Published on 12, July, 2020
This feels incredibly dangerous for Autistics - has anyone read this completely? Does anyone at the @NAS @mod know if there is legal assistance and if there is an Emergency number for any incident involving the misrepresentation and misunderstanding when Autistics are falsely accused?
At a younger age, even late into my 20s and 30s I would've re-stated things I'd heard others say to try and seem agreeable to others around, to fit in, to try to make friends, and severely misunderstood the context. Or a thing is accidentally said backwards or with the wrong vocabulary due to maturing slower, due to a difficulty with words. Around 30 I learned: Anything I say can and will be held against me. This felt unfair, but I kept repeating that phrase to myself.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-crime-hate-incidents-code-of-practice/non-crime-hate-incidents-code-of-practice-on-the-recording-and-retention-of-personal-data-accessible
"A non-crime hate incident (NCHI) means an incident or alleged incident which involves or is alleged to involve an act by a person (‘the subject’) which is perceived by a person other than the subject to be motivated - wholly or partly - by hostility or prejudice towards persons with a particular characteristic."
Something like this has happened to me. In a work situation. I was duty manager and questioned one of the staff about being late into work. So what you say.....
I had witnessed this from outside work as I was starting later. As often with me I got caught up with all manner of things and forgot about the timekeeping. It was late in the day when I remembered so I approached the staff member and asked were you late?
I got blatant denial and asked what proof did I have? So I started to question every aspect of what I saw in the morning in order to prove to myself and the staff member that I was correct.
Staff member blew up at me and stormed off to complain about me. Hence I got a formal complaint made against me for bullying and aggression and there was an investigation. I received witness statements before I had to have an investigation meeting. in the staff members statement there was a basic admission that they were late but it was only a few minutes!
At my meeting I was accused of contradicting myself for giving the reasons I questioned the staff member and for saying if they had just admitted it then there would be no needed to question further.
To me that was basically the same thing.
Anyway there is still no conclusion to this
This is a mild but good example of the above. Thanks for sharing.
This makes no sense to me:
Mr T said:I was accused of contradicting myself for giving the reasons I questioned the staff member and for saying if they had just admitted it then there would be no needed to question further.
But THIS is exactly how NT's operate. I've seen this in action:
Mr T said:blatant denial and asked what proof did I have
Things like this always catch me off guard. In a work situation one has to do all this extra mental work to come across in a way that's not accusational "I know it's a few minutes, but being late isn't tolerated and it's my job so help me help you". Overseeing others who aren't autistic can be exhausting!
I could not understand what the HR person was talking about. The reason I had to go into so much detailed questioning was to reinforce to myself that I was correct as I was completely floored by the outright denial. It ended up with my union officer and HR arguing over the point and the meeting was adjourned.
I didn't want to get into too much detail on a open forum as there still has not been a resolution to the investigation.