• Replies 4 replies
  • Subscribers 79 subscribers
  • Views 2176 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

NAS Workplace assessments

nickelbutt

Hi,

Having recently been diagnosed with AS after many years of productive work my employer requested a workplace assessment. I received a copy of the report which has raised my concerns. Principally, my manager and I do not see eye to eye and I'm concerned that the report may not be as helpful as I thought it might be. 

IMHO it has overplayed certain aspects of my presentation of AS eg light and sound sensitivity, which though the report admits I do not have any problem with in the office yet suggests I be moved to a quieter area of the office.

However, my greater concern is that the assessment was supposed to talk to people with whom I directly work with. This does not appear to have been done and the only person in my work area consulted was my manager. Comments in the assessment refer to statements such as "Staff have commented ... " which are heresay and IMHO overly reflect my manager's stance.

I have had occasional fatigue and tireness problems at work, which may be AS linked but the repsonse in the report is that I shoould consult with my GP, and makes no allowance for the possibility that it may be due poor sleep patterns due to AS.

The word "struggles" also seems to appear a large number of times implying I have cognitive difficulty, in for example talking about technical matters with my manager when I don't discuss such since she has no technical background and wouldn't understand what I was talking about in any case.

Has anyone had any similar expereince they could share? Or am I worrying overly? I requested the report before it was sent management so I could ask for any corrections to be made. Should I make a thing about possible bias? 

Any advice welcome.

Parents

  • Have since re-read your posting and realised it is not your diagnosis that's concerned here but an assessment of your workplace by an external organisation, and apparently by NAS.

    I've so far failed to find much evidence of research on workplaces, apart from placements for more marked AS via Prospects researched more than a decade ago. I really wish there was more manifest evidence of how any organisation, let alone NAS was in a position to advise on all likely workplaces and all AS "types".

    The danger, in my perception, would be whether the assessment used your personal needs or a stereotyped person with AS. Because it is not just about environments suited to people on the spectrum, its about your individual needs. I have experience of how universities assess needs of students on the spectrum in terms of the teaching and learning environment, and that isn't usually detailed enough to get things right, and in any case more often based on a social model (making supposedly applicable changes in the environment that are supposed to make a unilateral difference, like giving parchment coloured handouts to people with dyslexia on account of a notion it just mustn't be white paper).

    I'm entirely nonplussed at the notion that anyone knows enough about AS in the workplace to carry out a meaningful workplace assessment.

    So if NAS is doing this I implore NAS to give some thought about whether this does more harm than good.

Reply

  • Have since re-read your posting and realised it is not your diagnosis that's concerned here but an assessment of your workplace by an external organisation, and apparently by NAS.

    I've so far failed to find much evidence of research on workplaces, apart from placements for more marked AS via Prospects researched more than a decade ago. I really wish there was more manifest evidence of how any organisation, let alone NAS was in a position to advise on all likely workplaces and all AS "types".

    The danger, in my perception, would be whether the assessment used your personal needs or a stereotyped person with AS. Because it is not just about environments suited to people on the spectrum, its about your individual needs. I have experience of how universities assess needs of students on the spectrum in terms of the teaching and learning environment, and that isn't usually detailed enough to get things right, and in any case more often based on a social model (making supposedly applicable changes in the environment that are supposed to make a unilateral difference, like giving parchment coloured handouts to people with dyslexia on account of a notion it just mustn't be white paper).

    I'm entirely nonplussed at the notion that anyone knows enough about AS in the workplace to carry out a meaningful workplace assessment.

    So if NAS is doing this I implore NAS to give some thought about whether this does more harm than good.

Children
No Data