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Employment 'Advisor' Advice

Normalish

Hello. I thought I'd post this experience here to see what a wider audience made of it - moreso, a wider relevant audience.

This week I met with an employment advisor, the referral to whom was the final hurrah of a discontinued counsellor last year. I did meet her last year and she was moderately helpful, thus when I fell into an employment rut, I sought out her advice once again.

In the meantime, this diagnosis bombshell landed, so... I took this news with me, to see what advice she could give about how to use it going forward.

Her advice was basically not to mention it on applications forms, or at interview, so as to avoid being dismissed for the position out-of-hand. Whilst this initially made sense to me, she then went on to suggest I only mention it if and when they offered me employment, as they are then legally required to make "reasonable adjustments" and if they then withdrew the offer of employment, I would have a case for a tribunal.

This was all a lot of information to take in and, upon reflection, seems a cynical and downright deceitful approach. Surely the employer would simply accuse me of misleading them from the very beginning and then I would be the one in the wrong? In which case, why are they not then entitled to retract that job offer, when I applied almost under false pretences, as it were? Or is her assertion that their legal obligation really is that forceful that they must then still employ me?

It's all very confusing, and I don't know what to try for the best! I feel I might as well just stay in the job I've got, however unsuitable it may be!

  • Hi classic codger,

    I've just removed some of the language you've used in your post. This is no way a criticism. Just wanted to remind people to avoid putting swear words in their posts as it may offend some people http://community.autism.org.uk/rules/commentingtips

    Thanks Smile

    Sofie Mod

  • I would always come down on the side of not informing... after all, it is personal health information.

    This is probably me just being Aspie, but...  If, on whatever forms you fill in or questions they put to you, they do not ask you if you have Autistic Spectrum Condition, can you then ever be regarded as having done something wrong by not telling them?

    I can't help feeling that telling a prospective employer before an interview, that you have ASC, would most likely prejudice your chances... whatever your rights are on paper. In the wider world people tend not to have any real knowledge or understanding of Autism, and many will avoid what they do not understand.

    Plunging into a tribunal before you have even started would be 'making a point', but how comfortable would you feel working in a company you had faced in an adversarial position right at the beginning of your employment.
    A tribunal would also be extremely stressful for an Aspie... a point obviously not understood by your employment advisor. 

  • Sound advice as ever Classic Codger.

    If you do disclose that you are autistic before the interview, you are allowed to ask for reasonable adjustments during the interview process, as are physically disabled people.

    This might mean having longer to answer questions or being allowed to ask them to clarify their questions if they are ambiguous or not phrased in a way that we'd readily understand.

    But its your right not to disclose that you are autistic or not to disclose until you get the job. Neither is deception, just you protecting yourself in a world that is not kind to us.

    But to disclose or not to disclose is a minefield, books could (and probably have) be written on the subject.

  • The answer you got is typical of the kind of lies and deception that NTs use daily, so for your advisor, it's perfectly normal to be moraly corrupt. She's devised a strategy there that she would use to get a job if she were in your shoes. That's what she thinks. She is also assuming that if you disclose, you won't get a job. That's a pretty sick attitude from an advisor, and as it happens, a total misconception. If I was allowed to swear [Removed by mod].

    Many employers now subscribe to 'guaranteed interview' for disabled people. I think it would be disingenuous to suppose that they don't consider the value of the person they are interviewing because they don't want to employ a disabled person.

    Put it another way. Would you really be content to work for someone who would reject you because of your condition? There are employers who would tend to want to employ you with your condition, because they appreciate and want the unique skills that we have.

    The decision about whether or not to disclose is yours, but please don't taint yourself by being deliberately dishonest, because you know very well that later, it would haunt you if you did.

    Pretending you've got a couple of hundred university degrees is false pretences, choosing not to disclose your personal health information isn't.