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Currently I am struggling, probably going through a shutdown as people have noticed I’ve become withdrawn.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?
*Potential trigger references*
A very good counter to the, "Everyone is a little autistic", is to point out that 66% of autistic adults have considered suicide, this is much higher than the UK general population, where the rate is about 17%. If over half of adult autistics have considered suicide, it is hard to trivialise the effect that it has on people.
I have read the stats on autistic adults and suicide being higher. What we find is people trying to relate or think they are making us feel inclusive. They fail to see, they invalidate an individuals experience of the condition. Every autistic is different and whatever images or experiences they may have had or seen in the media via films and characters, does not mean the autistic person they have met in me resembles any of those. Huge lack of education in this condition.
This is the only place online I can come to when I feel the world doesn’t understand.