Can't work. How will a diagnosis help?

It depends what you do.

Not if you work alone in a field all day, I guess. But most office environments will present some degree of social or sensory or communication challenge.

Yes, you do have to have disclosed to HR at least for reasonable adjustments to kick in. With a good employer that should mean there will not be any misunderstanding or need for dispute...but yes, with a "good" employer. 

I understand that some people don't feel their employers can be trusted with the information with good reason. 

But theoretically, it should provide significant protection. I'm lucky. I have a brilliant employer. They have been really supportive on my journey to diagnosis and I'm not the only Aspie in the office and we're all open about it.

it can do depending on how much it effects your communication.

you will be forever stuck in the lowest level worker drone position, you will never be promoted or given a higher position unless you are very outgoing, the outgoing chatty confident look is what they see and judge you by and think of you as the right fit for a promotion or higher role.... being socially awkward and not speaking much and only basically responding in a single word response will relegate you forever to the lowest level job, make you most likely to be fired, make everyone take credit for your work while you dont get any credit at all, but yet you take blame for when things going bad. you might not even get a job at all unless its no interviews straight to employment by a agency.

furthermore the attached long term permanent depression that often comes with it often makes you not bother getting a job in the first place, which is why alot with autism stay in their parents house and do nothing well into their 40s before possibly becoming homeless or perhaps getting driven half mad, which is possibly enough to drive them towards change in their madness which may push them into work only later on after they have been driven half insane by doing nothing and being alone for 30 years. theres alot of factors why it could... in the end you have to fight yourself in your own mind before you can progress anywhere in the real world, and then in the real world you cant progress in society unless your social. 

and also you will learn that it doesnt matter how good you are, its who the other people know that gets them their positions in life, and you know nobody, and no one cares for you, everyone else will have the advantage and the leg up all the time while you will have nothing, no help, no leg up, no having connections with a manager who elevates you above others and protects your position like most others seem to have. and your hard work someone else more sociable always will take the credit for and you wont dispute it as it will feel awkward and you will feel wrong and suspect others will think your jealous, despite it having been your work and your results that another person take the praise for lol

wouldnt cancer make it harder to get a job?
the employer would think youd be needing to go on sick for a very long time, and your possible death would equal a waste in training resources and time. from an employment standpoint mentioning you have cancer will not help you get a job, but instead likely hinder you.

but upon facing your potential end, it often is the case youd be questioning whats the point wasting all your lifes tie slaving away to make others rich anyway, when even being a homeless hobo is likely more stress free and luxurious than a worker drone life these days given that working doesnt pay rent or bills anymore in this world due to how much were being ripped off and pushed for everything they can take off us.

Autism doesn’t effect work

Would you please provide the screenshot about the issue or processes which you are talking about? This will help us to understand the issue.  Emory Patient Portal

"Obfuscation" is one of my favourite words! Obviously not my favourite thing to put up with. And yes, like you I work fine on my own - perfectly, pretty much, but I can't do the socials. I kill a conversation about the 'footie' by saying I don't have a TV. I've been micromanaged too, often I think because I seem dangerous.

Is a diagnosis only legally helpful if you've disclosed your autism? Can you disclose it when the real 'trouble' starts? I know employers can't discriminate and have to make adjustments but in reality I suspect things would not be so clear-cut. Perhaps the diagnosis only truly comes into play in an Employment Tribunal, which I would avoid...

I feel a bit of a fraud claiming any more than some degree of neurodivergence without a diagnosis. I feel a fraud on the cancer too as I'm not terribly ill and for now just have issues that make me very anxious about going out anywhere for more than an hour each day. Is it reasonable to expect Social Services to support someone like me?

Errr yep! I do great in jobs where my talents are respected and I am left to do my own thing toward achieving the goal, that goes to rat s**t when employment depends on putting on a smile and sucking up to bosses who cover incompetance with fudging and obfuscation, or depends on chit chat which makes you likeable around the water cooler, or anyone tries to micromanage me. Gotcha!

A diagnosis can help protect you legally in those situations, for sure. How do we get through to neurotypical people? By keep pumping out our lived experience to open minds. It's a collective enterprise we should all push at where we can.

I'm so sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis. I hope you'll pull through and get life back where you want it. For now, social services need to help you with both issues and in view of that maybe working isn't right for you until you are better physically. You've contributed enough. Insist the system take of you a while. When you are better and ready, you can fight the good fight again.

Before I'd really heard of autism, I thought I was just a perfectionist. These days I can do 'good enough' although my bar for that is probably high. I can also do 'worry about that when it happens'. As for nobody wanting to hear about things you do, that may be so, but it doesn't mean they don't also expect it to be covered.

CharlieFreak said:

a lot of my pain came from caring about things to which others seemed indifferent (your 'jobsworth' type), so I tried not caring. Couldn't do it.

Totally relate to that statement.  I felt compelled to become my own boss many years ago, but find that I remain a slave to my brain's compulsion to seek out every angle, implication, fact and potential for every new project that I tackle.  It results in many unproductive hours doing things that I know must be done, but that no body wants to hear about.

I'm not sure there is very much practical assistance that would flow in your direction if you were to receive a formal diagnosis (given the background you have provided) but I'd be interested in the opinions of others on that point.  I'm certainly not the best informed in that regard.