Work

NAS96523 said:

I been in my job 22 years and just been put to a disciplinary first time ever

Can you share the general nature of why you are on a disciplinary notice? This typically requires you to have broken a specific rule or experienced significantly degraded performance.

I'm with Mr T in advising you give HR a redacted copy of your diagnosis - you can do this easily with a trial copy of something like Adobe Acrobat on your home computer. It needs to clearly show you have an autism diagnosis and anything else can be reasonably hidden as it is not relevant to your relationship with your employers.

On the subject of HR - don't think they are there to help you. Their job is to protect the company so they will always look after the management unless the risk of doing so is greater than the harm it would cause the company. Treat them with caution.

A union is a better option - if you are not already in one then join now.

NAS96523 said:

some of the things I do annoying

You know this so learn to stop doing them. It can be seen as purposefully annoying your colleagues so work on it. If you struggle to do this then I recommend seeing a therapist who can work through techniques to do this - you should be able to do this with practice.

I'm sure some may think you should be able to be authentic and keep doing these things, but it is only common decency to consider those who you impact. Just because you are autistic does not give you a right to be intrusive to others when you are capable to controlling it.

At the end of the day, once your boss latches onto that fact that you are autistic then it is often only a matter of time until they make you want to leave by subtly making work less and less pleasant for you. This way there is no liability on their part and no payout when you go and they get to hire a "better fit" for the team.

Keep all interactions in electronic format (eg write up minutes of any meetings or ask to record them) and keep copies sent to your personal email address. Make sure all requests and decisions are clearly defined  - use SMART (specific, measured, achievable, realistic and time constrained) for any measures they want and detail it all by email, including follow ups by the dates agreed.

This will make them realise you are keeping a close eye on them and have material enough to sue them if they don't keep up their end of the bargain.

Also find the contact of an employment solicitor so you can reach out to them if it all looks like it is turning sour - few things focus the company like the potential of a law suit.

Plan for the worst and hope for the best - that will help I think.

Excellent advice as always Iain

Excellent advice as always Iain