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Telling Your Employer About Your Diagnosis

AspieJimmy

I am currently in a job in Marketing/Media which has a lot of diversity and not a lot of routine to it which I started 3 months ago. After my opening 3 months which ended yesterday, I have been kept on probation. Before starting my job, I did not tell my employer that I have Asperger's Syndrome. I'm currently finding some new tasks difficult as I am slow in getting to grips with it and my bosses are getting a bit impatient with me.

Would you say I made a mistake in not telling my employer about my ASD or informing the HR department about it? I would link my problems at work to my disorder.

The reason I did not tell them to begin with is because I am worried about being judged or they may find negatives from my disability that they can use as an excuse to dismiss me.

I look forward to reading your advice. 

Parents

  • Hi AspieJimmy,

    Your observations are precisely the main ones I have issues with too.  I'm waiting for a Full Assessment (I was told the Initial one showed several possible indicators of AS), and especially when I found out about problems with verbal instruction and learning tasks, everything fell into place - that's by far my biggest issue.

    As other members have pointed out to me here, it pays to be cautious who you reveal your ASD to, as not everybody has a balanced view of autism.  I am currently not working (I have other health problems too at the moment), but have decided when I go for interviews, that I will tell prospective employers of my possible ASC.  I feel that if I didn't, and had problems, they might say I should have mentioned it to them.  The other side of the argument is that by telling an employer beforehand, how do we know they're not going to use that as an excuse not to employ us, even if they don't tell us why?  However, my understanding is that you have rights when any condition is classed as a disability, as the employers have to make allowances for this, though perhaps other members who have a better understanding of this can confirm this.

    An employer could make allowances for your difficulties by providing written instructions, if they would agree to that, and also in allowing you time to process (and if needed, to write down) their instructions.  They could also be made aware of the very many positive traits of people with Asperger's and autism, namely tenacity, attention to detail, intense focus, logic over emotion, to name just a few - qualities that any employer would be pleased to see in any member of their staff.

    I would certainly see what other members of the forum post on here - we all tackle problems in our own ways, and see things in different perspectives.  This is something I've yet to tackle when I enter the jobseeking world again in the future, but I hope things can improve for you.  Perhaps if your bosses realise there is a reason for your issues, they will understand and make allowances - at least they have kept you on probation, so there is some time to see what other members on here think, before you decide what to do.

    Best of luck, and do keep us up to date with how things develop.

Reply

  • Hi AspieJimmy,

    Your observations are precisely the main ones I have issues with too.  I'm waiting for a Full Assessment (I was told the Initial one showed several possible indicators of AS), and especially when I found out about problems with verbal instruction and learning tasks, everything fell into place - that's by far my biggest issue.

    As other members have pointed out to me here, it pays to be cautious who you reveal your ASD to, as not everybody has a balanced view of autism.  I am currently not working (I have other health problems too at the moment), but have decided when I go for interviews, that I will tell prospective employers of my possible ASC.  I feel that if I didn't, and had problems, they might say I should have mentioned it to them.  The other side of the argument is that by telling an employer beforehand, how do we know they're not going to use that as an excuse not to employ us, even if they don't tell us why?  However, my understanding is that you have rights when any condition is classed as a disability, as the employers have to make allowances for this, though perhaps other members who have a better understanding of this can confirm this.

    An employer could make allowances for your difficulties by providing written instructions, if they would agree to that, and also in allowing you time to process (and if needed, to write down) their instructions.  They could also be made aware of the very many positive traits of people with Asperger's and autism, namely tenacity, attention to detail, intense focus, logic over emotion, to name just a few - qualities that any employer would be pleased to see in any member of their staff.

    I would certainly see what other members of the forum post on here - we all tackle problems in our own ways, and see things in different perspectives.  This is something I've yet to tackle when I enter the jobseeking world again in the future, but I hope things can improve for you.  Perhaps if your bosses realise there is a reason for your issues, they will understand and make allowances - at least they have kept you on probation, so there is some time to see what other members on here think, before you decide what to do.

    Best of luck, and do keep us up to date with how things develop.

Children
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