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Sensory Issues in the Workplace

aspie7777

Hi everyone

This is my first question on the forum and I would be grateful for any replies from people who can relate to this issue.

I have Asperger's syndrome although my question relates to a friend of mine who also has Asperger's.  She is doing very well in her job, however, she finds an aspect of her job very stressful, energy-draining and frustrating due to her condition of AS.

Her difficulty is with sensory issues when she has to attend workshops with a large amount of people in one room.  In these workshops there are generally five large tables with five or more people around each table.  The people at each table are required to discuss a topic at the same time as people at the other tables are having separate discussions.  It is extremely difficult and even impossible at times for my friend to concentrate on what her colleagues on her table are saying due to being distracted by the discussions from people at the other tables and other noises.  This situation is very difficult for her and is an obstacle to her fully performing her job.  

My question is to other people on the autism spectrum (and people who care for/support someone with Asperger's/autism) who have struggled in the workplace with similar issues.  My question is:

    What reasonable adjustments in the workplace could my friend ask for?

  • Hi Longman

    Thank you so much for your reply.  The lady concerned is a participant at these workshops. You've given some great ideas that I will pass on to my friend.

  • This is such a common method of examining a subject that I wonder how people on the spectrum cope. It is used in education, in workplace training, as a means of public consultation, in conferences and seminars, and for employment cascades (the concept of involving employees in management issues by allowing them to debate them).Is your friend a facilitator in such discussions or a participant?

    Personally I find these difficult, but it depends on the room size and the number of discussions. If they are in close set 'clusters' crowded into a room, I struggle. All the talking becomes a mush, or begins to sound unintelligible or a foreign language. It also becomes tiring. If it is in a nice big room with large tables well spaced I'm fine.

    The reason I ask if she is a facilitator is that usually means going round the tables or being assigned to one to organise and guide the participants. Less free choice.

    I try to be at a table near one wall or one corner rather than in the middle, and sit at that table/in that discussion where I am near a wall. I find that helps me manage the sound complex.  So if her employers would allow her to avoid being in the middle I wonder if that would help.

    Managing multiple conversation environments seems to be experienced by people for different reasons, dyslexia seems to be a factor, and some hearing difficulties, so it is not just an autism thing, so I wonder why employers/educators/conference organisers expect people to do this in one crowded room. Is it practical to allow discussion groups to go elsewhere - another room or seating space, and come back to the main room to share outcomes? She could ask if her group could sit in another room.

    If she can get an opportunity to explore this, it might help to be a bystander rather than a participant, and sit in different parts of a room to see how it affects her. She may be able to work out which situations are particularly bad, so as to avoid them in future.