Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all. I'm Robin and yesterday I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I'm not sure what to do now!
My mam was with me for my assessment, and I've told my brother and my closest pal. But how do I go about telling people at work? It's not like I need them to make any adjustments at the moment, so it's almost irrelevant but it also feels like something important to share.
Does anyone have any advice?
if it really doesnt affect your work - dont tell anyone, simply because some people ( theres always some :( ) will discriminate against u ,,,, eg speak to u less.
Some managers can over react and will give you less complex work which gradually weakens your employability.
Yeah I did worry they might treat me differently.
I was raised as 'Normal' by my autistic mum, as a result I did everything non-autistics do ( school uni family driving all sorts of jobs ) and I can also see why they have issues with autistics especially the new militant ones who demand things without thought from their employers.
Yes u would be treated differently and if u dont like that dont tell them.
Sadly I was line managing a militant autistic last year who joined us. She demanded all sorts of things and kept complaining about my ignorance on autism and how it wasn't her job to train me in it, as her employer I should have known even before she told me (week 2). Pretty ironic! (I wasn't out at work at the time).
It ended up her taking me to a disciplinary because when a colleague started a meeting on time with out her cos she was late. I didn't agree that all company meetings should start up to 15 mins late, instead I'd suggested we accommodate her by not worrying if she was late. Her shouting behavioyr was really unacceptable and I felt bullied. It ended up in £2k of outside mediation fees and her leaving after 6 months without having completed a single piece of work!
Anyone can be self entitled and this was def a case of me me me.