Reasonable adjustments/Access to work for autistic teacher

Sparrow said:

I’m wondering what adjustments could possibly be made

I have been looking at the DWP Health Adjustments Passport (and Guidance Notes) to help me think wider about potential Reasonable Adjustments.  Wondered if you might find it useful too?

DWP Health Adjustments Passport and Guidance Notes

Agreed I’ve already excused myself from 2 work events, one being the faculty jolly to the school production. Fun for the rest of them but torture as far as I’m concerned. Am asking for a room timetable so I can hide and work alone during PPA time. I can’t focus in a room with others. 

I no longer go on any works social events. I don't think I am missed. We have work rooms but often these are crowded and a sensory and social nightmare. I like days when I only speak to children best! 

Simple adjustment that don't cost should be achievable. 

Hi. So for the mental health providers, you have to apply directly for 1 of the two providers of the service for Access to Work for Mental Health. After filling in the form, then I had a phone call to discuss my eligiibility. Once that was approved, I had a inital telephone call which lasted about 1 hour to go through my problems and to start looking at the issues. 

I've only had this first session so I can't really give feedback of whether I would recommend the provider I chose or not.

The first session was talking about relaxation techniques. I always stuggle with this and have tried before, but I am giving it a new try. There were some new techniques that she recommended.

I hope your NHS anxiety therapy helps while you decide whether you want to give the Access to Work Scheme a try. I have had a load of different types of therapy over the years. This is more work coaching I think, which is what I was looking to try.

All the best. Mrs Snooks. x

Thanks! How did you know what you could ask for? I’ve looked at this and come away baffled. I’m starting on my local NHS talking therapy for anxiety soon. 

Hooray! A fellow secondary autist! Agree the actual teaching is not the problem. It’’s an act. I can be quite entertaining and I enjoy the analytic element of working out how best to help learners. It’s all the social expectations, the sensory overload and the sheer volume of work I’m finding tough. It’s a massive school and none of us have our own rooms. I’m compiling a simple list of reasonable adjustments (eg written instructions) but I think it’s too much to do full time 

I am an autistic teacher, in secondary. I cope reasonably well, as I find teaching is often about putting on a show, so the teacher mask comes on in school, and comes off when I go home. Maybe that helps me. I should hate it, bright lights, noise, chaos, but i seem to thrive.

Schools should he well aware of reasonable adjustments for students so it follows that they are made for staff too.

Hi Sparrow, I have just started the government Access to Work Scheme. It is the mental health providers that I use - for problems with anxiety and depression. I have only just started with my first session last week. Let me know, if you want any further details. x

Sparrow said:

I’ve done quite a bit of research so far and it does seem that autistic teachers are mainly ex like Pete Wharmby or very part time. It’s a punishing job for NTs (massive recruitment & retention crisis) let alone us autists. 

Yes I completely understand why, school environments often lead to burnout for both autistic students and staff. It’s a shame though our younger neurokin need autistic role models who understand their neurology intuitively.

Unless the education system is overhauled massively then, I think both autistic students and staff will continue to experience burnout.

Thanks! I have this book. I’ve done quite a bit of research so far and it does seem that autistic teachers are mainly ex like Pete Wharmby or very part time. It’s a punishing job for NTs (massive recruitment & retention crisis) let alone us autists. 

Thank you Chloe! Am exploring all options whilst pondering whether I need a different career.

I have hearing loss! So have the good luck to be able to switch off the world whenever I like. It’s great. I just pull out my hearing aids during assembly etc. 

Hi! I am not a teacher however, you may find the book ‘Learning from Autistic Teachers’ useful:

https://uk.jkp.com/products/learning-from-autistic-teachers

Hello Sparrow,

Thank you for sharing this with the community. I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling at work at the moment. You may like to have a look at out information from the NAS on employment support if you need it:

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment/support-at-work/autistic-adults

I hope this is useful,

ChloeMod

@happy wheels, I think the reason I am confused is that I researched ASD so thoroughly and waited four years for this, which completely convinced me. I barely gave ADHD a glance. I've linked a lot of my experiences to ASD, but what is ADHD in reality? It feels like I've regressed significantly.

Sparrow said:

Would be nice not to have some of the louder students

Have you looked into noise cancelling earphones? They should help regulate the noise of some of the students and block out a lot of background noise to make your ears less "stressed" through the day.

This is very good advice, I’ll start jotting things down. Would be nice not to have some of the louder students but I do have the advantage of being able to turn them down! Thanks. 

Sparrow said:

I’m wondering what adjustments could possibly be made

The best starting point would be for you to create a list of things that are stressful or difficut for you in the workplace.

For each of these, create a list of things which could make it less stressful and rank them in order of most help.

You will have a long list I expect.

Now on each of these note how practical and cost effective they would be to implement. Forget anything expensive or difficult to implement (eg if the fix is to get rid of students then it isn't going to work).

Your top half dozen items of easy to implement and low cost are probably what will get accepted, but throw in one or two of the ones that make a lot of difference to you just in case.

This will become a negotiation between you and them as to what is "reasonabe" to implement, but whatever gets approved it helps to think that each item is a way to improve things, so don't see any unapproved items as a loss.

Remember to keep copies of all communications, send in everything by email (to improve tracking) and if they don't confirm meeting outcomes in writing then write to them to say that "this is what I understand was agreed in the meeting, can you confirm please" so you get them on record just in the outside case that it all goes wrong later on.

Keep copies of all this at home just in case you lose access to your work email etc.

That would be how I would do it.