Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello, my name is Sharon. I joined this website/community to gain a better understanding of autism.
I'm a TU rep within my organisation as well as a Health and Safety rep and I'm currently supporting a colleague who is due to undergo a Workplace Assessment. This is the second time I've supported a neuro-diverse member of staff, although with the first I was only involved very late on so never experienced the assessment this means I'm not fully sure what to expect.
I'm mainly looking to find out the experience others have, in the workplace as well as with the assessment. I'm constantly looking to develop my knowledge, help influence positive outcomes and to ensure everyone has equality within their place of work (and everyday life).
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.
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.