Should I disclose my Asperger's syndrome on my job application

As someone who always failed job interviews (I ought to be in the Guinness book of records for the category ' Most Job Interviews Failed') which I now put down to my autism, I know what a dilemma you must be in.

I am now 62, so I have the advantage of a great deal of hindsight on how I would deal with things if I had my time again.   Autism can give you a lot of disadvantages in itself in an interview situation.  You may get anxious (most people do) and this leads to a loss of executive function, a delay in processing information and a need to 'stim'.  You can try to quell the stimming, but that them might lead to apparent 'fidgeting'.  You may not give eye contact, so the interviewer thinks you are 'shifty' and evasive.  Your mind may go 'blank' and you may find that even if they asked what two and two make you would hesitate before giving the answer.   NTs are fixated on their ability to judge people, most times they have no idea and get it wrong, they have only read it in books or some non-scrutinised theory is used to judge.  As someone who is autistic you really are a great disadvantage.  And add to all this the 'team-player' which every employer seems to think is the greatest attribute of a potential employee you are really struggling.

As not disclosing my autism never did me any good (I was blissfully unaware of it in all honesty until about four or five years ago and just did not understand why I was failing job interviews however well I prepared myself or howeve well I thought I was suited to the job.  So on that basis, I would certainly consider declaring my autism now in the (very unlikely) chance that I applied for another job.  Public employers are theoretically more likely to understand autism, they invariably state 'we are and equal opportunities employer', although in reality I doubt whether this is more than lip service to make them look good.

I have only ever been offered a permanent job as a result of being sent to an employer by an agency.  The agency which I found most conscientious about finding me a job gave me various tests to find out the skills I had and with them I was rarely out of work for more than a week.  And they found me two permanent jobs, one of which I gave up to do some higher education, that employer did offer me a job again once I finished my training but I declined.

If you do declare you autism the employer will be obliged under the equality act to offer you adjustments at an interview in order that you are not 'disadvantaged'.  In practice I do not really know how this would work, but could include asking more 'leading' questions than the vague ones they usually ask, as well as accepting that eye contact may be difficult and their may be information processing problems which are far more likely to occur during an interview.  Then should you get the job, the employer may accept that you require a routine, that you may not understand some of the 'unwritten' rules of the office and you may prefer to work in a quieter area, that you may not, for example, have much aptitude for telephone calls outside your particular area of expertise and you may prefer to concentrate on the job in hand until it is completed.

Not disclosing should not cause you problems with the employer questioning your honesty should they find out later.  But you have to cross the hurdles above before you even get to the job.  My autism, which was not disclosed due to me not knowing about it (people always thought I was strange and I never have be sociable and always prefer to concentrate on a job and have a very poor short term memory amongst other things).  And it never really caused me a problem in work until I was Tuped over to a job which was substantially different, worked in a way which was alien to my thought processes and involved a lot of changing over from one task to another. 

Since being diagnosed I have had adjustments to my job although the management do not really understand my autism and I get the feeling they think I can just 'turn it off' and be trained not to be autistic.  I cannot, and 'coping' by forcing myself to do something in a way that I find difficult always has a high cost in more sensory overload, anxiety and  meltdowns.

Above all though, have confidence in yourself.  Autism can be a very good gift and employers with an iota of sense should realise that an autistic person can be very well suited to a lot of jobs in the modern world.  And would you really like to work for an employer who discriminated against you for being what you are?

As someone who always failed job interviews (I ought to be in the Guinness book of records for the category ' Most Job Interviews Failed') which I now put down to my autism, I know what a dilemma you must be in.

I am now 62, so I have the advantage of a great deal of hindsight on how I would deal with things if I had my time again.   Autism can give you a lot of disadvantages in itself in an interview situation.  You may get anxious (most people do) and this leads to a loss of executive function, a delay in processing information and a need to 'stim'.  You can try to quell the stimming, but that them might lead to apparent 'fidgeting'.  You may not give eye contact, so the interviewer thinks you are 'shifty' and evasive.  Your mind may go 'blank' and you may find that even if they asked what two and two make you would hesitate before giving the answer.   NTs are fixated on their ability to judge people, most times they have no idea and get it wrong, they have only read it in books or some non-scrutinised theory is used to judge.  As someone who is autistic you really are a great disadvantage.  And add to all this the 'team-player' which every employer seems to think is the greatest attribute of a potential employee you are really struggling.

As not disclosing my autism never did me any good (I was blissfully unaware of it in all honesty until about four or five years ago and just did not understand why I was failing job interviews however well I prepared myself or howeve well I thought I was suited to the job.  So on that basis, I would certainly consider declaring my autism now in the (very unlikely) chance that I applied for another job.  Public employers are theoretically more likely to understand autism, they invariably state 'we are and equal opportunities employer', although in reality I doubt whether this is more than lip service to make them look good.

I have only ever been offered a permanent job as a result of being sent to an employer by an agency.  The agency which I found most conscientious about finding me a job gave me various tests to find out the skills I had and with them I was rarely out of work for more than a week.  And they found me two permanent jobs, one of which I gave up to do some higher education, that employer did offer me a job again once I finished my training but I declined.

If you do declare you autism the employer will be obliged under the equality act to offer you adjustments at an interview in order that you are not 'disadvantaged'.  In practice I do not really know how this would work, but could include asking more 'leading' questions than the vague ones they usually ask, as well as accepting that eye contact may be difficult and their may be information processing problems which are far more likely to occur during an interview.  Then should you get the job, the employer may accept that you require a routine, that you may not understand some of the 'unwritten' rules of the office and you may prefer to work in a quieter area, that you may not, for example, have much aptitude for telephone calls outside your particular area of expertise and you may prefer to concentrate on the job in hand until it is completed.

Not disclosing should not cause you problems with the employer questioning your honesty should they find out later.  But you have to cross the hurdles above before you even get to the job.  My autism, which was not disclosed due to me not knowing about it (people always thought I was strange and I never have be sociable and always prefer to concentrate on a job and have a very poor short term memory amongst other things).  And it never really caused me a problem in work until I was Tuped over to a job which was substantially different, worked in a way which was alien to my thought processes and involved a lot of changing over from one task to another. 

Since being diagnosed I have had adjustments to my job although the management do not really understand my autism and I get the feeling they think I can just 'turn it off' and be trained not to be autistic.  I cannot, and 'coping' by forcing myself to do something in a way that I find difficult always has a high cost in more sensory overload, anxiety and  meltdowns.

Above all though, have confidence in yourself.  Autism can be a very good gift and employers with an iota of sense should realise that an autistic person can be very well suited to a lot of jobs in the modern world.  And would you really like to work for an employer who discriminated against you for being what you are?