading to endless chaos and breakdown in processes. I can't get them to take this seriously and the chaos is increasingly taking a toll on my health. I work at home running an organisation with a management committee but my actual contract sits with an organisation in Newcastle whilst I live in London. So my London-based representative couldn't go to the meeting to discuss reasonable adjustments so all that happened was that my line manager complained that I'm not a 'team player' for an hour (I'm not part of any team so can't see what this has to do with the price of fish). Then I spoke to two of the management committee who kept going on about my 'mental illness' which I found really annoying and unhelpful, I pointed out that autism isn't a mental illness but stress is, of course, so they've decided to focus on that instead. The MC is being very sympathetic with much heads-to-the-side and soothing noises which I just find embarrassing - I've no idea if they're actually going to tackle the governance and line-management issues. The problem isn't 'mental illness' or even autism - it's poor organisational governance. I just can't get them to make the connection between me being signed off with stress and the stress caused by poor organisational governance. I'm just giving up and looking for another job, GP has signed me off for a few weeks and I'm trying to recover a bit, gather my wits, and find a more sensible employer. In any case, I suspect that they're probably embarking on a process to get rid of me. I've delivered a very similar job very successfully in the past, I *know* that AS doesn't prevent me from doing the job well - poor governance is preventing me from doing the job.
That does sound complicated! I do agree that poor organisational governance is a big problem. It's a problem all over the place. I think it's also a problem in the place I am as well. I'm glad to hear that your AS doesn't prevent you from doing the job well - it's a sign that you are competent and talented. It's unfortunate that poor organisational governance is causing you so much stress. I hope your next job will have a better management structure.