Disclosing AS at work

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Quick question: It may sound pointless as best, but after I blew my attempt at disclosing my AS in the "infamous" disability survey, should I even bother to disclose to my supervisor that I have AS (a fact that I've been hiding for some time now for fear of losing my job).

I have never disclosed my AS or PDDNOS to anyone at work, but somehow, someone found out. I think it was that fat slob who works in the Networking department.

Nothing much has changed, except that people don't seem as willing to make me angry as before. They talk nicer and don't make as much noise or turn on as many lights.

However, evals are coming up, and I suspect that some mention is going to be made of my ASD. How that will turn out is anyone's guess, but people tend to be prejudiced against others who are somehow "different".

I recommend that you try to keep it a secret as long as you can, and work hard at building up a good reputation.

I've said this quite a few times:

Don't disclose unless it's to your benefit.

People's knowledge of ASD's are still in the Dark Ages.

This has been the number one issue with me when it comes to finding work. I never know how or when to tell the employer about ADHD or having AS traits. First of all, I am ashamed about the AS part, so that's difficult to say for a start. But it is like a ''you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't'' type of situation. Usually employers ask at the interview if you have any disability or anything like that, and I'm afraid that if I say no and they give me a job and I suddenly run into difficulty because of my condition, they might not understand and consider giving me a dismissal. And then if I said then that I have a condition, they will say ''well we did ask you at the interview if you had any disabilities and you said no'', and they will use that as a defense. But if I say yes at the interview when they ask me, it might jeopardise me from getting a job. Yes companies should give people with disabilities a chance, but they know how to work around this, and make us look the guilty ones.

I feel that employers should know about my condition, because sometimes I do need a bit of extra support in some areas, and I do get stressed easily too. I know I am good with passing off as NT, but sometimes I can have eccentric moments, and people then start pointing quirks out, which humiliates me. Also my ADHD means I am forgetful, and sometimes I accidentally break health and safety rules even after training, which I know the manager needs to be aware of.

I would leave it to somebody who is indispensable. That would not get fired no matter what. This person could provide the employer with an excellent education.

My mother, my friend, and I once stayed at a bed-and-breakfast in Ballston Spa, by the way.

Yep....I find Saratoga County to be a scenic area, in a natural sense.

I also like Saratoga Springs--though I'm not into the horses.

I believe Skidmore College is in Saratoga Springs.

I'm a lifelong NYC resident.

Only disclose the issues that are relevant to your job, and couple the disclosure with methods to counter the 'problems', both what your employer can do and what you try to do.

for example, you can disclose that "social interaction tires you out", and follow that "you can manage by taking frequent short breaks, like smoke breaks".

this way, you dont put too much stress on the employer to find a way to manage (you already did), you dont devalue yourself too much (you can cope), and you dont have to use the 'dreaded' ASD.

of course, should the symptoms be recognized, do not try to deny your ASD, just dont be the first to mention the actual diagnosis

Don't do it. They will hold it against you.

I'm undiagnosed and have never been questioned about being on the spectrum. My colleagues know my quirks and no doubt would have figured out that I'm probably somewhere on the spectrum. Thankfully I've never had an issue, I go in and do my work then bugger off home without any fuss. The very nature of my personality makes it easy to fly under the radar, the extroverts get the attention. I like it that way.

Why disclose AS to your supervisor if you don't have to NYAspie?
Unless it's raised with you why make it a topic of discussion and focus of comment from your supervisor and other management? A squeaky wheel that oils itself and does it's job quietly doesn't attract attention and is easily missed.

Is there nobody who disclosed and found it to be to their benefit? I'm thinking of disclosing after I get diagnosed next month. I'm struggling a lot and feel that things will come to a head eventually. Perhaps if I disclose my boss will be more understanding and stop subjecting me to stuff I can't deal with. I know it's a risk but I think it's also a risk for me to carry on as things are, I've already had one meltdown in front of my boss and I've worked there just under 5 months

I'm a graduate student writing a Masters thesis about the sociology of autism. My thesis is about disclosing autism status at work. I'm interested in the experiences of people who have and have not disclosed, and even the reasoning why and why not. I'm planning to collect this mostly in narrative form, but it would be helpful if anyone would like to suggest to me (publically or in PM) questions they think I should ask.

In psychological and sociological literature, it is now being supposed that only NINE percent of people on the spectrum are in paying jobs. There is very little research (I'm talking like around 5 journal articles) about the professional adult lives of aspies. So far I've found only a couple articles talking about how aspies are bullied and taken advantage of, and just a few others about how aspies are considered by NTs to be incapable, unhygienic, unchanging, and unresponsive. I have found nothing talking about discrimination against people on the autism spectrum, which is clearly what is happening.

Before I went back to school in sociology, I worked with many aspies who were either undiagnosed or just weren't talking about it. They were usually far superior to the rest of us in all but social skills, which weren't usually needed for the jobs we were doing.