Published on 12, July, 2020
What are peoples opinions on disclosing your diagnosis to your employer? Have you disclosed it, at what point, and what happened? How was you treated by others at work, was it inclusive?
I was diagnosed this year and have been with the same employer for 7 years with very few difficulties. I had a tough time in a particular role but then changed to a more suitable one.
I disclosed my diagnosis in June but to date, the company hasn't actually agreed any reasonable adjustment.
Since I've never applied for a job having a diagnosis, I don't know whether and when I'd disclose it. I would be very cautious of doing so before receving an official contract offer, I'd rather get the job on my merits and I would worry I would be treated unfavourably by doing so. I don't think I would ever make use of the Guaranteed Inverview Scheme.
Acoll said:My problem now is that since my diagnosis I've been worrying about it, and recently have struggled at work. They have asked how they can help - but I don't know - so if anyone can suggest what sort of things help them at work maybe it'll help me!
My problem now is that since my diagnosis I've been worrying about it, and recently have struggled at work. They have asked how they can help - but I don't know - so if anyone can suggest what sort of things help them at work maybe it'll help me!
The main thing I struggle with at work is "organising and scheduling", when I'm doing a large task which will impact other people and I have to arrange a suitable time with a number of different teams for me to make the change. I can't do this at all. After reading some autism books it sounds like I have a "weak Executive function". Following disclosure of my diagnosis to my managers, I just don't do that aspect of the work now, I give it to someone else in the team who is good at that sort of thing. It's a win-win - the company gets the task solved in the most efficient way because we've broken it down into it's component parts and given the sub-tasks to the most able. I do the highly techical part of the solution, which is what I excel at, and I do that far better than anyone else in the team could, and someone else arranges when we can implement it.
There is an expectation at my company for everyone to be a "T-shaped person" - a general breadth of knowledge and expertise in the work, and then a depth of expertise in one particular area. I think of myself as less of a T and more of an I because there's certain things I can't do, and I can't learn to do, such as the organising thing. My brain just doesn't grasp it despite undertaking training - but when I pointed out it makes more sense in my case to give "organising" to someone else, as the team will get a better outcome - the managers agreed that it makes perfect sense. I come into work each day, solve what "normal" people see as very difficult problems (where others would take 5 times as long to come up with an inferior solution), and the company gets a big win.
It's great if you can analyse which bits you struggle with, and then practise to become better at those, but also remember that one solution is always "it's okay to just get someone else to do that bit", because you will excel in other areas.
The above is asuming that it's part of the work you're struggling with. Dealing with getting a diagnosis can also be difficult, because it changes how you think about yourself. It might just be that you're still processing it and that's overwhelming you. It sounds like you have supportive managers, so just take your time and try to have a think about what's happening when you start feeling stressed at work. Autism is different for everyone; I'm not sure if there's a list of "these are the things people with autism can struggle with" apart from the social stuff, so see if you can determine that yourself or maybe by speaking with someone.