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Work and reasonable adjustments

Lissy02

Hi all, 

I was diagnosed in April this year and I’m in my early 20s, I work in a healthcare setting and let my manager know about my diagnosis. I brought up some reasonable adjustments but was told it’s practically impossible in my line of work, I was sent a link from HR yesterday after they were finally told about my condition 6 months later for mental health at work support. Again I mentioned my reasonable adjustments in the medical questionare submitted to HR but still nothing has been suggested. I’m struggling at work but nobody seems to want to help, the programme they sent me the link to doesn’t handle neurodiverse individuals. Am I being dramatic? And Where do I go from here? 

  • Hi and welcome to the community.

    I'm sorry to hear that you employer has been so unreceptive. As you've already requested adjustments twice, and had your requests declined or ignored, I thought it might be helpful if I flagged this specific section from an NAS article:

    "What can I do if reasonable adjustments are denied?

    If you have requested reasonable adjustments (during a recruitment process or in employment; or from the provider of a service such as an internship programme or apprenticeship), and they have not, or have only partially been put in place, you can raise the issue with the employer or service provider.

    The government-funded but independent Advisory, conciliation and arbitration service (ACAS) suggest that raising an issue informally can help to resolve it more quickly and maintain positive relationships at work.

    Raising the issue informally could mean:

    - having an informal chat or a planned meeting with your line manager and/or other relevant managers and/or someone from HR
    - sending an informal email or letter about the issue to those people (you could use the template letter we have drafted below).

    If this does not work, you can raise the issue in a more formal way, such as through a formal grievance process. Visit our page What to do if I’m having trouble at work? for more information about this."

    NAS - What are reasonable adjustments and when can they be requested? > What can I do if reasonable adjustments are denied?

       has already kindly shared an ACAS link with you, below.

    Lissy02 said:
    the programme they sent me the link to doesn’t handle neurodiverse individuals

    Just to clarify, here’s some information on the language around autism, which I hope is helpful - it explains, for example, how individuals can't be neurodiverse:

    "It is common for words related to neurodiversity to be misused. For example, people might say ‘Autistic people are neurodiverse’ when they mean ‘Autistic people are neurodivergent’.

    Examples of accurate phrases include:

    Humans are neurodiverse.
    Autistic people are neurodivergent.
    Autism is a form of neurodivergence."

    NAS - Autism and neurodiversity

  • ACAS is a government agency that suppies guidelines to employers and employees about the law governing discrimination on the grounds of disability. Here is their guidance on reasonable adjustments.

  • in reply to Iain
    Iain said:
    Can you tell us what reasonable adjustments you have asked for?

    Yeah, I agree this could really help us to help you.

    It sounds as if you know what accommodations would help you the most already, but if you need more ideas there is this handy site: askjan.org. Do keep in mind that it is American, so all of the blurbs about legal rights for disabilities aren’t particularly helpful for you, but if you look up your disability on this site it offers a decent list of potential accommodations you might be able to ask for.

  • Lissy02 said:
    I brought up some reasonable adjustments but was told it’s practically impossible in my line of work

    Can you tell us what reasonable adjustments you have asked for?

    I can imagine that in most areas of healthcare there will be a lot of environmental aspects that cannot be changed and a huge amount of unpredictability when dealing with the public, all of which will make this really difficult for some autists to cope with.

    If you have a back office role with no responsibilities for rapid turn around of test results etc then you have a good chance of requesting something to be done, but most other roles will be much more difficult.

    If you can let us know what sort of role you have and what is most overwhelming for you then we may be able to come up with suggestions.

  • Hi Lissy,

    I am very sorry to hear about your work not taking the necessary reasonable adjustments to help you in work. You have rights as an autistic person to support at work. Your employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments for you, and you may also be entitled to a grant from the Government to pay for additional practical support. Our page on What support can I get at work may help you to understand the support you can get at work along with our page on reasonable adjustments. If you are still unable to get the support you need you may find it helpful to read our page on what can I do if I'm having trouble in work, which includes links to organisations which can help you. 

    I hope that you are able to get the support you need in work.

    Best wishes,

    Alice Mod