Autism in the Military

They let me in!

I found myself barely able to cope, but willing to have a go until one to many staff sargent decided to make it his mission to "fix me", and I'd had enough by then..

A quick scan of the manual of military law, queens regs and the book I can never remember the title of and I was out on a section 414 after an amusing little episode where I pleaded not-guilty to a section 69 charge and made it stick.

That's why they don't like Autistic people. We are unlikely to be able to conform to the extent required, no matter how much we may want the job, and have an enhanced abilty to do damage if you properly annoy us high functioning ones.

For some roles some obscure branches probably seek us out. I've spoken to several employers (including my new one) who really rate the performance of their Autistic employees. Some of them will even make the allowances neccesary to keep us on the job, the army however, becuase of the nature of it's work, and the nature of soldiers as a cohesive killing force, cannot.

Many Autists may also find themselves having qualms about the job when the stuff gets real, too, whereas the normies seem to take "programming" rather better, and it is more likely to hold in the heat of battle, I suspect. 

My boyfriend is in the army, while he only has a query diagnosis, he has met a lot of peers with declared and diagnosed autism. However, my boyfriend doesn't want an official diagnosis as whilst it's allowed, it may limit his promotions and opportunities. But this is the case for many medical conditions. His cousin got refused due to eczema. 

I've sometimes wondered what I'd do if WW3 broke out. I used to work as an operational researcher (a job more or less invented by the military in WW2), I have lots of technical skills, experience in bioscience, modelling virulent diseases. I doubt I'd be wanted by the armed forces given my physical health but I might offer to join the MOD in a technical / analytical role. And in WW2 they ended up having to deploy analysts to field HQs so they had to give them honorary commissions and ranks. I once figured out had I been deployed in WW2 given my job grade at the time I'd have been made an army captain or navy / RAF lieutenant.

If people really want to get into the military try getting into the non military defence services and see if there is a back door.

sorry but rules are in places like this for both your protection and others protection.
i am not diagnosed autistic but upon my interview they declined me because it was clear my social life and social skills are not good enough for the army.... to let people in with any social disorder or even lack of social skills even undiagnosed and lacking social skills you will be denied, because if you let such people in they are a weak link and a lack of communication can cause deaths in the army.... legally speaking you cannot change this because it puts people at risk of death, this is why they are allowed to discriminate because it is on health and safety grounds to protect you and your squad mates who may die due to your lack of social ability.

thinking upon my situation id say they made the right call, i wouldnt have been suited there, i wouldnt have liked it. id not have understood a thing anyone else is saying as even in a warehouse environment i can barely understand people. that will cause deaths in the army, most likely my own as id not understand a command and do something entirely different and put myself and others in harms way.

peoples feelings on this dont matter..... inclusionism doesnt matter..... none of that matters over another persons life, if inclusion causes deaths then inclusion would be banned from society.... inclusion is only good within reason, causing peoples deaths by it is out of any reason and makes it negative. it should only be positive inclusion with no risk of harm to oneself or others.

I served for nearly six years of full service so I'm well versed in what happens in the military (UK) if you get a good unit then no problem but I ended up after 4 1/2 years regular service being medically discharged after two nervous breakdowns In 1985 I was only diagnosed in 2014 with ASD and when obtaining my service record were the markers for ASD there. There are lower stress jobs that could be done by us but  we have to be very versatile and it's something that I wasn't..

Hi NAS74055,

We Have A Case Reference For That And Also an MP To Deal With That 

The Case Reference is (Removed by Mod)

Name Of MP is (Removed by Mod)

NAS62631 said:

People with Autism are not allowed in the British Military and it’s about time this rule was changed.

Perhaps if you have not already ~ consider this:

The policy on medical conditions that prevent entry into the Services is contained in Joint Service Publication 950 and I enclose the section that covers autism and Asperger's Syndrome. This has recently been revised to allow some minimal degree of relaxation for those who do not display classic symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome or where their diagnosis may be in doubt. It places more emphasis on the ability to perform as part of a team and to function within a simulated military environment and less on medical opinion.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/474503/20150513_FOI04175_Aspergers_bar_to_service.pdf

And on serving autistic personnel in the armed forces:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/671519/2017-10667.pdf