Telling Your Employer About Your Diagnosis

It may be useful to draw a parallel with universities. Ten years ago the concept of having autistic spectrum students in universities caused considerable alarm.

This was because experience of diagnosed and disclosed autistic spectrum students (that you had to support under the DDA) was relatively small.  The SEN Post 16 guide for Asperger Syndrome came out in 2004, while at the same time, a guide for my subject area about autistic spectrum was based entirely on ONE student.

Obviously people on the spectrum had been through university before 2005, but it really is that recent a phenomena. There was a considerable growth in numbers as the DDA opened up the possibility of taking on diagnosed students. Mythology abounded and many universities had what is termed "a fast learning curve".

The DDA was pretty hard on universities adapting to supporting disability. In comparison the world of work has been less pressured, but more importantly there are substantially more employers than universities, and the chances of a firm or organisation having built up experience, even now, is relatively low.

Compared to universities, where there has been a push to get more students in from disabilities that previously made it difficult, most employers haven't seen that many. I'm not a fan of NAS's only 15% in full-time employment statistic because it is 12 years old and I don't know how it was obtained. But the painful fact is a lot of people on the spectrum cannot obtain secure employment. That inevitably means lots of employers with little real experience or understanding.

Nor am I convinced by NAS's idea of offering consultants to assess individual workplaces. That sounds to me like being a very small proportion of those trying to cope in the workplace.

Also as I keep pointing out on here, and elsewhere, information for employers and training for employers largely based on the Triad of Impairment, and a lot of propaganda about us being good time keepers and computer wizards is failing to grasp the issues. The Triad is a diagnostic tool, not a description of everyday life on the spectrum. So how employers' perceptions are ever going to improve is beyond comprehension. And the fact is we aren't all good time-keepers or computer whizzkids.

Employers get totally the wrong messages.  I wish NAS would listen. And the unions - well they are putting out amazingly ignorant explanations of how to support autism in the workplace.

It may be useful to draw a parallel with universities. Ten years ago the concept of having autistic spectrum students in universities caused considerable alarm.

This was because experience of diagnosed and disclosed autistic spectrum students (that you had to support under the DDA) was relatively small.  The SEN Post 16 guide for Asperger Syndrome came out in 2004, while at the same time, a guide for my subject area about autistic spectrum was based entirely on ONE student.

Obviously people on the spectrum had been through university before 2005, but it really is that recent a phenomena. There was a considerable growth in numbers as the DDA opened up the possibility of taking on diagnosed students. Mythology abounded and many universities had what is termed "a fast learning curve".

The DDA was pretty hard on universities adapting to supporting disability. In comparison the world of work has been less pressured, but more importantly there are substantially more employers than universities, and the chances of a firm or organisation having built up experience, even now, is relatively low.

Compared to universities, where there has been a push to get more students in from disabilities that previously made it difficult, most employers haven't seen that many. I'm not a fan of NAS's only 15% in full-time employment statistic because it is 12 years old and I don't know how it was obtained. But the painful fact is a lot of people on the spectrum cannot obtain secure employment. That inevitably means lots of employers with little real experience or understanding.

Nor am I convinced by NAS's idea of offering consultants to assess individual workplaces. That sounds to me like being a very small proportion of those trying to cope in the workplace.

Also as I keep pointing out on here, and elsewhere, information for employers and training for employers largely based on the Triad of Impairment, and a lot of propaganda about us being good time keepers and computer wizards is failing to grasp the issues. The Triad is a diagnostic tool, not a description of everyday life on the spectrum. So how employers' perceptions are ever going to improve is beyond comprehension. And the fact is we aren't all good time-keepers or computer whizzkids.

Employers get totally the wrong messages.  I wish NAS would listen. And the unions - well they are putting out amazingly ignorant explanations of how to support autism in the workplace.