Reasonable adjustments in the workplace

What or who do you teach?

I teach adults and have had adjustments made for anxiety (before I had my autism diagnosis but one leads into the other anyway).

I teach in a primary school, which I absolutely love doing. I was diagnosed after a long journey with anxiety based interactions with my GP, so I understand what you mean about the link between the two. My concern is asking for adjustments to be made now, where I hadn’t before, thus making people question why now. I suppose I’m worried about people thinking that I’m only asking because I now have a diagnosis and that I’m somehow ‘playing up’ to the diagnosis, rather than seeing what I did before as masking (which caused extreme fatigue and exhaustion). I’m most definitely over thinking things, as I’m prone to doing, but the worries are there nonetheless.

I think you can judge how it'll go with your managers...if you feel they'll be supportive just have an honest chat with them.  If they are supportive they will want to help you so they don't lose a member of staff or have them going off sick. I had worked in my place for 7 years before any adjustments were made. I don't think it's playing up to a diagnosis; you are better informed about yourself for moving forward with your life. If you had a physical problem you might not possibly be saying that. One thing, after my anxiety episode, there were a couple of times where they asked less of me (I wasn't approached for extra classes when I used to be) they didn't want to put on me but I let them know in a kind way that I'd be the judge of that.

Think about how they can help you. For me it was needing a quiet space at break which is nigh on impossible at our centre. Also I was given "easier" classes and I've also been given one day teaching from home. I also went down to 4 days and have some flexibility so if I need to take time off I can pick it up on my day off.

Thank you for all of your thoughts on this and for taking the time to advise too. It has been really appreciated. I think I’m starting to see the impact of autism on my life so far too, so there is a bit of a journey ahead I feel. I can entirely relate with the idea of negotiating expectations.

I'm about a year too. It's about planning going forward so things don't get on top of you. If they value you as a member of staff they'll want to help.

Oakling said:

I’d coped this long

COPED.

I too "got by" and tried to keep up with everyone else (eg chatting at break etc), I didn't know how much autism impacted me until I'd had the assessment. I'm still finding my way through and negotiating my own expectations of myself and what other people expect of me too.

I feel discussions will go well, as the leadership is very supportive of everyone where I work, I just need to properly think about what support would be of the most use before beginning that conversation. Some things just aren’t possible, and that is okay, but where things are doable, it is something that I’m considering enquiring about. 

Upon receiving my diagnosis, I handed in the generic reasonable adjustments list and suggested I wouldn’t need anything as I’d coped this long (I’ve worked there for a similar length of time to you before you’d asked for adjustments). But I think that was just it, I’d coped so far. Now I’m starting to wonder if things like a quiet space between lessons would be of benefit to me, especially when approaching burnout.

I like the notion of being better informed and wanting to move forward, that is a phrase I’d like to keep and use, as it’s a way of explaining things in a way that I’d not managed to think of yet. It has only been about a year since my diagnosis, so I’m still trying to make sense of it all really.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and advice.

I feel discussions will go well, as the leadership is very supportive of everyone where I work, I just need to properly think about what support would be of the most use before beginning that conversation. Some things just aren’t possible, and that is okay, but where things are doable, it is something that I’m considering enquiring about. 

Upon receiving my diagnosis, I handed in the generic reasonable adjustments list and suggested I wouldn’t need anything as I’d coped this long (I’ve worked there for a similar length of time to you before you’d asked for adjustments). But I think that was just it, I’d coped so far. Now I’m starting to wonder if things like a quiet space between lessons would be of benefit to me, especially when approaching burnout.

I like the notion of being better informed and wanting to move forward, that is a phrase I’d like to keep and use, as it’s a way of explaining things in a way that I’d not managed to think of yet. It has only been about a year since my diagnosis, so I’m still trying to make sense of it all really.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and advice.

Thank you for all of your thoughts on this and for taking the time to advise too. It has been really appreciated. I think I’m starting to see the impact of autism on my life so far too, so there is a bit of a journey ahead I feel. I can entirely relate with the idea of negotiating expectations.

I'm about a year too. It's about planning going forward so things don't get on top of you. If they value you as a member of staff they'll want to help.

Oakling said:

I’d coped this long

COPED.

I too "got by" and tried to keep up with everyone else (eg chatting at break etc), I didn't know how much autism impacted me until I'd had the assessment. I'm still finding my way through and negotiating my own expectations of myself and what other people expect of me too.