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Rejected reasonable adjustments - struggling

illustrated.lady

Hello,

I'm newly diagnosed with autism, I'm in my thirties and I was diagnosed in April. Work has been a struggle for me for a long time and my attendance is poor, largely due to anxiety and stress.

I requested reasonable adjustments - one was to work from home and was to remove one of my additional responsibilities. My request to work from home one day a week was denied as my role apparently cannot be done from home (people in similar roles work a day from home) and my additional responsibility was removed but with a reduction of hours in my contract. 

I sought advice from my union and they advised to reject my work's proposed 'adjustments' and have a meeting with them with the union rep present but honestly the fire in my belly has just been extinguished so I begrudgingly accepted the 'adjustments' whilst making clear that they don't support me.

I feel hurt that my request was rejected so outright with no justification. There is more than enough work to be done in my primary role but instead of helping me, they took hours from me. I'm in this cycle now where I manage a few days in, then I'm off sick, my attendance is awful. I haven't had any follow up with my management and I've just been left to it. 

I have requested a referral to occupational health in the hope they can suggest some adjustments. I am looking at and applying to other jobs because at this point I honestly just need to get out but I need try and make this work in the meantime! 

Any advice/support would be greatly appreciated.

Parents

  • I'm sorry - it sounds like you're having a really tough time.

    From what I've learnt from my wife who's an HR Manager, autism is a disability. Employers have a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace. I'm probably autistic (and in my 50s) and looking back on a previous job, realised it was the wrong environment for me.

    A now work part time for a university in a creative studio and the support has been amazing. I think many creative people are ND, and I hope that shows that there are positive places to work.

  • in reply to Mr_Indeed_Autism
    Mr_Indeed_Autism said:
    Employers have a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace.

    The key word here is reasonable.

    Employers can argue that an option is too expensive, means the job cannot be performed remotely, will set an example that will destabalise the team, impacts others etc etc.

    I know the way they think and they can typically make it a grey enough area to work around the spirit of the law and thus avoid a lawsuit.

    There don't seem to be many mid or senior level autistic managers - most of us struggle even in low level manager roles and can't take all the bulldroppings that go with working with these sorts of higher level managers.

    They make decisions based on their world views and they rarely align with ours which leads to struggles for so many of us. It is little surprise that only around 20% of autists are in full time employment.

Reply
  • in reply to Mr_Indeed_Autism
    Mr_Indeed_Autism said:
    Employers have a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace.

    The key word here is reasonable.

    Employers can argue that an option is too expensive, means the job cannot be performed remotely, will set an example that will destabalise the team, impacts others etc etc.

    I know the way they think and they can typically make it a grey enough area to work around the spirit of the law and thus avoid a lawsuit.

    There don't seem to be many mid or senior level autistic managers - most of us struggle even in low level manager roles and can't take all the bulldroppings that go with working with these sorts of higher level managers.

    They make decisions based on their world views and they rarely align with ours which leads to struggles for so many of us. It is little surprise that only around 20% of autists are in full time employment.

Children
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