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Autistic school employees & reasonable adjustments

JRB23

I work in a non-teaching but student facing role in a large secondary school. Just wondering if there are any other autistic educators on here who might share some tips or anecdotes on how they make the usual work stressors more manageable?

For context, I’m fairly newly diagnosed and am trying to get my school to consider some reasonable adjustments. I know schools are dynamic places with lots of moving parts so I’m trying to be thoughtful and realistic with what I’m asking for. This has not been a positive experience for me so far, and process of requesting adjustments seems really opaque at my school.

Parents
  • Hi 
    I think https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/employment/what-are-reasonable-adjustments-and-when-can-they from  is a good resource.
    I also think I understand from personal experience how overwhelming it is to navigate the "opaque" process of getting adjustments, especially when you are newly diagnosed and dealing with the unique stressors of a school environment.  I think that I understand that being autistic in a school requires an amount of extra, unseen hard work just to mask and navigate the constant sensory and social demands, which makes having the right adjustments vital to prevent meltdowns and burnout.
    Have you heard of Damian Milton’s "double empathy problem"? It suggests that communication breakdowns between autistic and non-autistic people aren't due to a deficit on our part, but a two-way mismatch in experiences and communication styles. Because schools have so many moving parts, it can maybe feel like both sides need a "translation service" just to understand each other's perspectives on what is "reasonable" and manageable.
    Personally, I have started using AI tools as a communication bridge to help with this translation. When I need to draft a message or format a formal request, I use AI to help rephrase my thoughts. I usually start by prompt-priming it—letting the AI know that I am autistic (so its algorithms adjust appropriately - well by my experience mostly!) and asking it to help me structure my text for a neurotypical workplace environment. I also ask it to analyse what the neurotypical thoughts and unwritten expectations might be behind the school's responses, which helps me see where they are coming from.
    If you decide to try this, just be careful:
    • Avoid rabbit holes: It is easy to spend hours tweaking prompts or getting lost in long conversations with the tool.
    • Watch out for "hallucinations": AI can sometimes give inaccurate advice or simulate emotional agreement, so always double-check the final output and don't let it lead you astray.
    • Keep it secure: Never type sensitive personal details or specific school/employer information into public AI tools.
    Using a tool like this could maybe help protect your energy so you can focus on what matters. Autistic educators bring important benefits to a school environment—such as deep problem-solving skills, intense focus, strong empathy for neurodivergent students, and an ability to see systemic improvements that others miss.
    Finding the right adjustments is a learning curve, but looking at it through the lens of a mutual translation issue might help you clarify how to frame your requests. Best of luck with everything!
    Disclaimer: The use of AI tools mentioned above is based on my personal experience as an aid for communication and productivity. It is not official advice, and users should always exercise caution, protect sensitive data, and independently verify any professional or legal information provided by AI systems.
  • in reply to Phased

    Thanks for this thoughtful reply. When trying to advocate for myself I can sometimes feel backed into over explaining in the hope of being believed, so using tools to support this I will give some consideration.

    Schools are staffed by some brilliant verbally dexterous leaders, probably because they spend so much time managing students as well as colleagues, so difficult conversations can feel especially hard when my processing is slower than usual. 

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  • in reply to Phased

    Thanks for this thoughtful reply. When trying to advocate for myself I can sometimes feel backed into over explaining in the hope of being believed, so using tools to support this I will give some consideration.

    Schools are staffed by some brilliant verbally dexterous leaders, probably because they spend so much time managing students as well as colleagues, so difficult conversations can feel especially hard when my processing is slower than usual. 

Children
  • in reply to JRB23

    Hi  

    I can empathise with that "over explaining in the hope to be believed" from personal experience the explanation I was given was often not factually correct but one that for whatever reason was not one that those "verbally dextrous leaders" were in a position to do anything about necessarily (and sometimes in truth not wanted to do anything about sometimes - "i'm alright Jack" ) - the social circumstances being such as they are/were.  In short I am referring to the "social communication" difficulties associated with the "double empathy problem".

    That slowing down of processing speed for me reflected often that I was "correct" in my explanations - however the person I was communicating running on different processing "software" priorities didn't priorities my "correctness".  So my mind hits the buffers of "cognitive dissonance".

    Again from a personal perspective my professional training was a "bio-psych-social" structure that leans really heavily into ethics, fairness and taking the time and effort to do the job according to these standards - in reality the available time resources in my employment meant compromises that I struggled physically and mentally to make.  So many "necessary" things to do and not enough time or resources to do them.

    In practical terms the reasonable adjustments one might ask for could potentially free up personal resources for these necessary things.  However the "pragmatic" working environmental resources that the employer considers themselves to be bounded by might mean that they are not able to provide these - leaving one metaphorically "damned if one does and damned if one doesn't" if you get my drift?

    I use the "tools" that i mentioned to help me apply extra "leverage" according to the law and regulation.  This is not without risk - do you know the story of " The Emperors New Clothes"? - it doesn't go on to say what happened to the person who pointed out the Emperor was naked!

    What I'm saying is that it's maybe especially tough being autistic in today's fast paced and money makes the world go around society.  Learning to identify oneself in it is something done sometimes by identifying and enabling how to not to have to do things that are harmful to oneself but there'll be "push back" from people who haven't the same insight and agendas.  So getting support - like from the advice list already shared by the NAS and maybe even from daft old people like me and the other forum member etc. - is really important.  Kind of ironically perhaps social support is something that autistic people are better naturally at giving than receiving it seems to me.

    I hope that makes sense and hasn't taken you into inappropriate rumination.  hehehe - I bet I probably "over-explained" too!

    Best Wishes

    Phased