ASD Email disclaimer?

The digital Sunflower - (image downloads for the hidden disabilities Sunflower badge for an email signature etc.).

"When you choose to highlight on an email, your profile or in your online meetings that you have a non-visible disability, or if you want to show your support for the Sunflower, consider using the badges or meeting backgrounds below":

I wear (green):

https://hdsunflower.com/media/wysiwyg/I-wear-signature.png

I support (white):

https://hdsunflower.com/media/wysiwyg/I-support-signature.png 

It took me a while to find them, so I thought I would share!

Honestly, tone is a problem even for neurotypical folks. When teaching English to secondary schoolers they frequently struggled to identify appropriate tone to use when writing for different audiences. They're just not exposed to formal communication styles.

I even once had to take a university head of department to task for claiming that I was rude when writing to them in a formal style. They had become so used to students e-mailing them in an informal style, that when a student was e-mailing them in a formal style with a legitimate concern about the way the course was being run they interpreted it as rude because they hadn't seen a formal e-mail in years. I actually remember asking them if they'd have called me rude had the e-mail been a physical letter and you could literally see how hard they had to think about it. Basically, most humans seem to be poor at parsing written communication styles if there is a difference in age between correspondants.

All of that said, I do tend to highlight as a closing paragraph in any e-mail that I tend to write in a formal communication style and as such if the reader has felt that the e-mail was blunt it is likely because I am trying to ensure that there are no misunderstandings in communication. It doesn't always work, but is about the best I've been able to come up with.

Hiya. I'm a new member on this forum and have been thinking of adding something like this. I also struggle with this alot. Can I ask what you have written at the bottom of your email? 

This is an interesting thread - and the first I have read as a new member to this forum. It is reassuring to know that it is not just me finding email etiquette (or, more so, the way in which my emails are inferred by others) to be slightly troublesome in working life. I am fortunate in that now that I am working at a university, email etiquette in this sphere does seem somewhat direct anyway. However, issues lie more so in communicating with non-academic professionals in my experience. I have therefore inserted a small line, in italics, at the footer of my signature. Hopefully this raises basic awareness so that colleagues/students know that my communication is genuinely well meaning and not in fact, bossy or rude. On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes my emails (rather like this reply, actually) can end up being ramble. I imagine I would have more issues if working back in the corporate world where perhaps more expectation is placed upon how communication should be. The email footer is a bit like a virtual lanyard for me now. I hope you're all getting on okay and have found your 'way' of communicating this in emails, however subtly.

I think this sounds like a good idea. I luckily don't have a job that requires emailing a lot but for important emails I show them to my NT partner who is good at coming across warmly to people. Maybe insert the hidden disabilities sunflower to draw the eye to it too so people can't skim over it. People should adjust their expectations of you if you have disclosed this aspect of yourself. If they don't then at least you know who is fine being openly ableist. I feel like reasonable people /should/ learn to not take it personally if they know the reason behind it.

Might be something that I need to do

I have many times had supervisors and higher management call me in a rage, when I meant no insult or to be so blunt about something.

It's annoying as in my head it's perfectly polite and concise, but to the bosses it appears rude and rambling.

My son who is socially otherwise pretty NT is even blunter with his honesty than I am. I wonder whether for him that means he does have a trait or two nevertheless, or whether it's just a learned behaviour from me.

But hey we like each others' frankness, so not a bad thing, eh?

I'm too Blunt for interviews, couldn't tell a story for Toffee. 

That's why I write poetry rather than attempt a novel. Sharp, witty and dead-pan. 

I added on my CV hidden disability sunflower 

Except in a work context, if you have made them aware, they should adjust...

Without knowing about the ASD, yeah, of course they interpret that way.

Excellent idea!

It's more the information processing that causes me a work glitch. I've added a strap line to my e-mail signature saying I am dyslexic and autistic and may need time to switch between tasks. I need time to read and process information you send me before I can talk or listen about it.

I have seen other autistic people do that with something along the lines of: I am autistic and I communicate by being direct. I never intend to be rude. Or: I am autistic and find it hard to deal with nuance. To help me provide what you need from me, please be direct and unambiguous in your request.

Have a think about what the one big thing others could do for you is and sum up in one sentence.

How it is received depends on your work place culture. Mine is great. My boss in a teacher who has taught hundreds of kids on the Spectrum and values his staff who also are (I'm not the only one). Others aren't so lucky in their work place, but legislation is on your side.

I have a signature on my email, 

Sent by mobile phone, with apologies for any apparent brevity, or errors of spelling or syntax.

It works for me...

they don't care that you did not intend it to be aggressive, and they will insist that they are anyway

misinterpretation will happen  anyway, because there is no law prohibiting it

try one of formal ways of speaking, e.g. like lawyers