Off work due to autistic burnout

Hi everyone,

I am on a secondment at work which means I have got a contract in my workplace in another department, however the secondment I am on is a 'taster' so to speak.

I was diagnosed as autistic this year (looking for an ADHD assessment as well!) So I sent my work amendments to my work place in May and still nothing has been put in place. I was assigned a mentor, however things have been very off and on and due to how busy work is, this person is juggling their own work load so I am sometimes not the first priority.

I was on annual leave for a week and came back to chaos! So many tasks at once, queries hadn't been answered even though a colleague of mine tried their best. I'm not even joking about 6 different tasks had deadlines of that day and it was just too much. I couldn't remember what I had said, what I had done and I was basically a cabbage because my brain just couldn't take the overload of tasks and expectations. I think this has been made worse by my annual Leave and the time of year at work but it doesn't help.

I sent an email to my leads explaining there were too many tasks for my brain to handle and they know I am autistic and they didn't even reply to my email. I understand people are busy however it was very disappointing.

I keep worrying that I would get penalised for taking time off work due to autistic burnout and I have PCOS which has caused me to have a period for a month straight and heavy at that. I have anxiety, depression, autism, possible ADHD, PTSD and BDD. Being on a secondment as well makes me worry that they will think I cannot do my job but I can! Just coming back from tha annual leave has really been too much.

They cannot penalise me for the autistic burnout and time off work can they?

Thanks x