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Currently I am struggling, probably going through a shutdown as people have noticed I’ve become withdrawn.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 Rosina,
Been reading this thread and wondering how best to respond. On the one hand it sounds like there are aspects of your job you enjoy and are good at. On the other your employers sound bad. Strikes me that if they are doing this around autism they'll be doing this to other people around other things too. I've only done sales once and lasted 4 days as i hated it. I've also worked in IT for a largely sales based business and I didn't like the way they treated staff either. All the target stuff just gets cut throat. People I'd be working with one day would be gone the next and it made me feel insecure.
I think I'd make a list of pros and cons. If there are more cons, dust off my CV and start looking whilst I still had the job - like you seem to be doing. Sounds like you have a bunch of job transferrable skills so make sure that's on there. There is no harm looking for something where you will be more appreciated and in the meantime if things do improve in your current role, great, stay, but from what you've described it doesn't sound likely.
Thanks Joe I appreciate the comments and I agree that sales/target driven environments can be cut throat, almost ruthless in terms of making allowances for people who may think anything differently that just aiming to exceed targets, that is all that matters to them. After months of awful comments, taking a good battering on my self esteem and confidence, I have come to the conclusion my time in this industry is up. I have seen other sectors/businesses offer sick pay, mental health first aiders and those who are disability confident, those who would value my academic credentials and experience. You can’t win em all and that’s what I’ll take from this. Do I regret telling my employers about the autism? No. This is who I am, take it or leave it.