Published on 12, July, 2020
Currently I am struggling, probably going through a shutdown as people have noticed I’ve become withdrawn.
The cause of this is my employers, it has left me no choice but to look for another job. My manager changes my rota without asking which disturbs my routine, I am told I will never progress for promotion where I am due to my health issues although I haven’t asked for any workplace adjustments. I don’t get regular lunchtimes. When I confided in a senior at the company, he said “everyones a little autistic”.(I am a adult late diagnosed, whilst working for this company, HR never came to speak to me about it post diagnosis, pre diagnosis the HR Director said “autism is very common these days”).
I am told I should learn to adapt my autism to the work environment by a senior staff. By nature I am an introvert, and keep on getting told I need to be more outgoing and louder. As an employee my work is spot on they have no complaints I’m meticulous but I lack hitting the targets marginally and thats why I keep on getting threatened to be put on reviews, this induces anxiety and fear of losing my job. I work in a bright, noisy environment and have a customer facing job, I mask highly to get on with it, I am good at what I do, money is not the motivator, we are commission based with a basic salary. My motivation is the product I sell, its one of my special interests.
Are there other autistics who have been dealing with discrimination, bullying, underestimation of intelligence or employers not caring ?
Do you just leave and find elsewhere or challenge their ignorance and lack of training on neurodiversity?
Hi. Are you in the UK?
We have employment law related to this sort of thing.
Yes in UK but I’m scared of confrontation. I am articulate verbally and can write things down but if I was asked in a face to face setting I’d become mute. My manager has experienced this personally with me and he said its very isolating because at that point he can see nothing he says is having an affect on me.
im the same, i reported my supervisor but i dont like speaking or confrontation.... i do write to compensate for this.... so yeah, i wrote like lots of letters and sent them to my bosses boss, and the union rep, then to a person who sent them to the operations manager, then got a meeting on it to which i wrote pages of notes and emailed them to the op manager before the meeting, then i also wrote tons of pages of more notes, made sure union rep read them all too so he understands what goes on. i wrote letters of complaint on behalf of the foreign staff who wanted to complain too but couldnt write letters... basically i went total ham on writing and made it my obsession.still had to speak a little in the meeting, but with all i wrote i had alot to lean on and alot of things didnt need to be spoken as i had already said alot through writing.
If possible, join a trades union. They can provide legal help, a case worker to support you and sit in on any meetings with management or 'human resources' that you might have. With your selective mutism, having someone on your side in meetings would be particularly useful.
Thanks
Sorry, I'm not experienced in this, but the NAS site has some guides that may be useful.https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/employment-adjustments-tips