It’s been a few weeks since I got my diagnosis of Level One and I’m pondering how to best make it known to the colleagues in my department that I am autistic. I know there’s no necessity to do so, but I think I’d benefit from the awareness. This is because I’ve felt a lot of pressure at times (on the rare occasions it’s come up) to be seen to apply for higher grade posts (with some managerial elements, need to innovate etc) in which I know I’d be deeply unhappy, stressed, an would rapidly burn out in. I’m incredibly fortunate to be in a cataloguing-type job that suits me perfectly in a way few other gigs ever would, and I could really do with feeling like I could be a ‘lifer’ in said post, with greater understanding from my colleagues about why orthodox ‘ambition’ just isn’t the healthy path for me. There are also environmental sensitivities I’ve always had to the overhead lighting etc. which I’ve been fortunate enough to get some compromises arranged around with understanding but at times bemused colleagues. When they’ve forgotten and out the big lights on over my desk I’ll sometimes put on sunglasses not to be an *** but just to compensate without making demands. In truth, I’d need very little adjusted gif me if anything, but I think it could be healthy to mention it, once, via an email or something, say that it’s no big deal but it’s just for general awareness and maybe better understanding of what makes me tick, and to show that I have no sense of stigma about it - the opposite as it maybe gives some of my nature/priorities/needs a bit more context.
Has anyone else done this sort of thing? Would it be best to have a private meeting with my line manager and discuss doing the email thing? Or would just emailing the dozen or so people I work with directly, without prior discussion just with management, be appropriate enough? I honestly think that disclosing it could take some pressure (real or imagined) off my shoulders in ways I’m not even sure I can (or need to) fully articulate.
Recent days have seen me begin to re-frame my self-labelling from ‘underachiever’ (overly harsh to begin with) to ‘done pretty damn well considering’ (the statistics I’ve researched so far suggest that even to be in steady full-time employment of any kind is a minority thing for ‘Asperger’s’ people, as is having a university degree etc.). And part of me would like my colleagues to also experience that tilt of the mirror too, and they’re a nice enough bunch to just low-key acknowledge it and that would be that. Does that sound ok? I hope it wouldn’t come over as self indulgent - the opposite of my intention, which is more to do with mutually helpful sharing of my neurodivergency to the collective benefit of good working dynamics and, admittedly, my own sense of well-being.
