Advice for my upcoming preliminary hearing and tribunal

Hi everyone,

I’m 39, male, ethnic minority and in 2022 I relocated my wife and two daughters to a new city to take up a new job. My oldest was born in 2018, she was diagnosed with autism in 2021, and she was receiving excellent care in our previous location. In my new job, I had to undertake training for a role that requires a lot of multitasking. 11 months into the training (June 2023), I received complaints that I took too long to answer training questions whilst I was on shift. I explained to my line manager that this is because when I’m learning a new skill, I become engrossed and find it difficult to pull my attention away to answer a surprise question. In June 2023, I told my line manager that I thought I might be autistic so I obtained a referral from my GP for an autism assessment and informed my line manager. End of July 2023, I was placed on a performance improvement plan without any warning, so I asked for reasonable adjustments but these were not properly implemented. The main reasonable adjustment was to ask training questions during less busy periods or to write them down for me to answer later. In September 2023, I saw an occupational therapist through my then-employer who wrote in their report that in their opinion I display typical autistic traits. I subsequently went on sick leave at the end of September 2023 due to stress, anxiety and depression. In October 2023, whilst on sick leave my line manager removed me from my role stating that my reasonable adjustments were unreasonable and my traits made me unsuitable for the role. I raised a formal grievance against my line manager complaining of discrimination against my autistic traits which was not upheld. I was dismissed by my line manager in November 2023 because I raised the grievance which he thought was unreasonable. I am now in the process of going to tribunal and I have a preliminary hearing in a few weeks. I will be representing myself and I do not have legal cover through any home insurance. My former employer’s argument is that I never had a formal diagnosis and that they could not reasonably be expected to know that I have a disability. I am planning to have a private autism assessment soon. Please can anyone offer any helpful advice on how to prepare for the preliminary hearing and tribunal moving forward?