Any thoughts (or, even better, information and reputable guidance which would carry weight in a dispute) on the following:
To what extent can employers be expected to identify autism traits when they're getting in the way of the working role, (even if they can't put the name autism to the tests/difficulties), and to have a duty to raise this with the employee?
A very wordy question, sorry.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Although I have slept little, I feel a but better for having Dunne do, and for waking up to your reply. I suspect looking up information would set my head spinning again, though than you for posting a link - I did ask, after all!
I don't have the impression that they identified my difficulties as a health issue, rather view me as a difficult, inflexible, abrupt person who asks difficult and irrelevant questions, can't get it together to tidy their desk, isn't naturally good at working with groups, laughs when they're being serious, makes inappropriate comments, nit picking at minor things when they were just looking for brief encouragement about a written piece (but also with specialist knowledge and experience of significant value to the organisation, interested in detail and finding out things, passionate about equality and rights and with an obscure sense of humour - the 2 last point being a mixed blessing).
So I find it hard to believe that issues could go unnoticed, including frequently being tired particularly over the last year, and staying very late on occasion. In fact, a particular aspect of communication was criticised on 2 separate occasions, and I responded that despite my effort to respond to others as they prefer, I was disappointed that this seemed to have gone unnoticed and my efforts were not reciprocated. And more than 1 manager did comment on me staying late.
It's an organisation supporting people who are often experiencing difficult things when they get in contact (affecting or related to health, disability or social circumstance, but not a disability related organisation specifically). One person, who I think finds me most difficult, is trained in social work and has worked in a support organisation with a significant proportion of people with learning disabilities. I also met a relative of this person and I would not be at all surprised if I was told that the relative was on the spectrum.
We don't have an OH department and, apart from counselling, OH is pretty much via the GP...unless I came out with it all in a last ditch attempt to see if they wanted to make a private referral (as NHS is a long way off yet).
At this point, I'm undiagnosed, pending redundancy (unless I accept a role which I know I cannot fulfil but, in the absence of diagnosis or at least recognition of difficulties which could amount to a disability, is on the face of it a reasonable option) and with a mortgage to pay and no long term means of doing so (no threat of imminent homelessness though). So, one may think that this is not sufficiently solid to expect things to be mentioned. I'm not sure how it looks from others' perspectives, as I obviously have more context and am in the middle of it all. However, with the clock ticking, I need to ask every question I can to be sure that I'm not throwing away a chance at holding the organisation to account (over and above the aspects described, also shortcomings in support which would make the job more difficult for anyone), and taking any action I can to give myself the most secure launch into unemployment and, realistically, unemployability for the near future - at least until I can get an assessment and ?diagnosis, to make future work more achievable.
I think I would struggle in most workplaces (for social interaction reasons which are complicated by other factors, which would be too personal and make me very identifiable if I were to name the factors).
By the way, I'm sure that alcoholism was just an example, but for the record is definitely not an issue for me! :-)
An employer has responsibilities to employees but they cannot be held responsible for identifying a condition, such as autism, in their staff. They must, however, not discriminate against anyone who has or appears to have problems due to a disability. (Equality Act).
Employers actually should not try and identify conditions like autism as this is outside of their expertise and pinning labels on people without being able to back it up would be wrong.
If performance appears to be affected by a health issue then they are entitled to get an asessment by an occupational health provider who may identify an issue and may also identify whether the issue prevents effective performance in a role. Employers are required to provide occupational health schemes mainly as they have a duty to identify health issues such as stress that might be caused by working conditions. An OH doctor may deem that the health problem will prevent reasonable performance (e.g. if dexterity is required in a role then dyspraxia may effecively bar you from successfully performing the role).There is lots to read about OH try www.hse.gov.uk/.../employers.htm for starters
The OH doctor may deem that you have a disability and that "Reasonable Adjustments" are required. In this case the employer must provide any reasonable adjustments suggested by OH and the person will gain protection from dismissal unless and until all reasonable adjustments have been provided.
At the end of the day, you still may not be able to perform at the required level but this is difficult to prove unless they can compare your performance with colleagues and it is clear that you are not keeping up. If there are no comparable colleagues then would easily ead to a dispute about what is reasonable to expect.
Employees also have responsbilities to make efforts to maintain their own health and to try and make themselves available for work in a healthy condition. It is not the employers responsibility to sort out problems such as alcoholism. Sickness can be a valid reason for dismissal in certain circumstances.
So my questions would be, did they suspect a health issue and did they refer you to occupational health?
I've been round the loop of OH and disputes with employers. It isn't fun but the OH doctors I have met have been professional and understanding and did point out to an employer that I was protected under the Equality Act. Sometimes though you may have to accept that the situation is beyond repair and that the best solution is to move on and try and learn from the past and make the next job more bearable. I've just decided this for myself after 10months of trying to make a job work - I have decided that the culture in the organisation isn't going to work for me or them so I am moving on.
