Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello! After 29 years of unexplainable difficulties and eventual burn out, I'm currently going through the assessment process and I'm placed on a waiting list right now. I want to sign up to the job centre to claim job seekers allowance or universal credit but my question is, without the official diagnosis would they still make adjustments for me or allow me to join skills for work programmes? I haven't worked in a long time due to what I thought was some kind of chronic stress problem. I can't face going back to a normal job again without reasonable adjustments being made for my needs and sensory problems :( Does anyone have any advice or experience about benefits, job searching and autism? I'm so worried because the waiting lists can be like 20 months or more and if i need the paperwork and diagnosis before I can get support, I have no idea what to do until then Thank you!!
Yes, that's been my experience too imo over the years sadly. I used to be more confrontational and so on about it whereas I 'keep my head down' more these days generally (a more 'stress-free' type approach)
It’s also best not to directly confront work-coaches on any issue, if you want to be stress-free, they only need a whiff of blood in the water and they have a stream of toothless-rhetorical-pseudo-justification to sling at you, so say ‘thank you I’ll take a look, and then defer your rejection of a role until later via email, on the grounds that it’s not suitable’. Do not engage in excusing yourself face-to-face if you want a stress free life, they don’t understand autism, and they’re not interested in why you feel you can’t take a role, they just want you out of their hair.
It’s best to educate you’ve whilst looking for opportunities for healthy-exposure..
And fend off the wolves with criteria for suitable roles, then they’ll push you through all of their schemes eventually, and you can try to find a calling passively, if you have no active goals..
Everything is a fight when you are neurodiverse, essentially the job you find ‘suitable’ is a high-value to anyone else, so when you say neurodivergent they just give you a list of ‘autism-friendly’ companies, who most-of-the-time are only using that label because they’ve exhausted the labour-market of neurotypical-batteries. Which is to say that is nothing easy about getting a high-value job, whether you’re neurodivergent or not, it’s the rat-race at the end of the day..
Well I mean if you just make a list of criterion, that you consider to be characteristics of a job that you find ‘suitable’, they have to honour that..
In my experience, I would say that it all depends on how understanding your work coach is. I was incredibly lucky to have an extremely understanding work coach, who seemed to go out of her way to avoid putting me in situations that might have an adverse effect on my mental and physical health. However, there did come a point when my work coach was having to act on orders from above.
What I discovered is that although the job centre does offer work programmes intended to help the long-term unemployed be 'work-ready' and seek employment, there can be a one-size-fits-all approach. Whilst their information often claims a person-centred approach, it can be completely different in reality. Last summer, I had been referred to the Work & Health Programme, which almost resulted in me having a breakdown. In addition to a one-size-fits-all approach, it soon became apparent that rather than working at the claimant's pace and what was comfortable for them, there was a deadline they were working to. I couldn't cope, so was eventually persuaded by my work coach to request a Work Capability Assessment.
Now, I'm not suggesting that it would be the same for you if you were to apply for Universal Credit, but I do think it's something you should bear in mind.
I think most, if not all job centres have a disability advisor, so you could always try asking if it's possible to make an appointment to speak with them. However, as you haven't actually made an application yet to claim Universal Credit, I feel the chances of the job centre agreeing to that are likely to be slim.
Sari-chan said:without the official diagnosis would they still make adjustments for me or allow me to join skills for work programmes
Unlikely I would say, or loads of people would suddenly decide they were autistic and start asking for all kinds of adjustments to make their life easier.
To get further up the list on your diagnosis, ask your GP to give you "right to choose" which will allow you to choose a private organisation to perform the diagnosis and is normally much, much faster.
If you are not diagnosed then there are no benefits to be had, and even if you are diagnosed, you need to be severely affected by your condition and need to apply for a PIP:
Info on the PIP can be found here:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/benefits-and-money/benefits/types-of-benefit/personal-independence-payment
Info on benefits can be found here:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/benefits-and-money/benefits/types-of-benefit/employment-and-support-allowance
What line of work do you have experience of? Is it the same one you are applying for?