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New here (self) diagnosed this Autumn, 26 non-binary, UK

Beech474

Hello NAS community, 

Recently discovered I am autistic at 26, tentatively self advocating for accommodations and awareness in my personal and work life.  

I am excited to hear from people in the autism community about their lives. 

  • in reply to Beech474

    The sad thing is that many people get bullied or even made redundant/fired/not prolonged after disclosure.  So better be careful. Not everywhere it works.

  • in reply to Alien0n3arth

    Hi  thank you for describing the situation with your work :) 

  • Hi, welcome to the community!

    It's good that you self discovered. Advocating for your needs is important, but at work it's sometimes tricky. Especially disclosing your condition. In my case I'm a warehouse worker, it's a warehouse of a hardware store,  so at times it's very loud there. I'm allowed to wear earplugs. Other accommodation is that I get additional explanation if I don't understand the situation (was it joke or serious for example) and my manager looks at my direction at times when they sit together and chat even though I don't take part or sometimes very rarely. I'm not tge only ND person there and they seem to be more open for people with conditions and disabilities both physical and mental.

    I told my manager what suspected condition I have, described him shortly what are my struggles and needs. I told him, that I can't take part in a social chat, although I would like to, because it's all too fast and too chaotic for me. He smiled but understood. I also have strengths - catching all transportation damages on the goods, documenting and reporting then Immediately (I know, they struggled with it before I came) and I have a "laser" in my eyes - when we get a delivery of screws and nuts, my colleagues swear but I just take it and quickly and accurately sort them on the shelves and hangers. I'm known for being hard working but also weird and I get questions if I can speak or people doubt that I understand,  what they say. Yes I do. Recently one lady was amazed that I can write. I'm not sure if it was bullying or what. Kind of off-handed complement?

  • Hello   and welcome  to the community. 

    I hope you enjoy being here and that you find it useful. I’m a late diagnosed woman in my 60s and I think my working life would have been much easier if there had been more awareness when I started out. From what other people in this community have said about about self advocacy and accommodations at work, the process isn’t always straightforward so I think  talks a lot of sense.

  • Hello there Beech474! I hope that recognizing that you have Autism has helped you to understand yourself much deeper.

    One thing that I can say is that getting accommodations at work tends to be very difficult, even if you have a formal diagnosis. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but a lot of employers seem to try and avoid giving accommodations (I’m judging that mostly by what I’ve heard others say on here).

    I’m currently working a job where my employer knows my condition and takes care to accommodate for it, but it’s a unique situation because I work for a business that helps people with disabilities. So yeah, it’s possible, but again it sounds like my situation is not typical.