Bullying at work

This is bringing out the subtlety of the kind of workplace bullying that makes it difficult for people on the spectrum to stay in a job, whether they are constructively dismissed (their lives made difficult until they quit voluntarily) or an argument made to dismiss them.

Therefore this thread is very pertinent to adults on the spectrum and the employment issue. We need more threads like this.

I endured years of this subtle bullying in the workplace. I could do my job well and had valuable expertise and ability to offer. But even though diagnosed quite late in life I was well aware there were problems, and therefore was conscious I was at risk of being "got at" and on the defensive as a result. These were mostly foibles to do with social interaction in the workplace. I just seemed inevitably to run into someone in a senior posiion who didn't like me, and some made life very difficult.

What Shoekitten describes is what I think happens to many on the spectrum. It isn't explicit discimination. Its not done in a situation where others can see what is going on. It is always where it is one-to-one and no witnesses, and the "bad" manager plays on the fears and insecurities of the employee.

You might hope for justice. But people like Shoekitten's supervisor survive well in most organisations, despite probably losing their employers money through under-utilisation of "manpower" resources, and absenteeism due to stress. They are clever enough to do their bullying discretely, and appear to be "OK" to onlookers.

These sort of people do enough damage generally. But the impact on people on the spoectrum is whether they can get employment, and I feel we should press for better monitoring in the workplace.

Disability sometimes helps produce greater care in workplace environments and this is one area that would help many others.

This is bringing out the subtlety of the kind of workplace bullying that makes it difficult for people on the spectrum to stay in a job, whether they are constructively dismissed (their lives made difficult until they quit voluntarily) or an argument made to dismiss them.

Therefore this thread is very pertinent to adults on the spectrum and the employment issue. We need more threads like this.

I endured years of this subtle bullying in the workplace. I could do my job well and had valuable expertise and ability to offer. But even though diagnosed quite late in life I was well aware there were problems, and therefore was conscious I was at risk of being "got at" and on the defensive as a result. These were mostly foibles to do with social interaction in the workplace. I just seemed inevitably to run into someone in a senior posiion who didn't like me, and some made life very difficult.

What Shoekitten describes is what I think happens to many on the spectrum. It isn't explicit discimination. Its not done in a situation where others can see what is going on. It is always where it is one-to-one and no witnesses, and the "bad" manager plays on the fears and insecurities of the employee.

You might hope for justice. But people like Shoekitten's supervisor survive well in most organisations, despite probably losing their employers money through under-utilisation of "manpower" resources, and absenteeism due to stress. They are clever enough to do their bullying discretely, and appear to be "OK" to onlookers.

These sort of people do enough damage generally. But the impact on people on the spoectrum is whether they can get employment, and I feel we should press for better monitoring in the workplace.

Disability sometimes helps produce greater care in workplace environments and this is one area that would help many others.