Published on 12, July, 2020
The job centre have now referred me to the government RESTART scheme, run by a private company called Maximus.
Yesterday I had my induction, phone appointment. As part of this induction they asked about my health and disabilities and the women on the line often repeated what I said, to double check the accuracy. I mentioned autism, she repeated, ' you suffer from the mental illness autism.'
As unfortunate as the phrasing is, I expect that this is nothing more than a faux pas. Remember that there are going to be certain generational and educational differences with people and that not everyone is up to date with the PC terms.
I expect that the woman you spoke with was probably taught in early life that it is an illness, or at least phrased as such, and probably doesn't understand the difference between illness and disorder.
This might be a really good opportunity for you, to explain your autism to them and educate them for the future so that this doesn't happen again