Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I have a job interview next week, and I don't know whether to mention that I have Aspergers or not, would you? it's not something I like to mention but I feel I should mention it because I don't want any misunderstandings between myself and the staff, as with my last job, which I recently got sacked from because of my "erratic " behavior and " attitude". I never told them about my Asperger's when I started working there.
Is the disclosure relevant to the interview process? For example, I disclosed before the interview for my current job as I wanted to see the questions in advance of the interview as I struggle with my ability to process my answers in those kinds of environments so it was relevant.
If you don't require any extra support before or during the interview I'd wait and tell them afterwards if you need reasonable adjustments in the job, such as the support of a mentor to help manage your behaviour.
For people who aren't disabled disclosing in the actual interview when it isn't relevant to that moment can seem like oversharing.
But that depends on what you consider to be a disability.
I don't think of my Asperger's in that way, but rather as a 'different ability.' Of course, though, it affects us all in different ways, and to greater or lesser extents depending on what we're doing.
The Equality Act 2010 makes the following definition of a disability:
“a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on [your] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.” Mental impairments include autism and most autistic people are likely to fit this description.
Again, 'impairment' is a contentious word. But supposing, for example, you were going for a job that would entail working in an office alone and pretty much self-sufficiently. That might seem ideal for you. But then you start the job and find you are faced with constant demands to work extra hours at short notice, or that you'd need to spend long hours answering the phone to potential customers. Both of those things would be problems for me, so I'd want to find out before I took the job whether those things are likely to happen. My interviewers may then ask why I find these things a problem. What am I to say? I'd have to be honest. I know it's hypothetical, but it comes up in many jobs. I went for an admin job a short while ago which was advertised as 9 - 5, Monday to Friday - exactly what I like. Again, I volunteered the question as to whether there would be an expectation of overtime. Good job I did, because they said there was often the need to work late or to come in at weekends if rotas needed to be finalised. I wouldn't have wanted to get into the role, then find that out - and quite often, I've found, employers won't volunteer that information upfront.
I think only disclose it if you really have to (if you think its obvious or you really need specific support)