Published on 12, July, 2020
I am a teacher and there have been lots of changes at my school lately and I have a few meltdowns in the last few weeks.
This morning I was upset and asked to speak to the acting head abd she was horrible. Told me I need to pull myself together and snap out of it. When I walk through the door I need to be in work mode. I need to pull myself together. She said either I am fit to work or not and I should go to my GP if I keep having these "episodes".
I felt completely belittled and like a child who had been told off.
If you are clinically diagnosed with ASD, the words of your headteacher amount to disability discrimination. Send her a transcript of what you remember her saying and ask her to sign a declaration that your recollections are accurate. If nothing else, it should rattle her and start her thinking that you are considering taking her to a tribunal over her discrimination. As a line manager and effectively acting as an employer she is legally obliged to offer you reasonable accommodations so that you can discharge your duties without being adversely affected by your disability. Asking an autistic person to "snap out of it" and to "pull yourself together" is not acceptable.
Exactly. The Acting Head is on very thin ice I'd have thought. "Autistic Teacher Belittled And Patronised" as a local paper headline after a Tribunal wouldn't be career enhancing for them.