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Diagnosis later in life and work

NAS88971

Hi!

I have just been diagnosed in my mid 40s but not sure how to move forward with this new information with regards to work. I have managed for 20 years in the workplace (I am a teacher) but do feel like it is getting harder, but not sure if this is due to being autistic rather than just age and my professions anyway. I have only told two close people at work so far.

My question really is if you were diagnosed later in life, did you change how you work, ask for support or adaptations etc. I really don't want to be treated differently but then know as a professional myself I do what I can to meet the needs of autistic students in my classroom! Should I speak with occupational health? Light sensitivity and screen time is one thing I struggle with at times but a lot of work these days is online.

TIA for any advice.

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  • I was diagnosed a year after taking early retirement, I worked at a university in a scientific, not teaching, role. Personally, I would have informed my employer and sought accommodations had I still been working. I would advise you to look up your employers written policies on supporting disabled staff. This will give you some idea of what you can reasonably expect and enable you to point out if they do not live up to their policies in practice. I hope that you are a trade union member, as they can be very useful in providing support and advocacy. Any information you give your managers, occupational health, HR etc. should be treated confidentially and you should be the only person who decides who is informed of your diagnosis.

    All employers are legally obliged to provide 'reasonable accommodations' for disabled staff. The accommodations are designed to ensure that disabled staff are on an even playing field with their non-disabled colleagues in their working lives. For example, for an autistic teacher, if the scraping of metal chairs when children are moving about was a profound sensory problem, then providing the chairs in the classroom with rubber or felt pads, would count as a reasonable accommodation.

  • in reply to Martin

    Thank you for the reply. I am in a union and have made my rep aware. The problem is it's hard to ask for anything after managing for so long. I don't think of myself as 'disabled' but trying to think of what adjustments could help.

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