Greetings

Ditto for me SLT.

My fixation has allowed me to start building my own traits/behaviours but know that nobody actually understands, listens to or involves the best person to understand what makes them tick - I know what I am good at, what I am poor at so I know myself best.

Get to know/find all company policies/procedures as well because, in my experience, nobody really knows about them (from top to bottom), some good sites have been identified wrt Unison/Unite, ACAS and Equality Act 2010.  

It may be worth engaging with say NAS/etc to have some awareness sessions and/or get people to go on MHFA training (England, Wales, etc). Please be aware that these sessions may be basic too and may not give such an in depth knowledge of each mental health condition traits/behaviours.

Also look at the thread https://community.autism.org.uk/f/miscellaneous-and-chat/15074/positive-ways-your-autism-affects-you

I always believe, when people think they know best and refuse to budge it is usually to cover up incompetence. On the lead up to the assessment the line manager of the colleague had talked about how they'd been through the process before with other colleagues and how stressful it is so they would need support which they withdrew at the last minute saying the workplace assessment would not be stressful. I'd had some time off work and when I came back my colleague had worked themselves up so much, it upsets me at times as I know I don't fully understand how I can help in those situations. I'd originally been due to attend for certain parts but after all this we decided it was best for myself to sit in all the time.

Inconsistent communication, contradictory procedures are rife where I work. As a supposedly disability confident employer I can't see how we meet the criteria, I've been trying to work out how they audit those that sign up to this but can't for the life of me find out how, I possibly need to dig a little deeper.

I'm going to push for neurodiversity awareness training for all line managers as it is something important to have knowledge of (aside from questionable representations in the media) because neurodiversity is, well, diverse. I believe the workplace assessment will suggest this but I'm worried my employers will fall down the trap of only training line managers where a colleague has declared a condition the falls under neurodiversity. 

My experience in the workplace is as a high functioning autistic adult with co-existing co-ordination disorder, and kidney disease. My workplace were very accommodating about the kidney disease. Unfortunately I was not diagnosed with autism until I took early retirement at the age of 55. I worked as an Assistant Principal and taught English for thirty five years. Education is very accommodating for children with autism but it is different if you work in this system as an adult. Once retired I started teaching ESOL. I told a colleague about my diagnosis as I felt she would understand. It led her to treat me badly - although in her eyes she was supporting the disabled person who she said had a learning disability . I complained to management under the terms of the disability act of 2010 which cites our diagnosis as a protected condition. The CEO had a meeting between myself and the colleague which ended in me refusing to work with her because her idea of an apology was to say she was helping me.She basically lied about everything and I refused to have her working in my classroom. She was then given other duties to do and has not been allowed to work in my area since. At the same time I was asked by another employer - I work sessional hours for a number of organisations - to complete a health questionnaire given my disabilities. I refused on the basis that the more I tell people the more they use it against me - because they are in their eyes, trying to help. This act of enabling which is actually taking away any of our ability to act for ourselves is rife in educational employment and very disturbing. Luckily the management of the place who asked me to complete a health questionnaire further to other candidates who did not have autism or disabilities, have accepted my decision not to. I raise the issue of my health when it affects my work only now.Positive outcomes will only influence our work when other adults in the workplace start listening to what we need instead of making choices for us and thinking that everyone on the spectrum is exactly the same and that neurotypical adults know better than we do. It is both condescending and disgusting that anyone should suggest they know better than the person in question. One size does not fit all. The spectrum is vast and it is time that the workplaces we find ourselves in work with the people, not for what they believe autism is. Teachers are the worst culprits as many are good at accepting difference whilst many think they know what it means for us and take away our value of choice and progression by their lack of knowledge of being autistic and too much book knowledge. You would be amazed at how many people there are out there in management who think they know better than the person themselves and this is double trouble for anyone on the spectrum.

I'm (hoping) to attend my unions Health and Safety Forum next week and I'm hoping there will be some discussion on this. I'm also going to push for some form of neuro-diversity awareness training to be available for line managers (which is where I find any issues usually stem) via the Health and Safety Committees in work.

Does Unite offer Neuro-Diversity Training for reps?

It sounds as if it isn't just a workplace management issue but more needs to be done by reps also. We've had a decrease in the number of reps over the years. I feel, with all the pressure in the workplace, pay freezes, staff cuts, a lot of staff are afraid to get involved in case it reflects badly on their work.

Also a.union rep, equaliry rep and healrh and safery rep for unite ( and previously unison) and autistic.  

Had.great.problems.myself in the workplace, and main problem wirh NT reps.is that it is very difficult to get them to understand, from my experience at least with my problems.  It took a long time, mainly me working on my own case, to.get my case resolved.  How I would have done this without my own union training and experience I don't know as.I was advised by my union officer to not fight my case.and.got no help.whatsoever.

I am a member of the regional disabled committee for unite, but perhaps an all-union autism ( or neuro-diverse)  group would be an idea, there are many problems on here where people have not got the advice they really need from.their union reps.

Thank you! That's quite worrying, although hopefully more are trying to help and just lurking rather than getting involved in discussions.

I think I have a basis for search, I know what my concerns are, also I know where I believe they're failing and I'm just looking for that back up.

Hello, thank you! Have you encountered any difficulties in your workplace?

Many thanks for this! There has been a lot of back and forth at my place of work regarding mental health first aiders. I can understand the concerns, mainly on how staff taking on the role would cope but I also worry that as soon as staff train to do this some of management will be trying to push duty of care on to the staff carrying out the role. Duty of care always sits with the employer and the responsibility sits with management.

My union offers a neuro-diversity course, unfortunately it hasn't been up north recently, I'm going to see if I can actually get them to hold one in my region. They also offer some free distance learning courses which I plan to do (NCFE CACHE  Mental Health Awareness and NCFE CACHE Understanding Depression and Anxiety).

I have bookmarked a number of items from ACAS. I've also taken to printing parts of the Equality Act 2010 to highlight. I find, when they consider something not to be a reasonable adjustment, it usually goes completely against the Equality Act...Sometimes I'm arguing that things aren't even a reasonable adjustment, they should just be happening.

My colleague has been told by someone in HR to "just get on with it" - it was just baffling, fortunately we spoke to the local HR business partner who, although they don't support our division, is always understanding and compassionate. Staff here are frequently told to do resilience training when the going gets tough.

I see those traits in my colleague, along with losing eye contact - sometimes closing their eyelids especially when trying to convey how they're feeling about a situation. Fortunately we have also worked together for years so he is comfortable with me.

Greetings.    

Welcome! :)

I concur with you Cloudy Mountains although, the beauty of language is in the variety, what do I search for?

Then it is the NT's using one word and the ND's thinking something completely different.  I cannot change so you have to think differently in how you say things that are confusing to an ND person.

All this talk of KPI's and Roadmaps in work and why don't you use metrics and project plans because I do not need a roadmap (or to create one) as I have Google Maps, Apple Maps, both in my car (dashboard/phone) or a paper roadmap of the country.

Hello and welcome!

It's good to see someone doing their research, to help your fellow workers, and gain an understanding of autism. My hats off to you!

I'd say my best tip here is to type things you might want to look at into the search bar. There are lots of threads concerning work and health related issues.

Again welcome, and well, thanks! It's not often we get posts like this one!

It may be worth you requesting attending a course on Mental Health First Aid from https://mhfaengland.org

Also read the thread - https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/14880/employer-invalidating-diagnosis to give you an over view.

Look to Equality Act 2010 to find out the legal aspect, company policies and procedures (liaise with Occupation Health who may be aware of some) - maybe difficult as you currently don't know what you don't know.

Also look to ACAS for some information on it too.

Remember that, as a spectrum there are many traits and many levels e.g. told to pull sock up = some check their socks and some don't (this is taking things literally).  Plus everyone is different and in my case my traits become worse during anxiety/stress.

Watch for shaking hands/arms, head in hands, slapping head and strange outbursts when anxious as I have those signs.

hello and welcome! I am a union rep and have Aspergers myself.