Do I tell my clients that I'm autistic?

The question is, if you tell them, what outcome do you expect from that conversation?

I'm in professional services, also now self employed, and I wouldn't go near it. 

Not because I have anything to be ashamed of, but because I find it difficult to see any benefits to me in doing so. 

There are many other aspects of my psyche and health profile that I don't tell them, either, by the way.  I've got a broken toe, an itchy mole, a damaged immune system, and quite a few things going on inside my head which need to be managed.  I don't tell them any of that, so why on earth would I tell them I'm autistic?  

Their expectation of me is that I understand their business model and their objectives, and that I help them to achieve those objectives using my skills, expertise, capabilities and experience.  I'd find it hard to see where a discussion about one random element of my health profile / psyche fits into that.

I would tell them if I caught Covid, because that has practical implications in terms of the work I can do for them and the contact I can have with them.  The fact that I'm autistic has nothing to do with the work and is none of their business.   

If the conversation is with a friend or relative, then you might expect a supportive response and you might tell them for reasons which are primarily emotional.  But it's a business conversation, and the only non-business issues I'd discuss with clients are light hearted ones to break the ice at the start of a meeting. 

If they're clients, you want them to focus on your ability to do the business, deliver value, and generate results. And nothing else. The more personal complexity you volunteer, the more time they'll spend thinking about that, and the less time they'll spend thinking about how damned good you are.

If you're a service provider, don't be complicated - be simple, easy to deal with, and focused.   Let them think "I'll call Tonik, they'll solve it no time."  You don't want them to think "Oh, hell, I'm gonna have to call Tonik, then I'll get a long list of all their life challenges.  I haven't time for all that ... actually, I'd better look for someone less complicated."

The outcome you presumably want from any dialogue with them is business-related; why burden them with a lot of personal stuff which has nothing to do with the business?

The question is, if you tell them, what outcome do you expect from that conversation?

I'm in professional services, also now self employed, and I wouldn't go near it. 

Not because I have anything to be ashamed of, but because I find it difficult to see any benefits to me in doing so. 

There are many other aspects of my psyche and health profile that I don't tell them, either, by the way.  I've got a broken toe, an itchy mole, a damaged immune system, and quite a few things going on inside my head which need to be managed.  I don't tell them any of that, so why on earth would I tell them I'm autistic?  

Their expectation of me is that I understand their business model and their objectives, and that I help them to achieve those objectives using my skills, expertise, capabilities and experience.  I'd find it hard to see where a discussion about one random element of my health profile / psyche fits into that.

I would tell them if I caught Covid, because that has practical implications in terms of the work I can do for them and the contact I can have with them.  The fact that I'm autistic has nothing to do with the work and is none of their business.   

If the conversation is with a friend or relative, then you might expect a supportive response and you might tell them for reasons which are primarily emotional.  But it's a business conversation, and the only non-business issues I'd discuss with clients are light hearted ones to break the ice at the start of a meeting. 

If they're clients, you want them to focus on your ability to do the business, deliver value, and generate results. And nothing else. The more personal complexity you volunteer, the more time they'll spend thinking about that, and the less time they'll spend thinking about how damned good you are.

If you're a service provider, don't be complicated - be simple, easy to deal with, and focused.   Let them think "I'll call Tonik, they'll solve it no time."  You don't want them to think "Oh, hell, I'm gonna have to call Tonik, then I'll get a long list of all their life challenges.  I haven't time for all that ... actually, I'd better look for someone less complicated."

The outcome you presumably want from any dialogue with them is business-related; why burden them with a lot of personal stuff which has nothing to do with the business?

The best outcome would be that being able to drop my mask a little would make me less anxious when dealing with clients. I get a lot of panic attacks when talking to clients, even existing clients on the phone, so I hope it would reduce those or at least help people understand why I needed 15 minutes to compose myself.

I get imposter syndrome sometimes, but I'm confident in my abilities and output and my clients are happy with my work. So you make a great point raising the question 'why?'. Interesting to view it from the client perspective. I hadn't really considered that and it's such an important thing to do. Thank you.