Published on 12, July, 2020
I have just been diagnosed with Aspergers. I’m fairly ‘high-functioning’. You wouldn’t know I had Aspergers unless you had spent a few days in my company. My main symptoms tend to be general social awkwardness and saying the wrong thing rather than being unable to understand the body language of others or others intentions.
i also have strong obsessions, anxiety, depression and ocd.
i am a qualified social worker and have done well to get that qualification. However I’ve chosen the wrong career for me. It’s stressful and requires team-work, social skills and good organisational skills.
i manage well enough though.
My experience, particularly in social work and health fields, is that I am bullied at work. Picked on by managers a lot, subjected to people assuming good unauthorised authority over me and being the subject to ridicule. I seem to offend a lot and get unwritten rules wrong. I have so far found being in the workplace unbearable overall and very stressful and I’ve worked in several offices now. I have only worked in one where I felt welcomed and understood.
im now unemployed but I want to make sure I minimise the chance of having the same problem again.
what have your experiences been at work? Anything that you found helpful?
My employer has been brilliant (large corporate). They put in place "reasonable adjustments" a few months after I was referred for diagnosis and the company's GP wrote to management and HR stating that a diagnosis wasn't needed for this as the test of "reasonable" is legal and not medical. As it turns out, my interim diagnostic report confirms the basis for those adjustments even though it doesn't (yet?) go the whole hog and confirm ASD.
A good employer knows that treating staff fairly and according to their individual needs as far as is possible helps people perform at their best.