Are you autistic - The Inquest

I wondered whether to tag this into this thread or start a new topic, but thought it was relevant to here.

Older people who have been diagnosed in their forties, fifties or sixties or later have had a long period trying to fit in to the NT society with various degrees of success. This was hinted at in the programme. As one such person, I managed to live a life until various changes over which I had no control suddenly caused me great problems. And although  my diagnosis has been helpful, and coming out has helped explain to other people why I am like I am, I do think I'm a lot of ways I am given the 'wrong' sort of help. Sometimes I am assumed at work to be mentally sub normal and given the most unsatisfying menial jobs to do and then this is used as a way of keeping  me in my place with threats of performance management and remarks that I am not doing a proper job.

A lot of this is I believe she to lack of understanding of the true nature of autism combined with the need for total control over others by certain NT managers and the conflicting need for control over one's personal destiny and way of doing things by the autistic individual. What I would like to see in a programme is a film (using actors if necessary but using real situations) of  some employer confronted by an autistic individual  in these situations and to find out how they would deal with them, with an equality act lawyer then giving to a legal opinion. I' m sure many autistic employees could give real scenarios. It is all very well coming up with fine words in mission statements and policies about being 'inclusive ' but the practice of it is that there is very little inclusivity..

The attitude in   my workplace is that the bullying will continue until morale improves. Or until  I am suffering so much from anxiety and depression that I am forced to leave.

If you have disclosed at work that you have autism, your employer has a legal requirement to make reasonable adjustment so that you can work effectively:

www.autism.org.uk/.../managing.aspx

You can ask your local autism provider if they will come into work to help, or you can get NAS to help.

I have help at work from my local autism charity.  However this does not stop my employer offering 30 pieces of silver to leave or else they will take action againat me on grounds of performance (in other words they have offered an inadequate sum of money to leave or else they will dismiss me for being autistic).

I havs a case against them on multiple grounds of discrimination to be heard at a preliminary hearing by an employment tribunal judge in October. But as with so much in law, whatever the law may say there is a chance of being unsuccessful. And an employer such as mine relies on that to wear someone down by continually denying rights, knowing that the stress of it all makes it likely the bribe will be accepted in the end and the employer is left smelling of roses.

This is a problem with your 'rights' and getting them.  An employer will often just ignore any rights and responsibilities on the same basis as kids who run riot and when challenged say 'what are you going to do about it'.

An unscrupulous employer will realise that if they ignore any requests it is a long and stressful process for you to get your rights, and stress is obviously more likely in autistic employees and is something you would rather avoid.

To challenge their decision if the employer is awkward, you would have to go through grievance processes and appeals and then go to Early Concilliation Followed by Employment tribunal which both have strict time limits from when the event which prompted it took place.  There is an alternative of binding mediation from ACAS but this requires the agreement not only of you but also your employer before it will go ahead.  This would then be decided by an experienced tribunal judge who would come to a binding decision. 

In all probability, your employer will also, to avoid the bad publicity an employment tribunal would cause them take you to one side and offer you a 'Settlement Agreement' once they are aware of the application to the employment tribunal,  in which they would offer you a sum of money to withdraw your application to the Employment Tribunal, leave your employment, and agree not to say anything against the company.  You would be free not to accept this 'Settlement Agreement' and carry on to the tribunal, but as with all things legal there is no guarantee of success, however black and white it seems.  I outlined this in a post above.

A diagnosis is not strictly required in order to get adjustments under the equality act, and conversely even if you have a diagnosis you may have to show that your 'impairment' has a substantial effect on your daily life.

An employer will often try to avoid giving you adjustments on the grounds they are not reasonable.  What is reasonable and what is not can only be determined by an employment tribunal.  However, an employment tribunal is nearly certain to side with Access to Work regarding adjustments they recommend.

There is also the problem if you have been working for an employer less than two years in which case you have few rights, you would have to prove discrimination.  The company would not, however, say they are dismissing you for any impairment you may have, because they needn't give a reason.  Even with a reason it would be something like they are having a restructuring put in place and unfortunately you are no longer required.  You would be entitled to your statutory or contractural notice period in this case but nothing more.  The cards are certainly stacked in an employers favour.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission may help with this:

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/multipage-guide/employment-workplace-adjustments

Scroll through to see different scenarios and examples.

This is a problem with your 'rights' and getting them.  An employer will often just ignore any rights and responsibilities on the same basis as kids who run riot and when challenged say 'what are you going to do about it'.

An unscrupulous employer will realise that if they ignore any requests it is a long and stressful process for you to get your rights, and stress is obviously more likely in autistic employees and is something you would rather avoid.

To challenge their decision if the employer is awkward, you would have to go through grievance processes and appeals and then go to Early Concilliation Followed by Employment tribunal which both have strict time limits from when the event which prompted it took place.  There is an alternative of binding mediation from ACAS but this requires the agreement not only of you but also your employer before it will go ahead.  This would then be decided by an experienced tribunal judge who would come to a binding decision. 

In all probability, your employer will also, to avoid the bad publicity an employment tribunal would cause them take you to one side and offer you a 'Settlement Agreement' once they are aware of the application to the employment tribunal,  in which they would offer you a sum of money to withdraw your application to the Employment Tribunal, leave your employment, and agree not to say anything against the company.  You would be free not to accept this 'Settlement Agreement' and carry on to the tribunal, but as with all things legal there is no guarantee of success, however black and white it seems.  I outlined this in a post above.

A diagnosis is not strictly required in order to get adjustments under the equality act, and conversely even if you have a diagnosis you may have to show that your 'impairment' has a substantial effect on your daily life.

An employer will often try to avoid giving you adjustments on the grounds they are not reasonable.  What is reasonable and what is not can only be determined by an employment tribunal.  However, an employment tribunal is nearly certain to side with Access to Work regarding adjustments they recommend.

There is also the problem if you have been working for an employer less than two years in which case you have few rights, you would have to prove discrimination.  The company would not, however, say they are dismissing you for any impairment you may have, because they needn't give a reason.  Even with a reason it would be something like they are having a restructuring put in place and unfortunately you are no longer required.  You would be entitled to your statutory or contractural notice period in this case but nothing more.  The cards are certainly stacked in an employers favour.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission may help with this:

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/multipage-guide/employment-workplace-adjustments

Scroll through to see different scenarios and examples.