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Occ Health referral

OAP - Older Autistic Person

Following my diagnosis last year I have struggled to get support from my workplace. I was eventually referred to Occ Health after a fight to get the referral.

Occ Health agreed there were some very reasonable adjustments which would make work better for me. Workplace agreed and should have put them in place.

7 months on work are still not consistent in providing reasonable adjustments.

As a result of having to make yet another complaint about the lack of reasonable adjustments I had a moment of being overwhelmed by thoughts and had a small accident at work with a piece of equipment - no-one was hurt. Very little damage.

As I declared on an accident form that the effect of repeatedly not having the reasonable adjustments led to rumination distracting me, work now want to refer me to Occ Health again.

All this is happening at the same time that I have lodged a grievance for disability discrimination (as advised by union) due to "failure to provide reasonable adjustments."

I feel they are now using the accident, an effect of their lack of support for my disability, as a reason to get rid of me because I can't be trusted with the equipment needed despite no previous incidents in over 30 years of using that type of equipment.

Union are involved, but I could do with some advice / reasssurance.

Parents
  • OAP - Older Autistic Person said:
    I declared on an accident form that the effect of repeatedly not having the reasonable adjustments led to rumination distracting me,

    This is going to be a tricky one as it isn't the lack of the actual adjustments that made you have an accident - it was your distraction that led to it. A subtle but very important differentiation.

    I suspect the management are now thinking that you are:

    a) a troublemaker because of the fact you have made official compaints against them (however justified the complaints are)

    b) likely to be distracted by something else and prone to accidents doing the basic stuff that your jobs involves.

    Neither of these are very fair to you, but it may help you see what is happening in their minds and help formulate a response.

    Personally I would ask for a meeting with them with a union rep present and ask them if you can find a way to work through the issues you face and for you to try to convince them that there will be no other cause for concern from their side.

    That good faith negotiation is about the only way I see this working out for you - you have to be sincere and flexible enough to let them have faith in you after this last incident and they have to reciprocate by making the reasonable adjustments.

    Include regular catch up meetings to let both sides know how it is going and document these in email communications so you have as solid a case as possible if it does go south later on.

    That is what I would do anyway - I hope this is helpful.

Reply
  • OAP - Older Autistic Person said:
    I declared on an accident form that the effect of repeatedly not having the reasonable adjustments led to rumination distracting me,

    This is going to be a tricky one as it isn't the lack of the actual adjustments that made you have an accident - it was your distraction that led to it. A subtle but very important differentiation.

    I suspect the management are now thinking that you are:

    a) a troublemaker because of the fact you have made official compaints against them (however justified the complaints are)

    b) likely to be distracted by something else and prone to accidents doing the basic stuff that your jobs involves.

    Neither of these are very fair to you, but it may help you see what is happening in their minds and help formulate a response.

    Personally I would ask for a meeting with them with a union rep present and ask them if you can find a way to work through the issues you face and for you to try to convince them that there will be no other cause for concern from their side.

    That good faith negotiation is about the only way I see this working out for you - you have to be sincere and flexible enough to let them have faith in you after this last incident and they have to reciprocate by making the reasonable adjustments.

    Include regular catch up meetings to let both sides know how it is going and document these in email communications so you have as solid a case as possible if it does go south later on.

    That is what I would do anyway - I hope this is helpful.

Children
  • in reply to Iain

    Many thanks for the response.

    I have asked for mediation with a union rep present. Union agree this is the way forward.

    Regular catchups with a 'mentor' were already meant to happen, but my manager self-appointed as my mentor, we only had one meeting in seven months, and 100% of the issues I face regarding not getting reasonable adjustments are because of the manager and supervisory team.

    I agree that I am perceived as a troublemaker, but it is unjustified. I am just trying to get the reasonable adjustments which were agreed, and do not accept being spoken to in a disrespectful (and occasionally rude and threatening) manner.

    I see the incident in question as being caused by the lack of support in the same way that a more obviously physically diasbled person might have an issue if their adjustment was removed. It was directly caused by having to make another request for reasonable adjustmets to actually happen.

    They had been informed many times that the lack of reasonable adjustments was causing anxiety - it's why those adjustments were supposed to be put in place.

    Manager and those involved in grievance investigation all agree that my work performance is unquestioned and I am a "model employee" to quote the investigating manager and HR person present.