Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I was diagnosed as autistic 2 days ago at the grand old age of 49. I live alone in London, I have a fairly decent job in the NHS which i have managed to keep despite having a lot of time off in the past with mental health related issues and i used to do a fair amount of drinking and drugs to alter my mood and make me more sociable. It didnt really work but I thought it did. i gave it all up entirely a few years ago.
I only have one friend nowadays in London that i see every couple of weeks for a couple of hours as I dont really like socialising even with people i love.
I have only really done the minimal research on autism and despite suspecting for a while that my problems may have a neurological component, my diagnosis was still a shock. I still dont really know what it means for me and how to move forward with my life. I expect ill start with being a little easier on myself when i dont act as I think i should.
Im excited to get to know myself a bit better to be honest and I know that I am lucky to have a job and live an independent albeit solitary life.
I am wondering how to tell my boss at work or even if I should, the NHS has lots of support which i feel would be silly of me to ignore.
Does anyone else have experience of telling their boss or colleagues they are autistic? I am worried they arent going to believe me to be honest and I dont really know how they will react.
I dont know any other autistic people at all so I thought I would drop in and say hi and hover about the forums.
Hope you are all well
J
Hello, welcome. I've just joined and finding this a great community to be a part of hopefully you are as well. Nice one on having and keeping a job. I've been looking for work for years but no luck on getting one yet, feels like I never will but hopefully soon that will change. What do you do with the nhs?
Nice to meet you. Take care
Hi, thank you for your kind message and it is nice to meet you too! I work as a tech making radioactive drugs, it's practical, I do a lot of work alone and I don't have any patient contact so it suits me perfectly to be honest as my interactions are only with a small group of people. There is a big push in the NHS at the moment to recruit more neurodivergent staff and there is growing support. Although that's just what the emails say. I'm sure there is plenty of misunderstanding and ignorance as well. There are plenty of jobs at all skill levels so if you haven't already you could consider having a look! I've been here for 5 years so I still have no idea how my boss or colleagues will react when or if I disclose my asd. What an adventure!