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Should I tell HR at work that I have Asperger's? I haven't been officially diagnosed yet and I was planning on waiting until after the holidays. Should I go ahead and do it now and then tell them or not tell them at all?

Who/whats HR? Also what kinda job is this? Full-time, part-time? If its a very important job for you, you like it, and its a good source of income (however you see it), then i would personally try avoid letting them now. Why do you consider letting them know? Are you feeling obliged to be someone your not around them? Are they misunderstanding you in social settings? Is the job too hard?

HR = Human Resources
It is a full-time job, and I've been at it since February. The reason I feel obligated to tell them is that they periodically send everybody on these stupid little corporate retreats to do a bunch of crap they found in one of those stupid self-help books. It's basically sitting around singing Kumbaya and it is just a nightmare for me and it quite simply doesn't work on me. They also have these really ret*d "management styles" (also from a crappy self-help book) that we are supposed to place ourselves in and none of them fit me. There isn't one that says "just leave me alone and let me do my work." So I feel I should tell them so that maybe they will basically leave me alone and let me do my work instead of thinking that I just don't want to work there. I feel like I will get in trouble for not fitting in, basically.

Amen.

To the:

"Leave me alone and let me to get on with it."

Sentiment.

Surely people get more work done that way?

Is there no legislation or protocol for AS people in work at all?

Will the person be committing a legal offense or not if they don't disclose/make an effort to fit in.

I'm confused.

Last edited by AmberEyes on 04 Dec 2008, 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If you want my suggestion, I would suggest not telling HR and suffering through these retreats and management styles. I think you will get more grief from telling and asking for accomadations then simply suffering through because you would not be considered a team player.

I would suggest the "Leave me alone and let me do my work" management style to HR. Simply explain that all of these different retreats and management styles are affecting productivity. Would help if you can get your coworkers on (but they may see these retreats as a way to get out of work so.....)

If you're having problems, I would. It can give others an adequate reason for why you're probably odd, eccentric and/or different, and just like school, peers at work will pick up on your differences, and this can lead to many problems. Not to mention if you ever have problems with doing more than one thing, or perhaps needing clear and concise instructions to do something adequately as you can't read "between the lines".

But, I'd only do such if I had a clinician say that I have said disorder in question.

Thank you for all of your advice. I think I will still wait until after the holidays to get my diagnosis, but I may go ahead and inform people at work after that. I dread going to the next little teamwork retreat. I have only been to one so far and it was a nightmare. All of the little activities were just pointless. They made us take personality tests and inform the group of what we scored. The instructor would then proceed to tell each of us what our scores said about us and how we worked with other personality types (his description of me was wrong on all counts). They also made us do things that made me very uncomfortable like group cheers (complete with clapping and stupid hand gestures) and the worst...ugh...they made us get in a circle and give each other back rubs. I pretended to do it as there was no way I was touching some stranger, but then there wasn't much I could do about other people touching me. Thinking about it still makes my skin crawl.
There isn't another one of these things until after the holidays, as far as know. They are also thinking about sending me to some CAD convention in Vegas next year. To them, I think it is like a privilege, but thinking about it makes me sick. Of all the places I wouldn't want to go in the world, Vegas is definitely in the top 10. All the lights and people and crap in your face... no no no no
Anyway, thanks again for your advice.
I'm also wondering if there is another difficulty I'm running into caused by AS. My job consists of getting stacks of requests for drawings, usually hand drawn sketches, and making them into nice official looking CAD drawings. When I get one that lacks key points of information (like, um...measurements) or one that physically could not exist (i.e. the measurements are just wrong and don't fit with each other) it takes me forever to actually do it, but nobody else seems to have this problem. Is this because of my AS?

I wouldn't tell HR. Instead I would start looking for another job.

Why?

Because all these management retreats and psycho-bable exercises are put on by HR. They want you to go and if you are an Aspie, they will either come to the conclusion that it is even more imperative that you participate or that you are not management material and that you need to move on.

Any company that spends time and cash on these activities, especially in this economic environment, is setting themselves up to fail. They may not fold but you can be sure that pretty soon they'll find that they need to 'right size' and the first to go will be those that refuse to suck it up and be a good little peon.

First I just want to say that FALLOUT kicks ass!! !! =]

Being let go because of poor participation in these junk training activities is exactly why I think I should tell them. I can't do these things. But if they know there is a medical reason for it, would that put them in a position where they can't discipline me or fire me over it? Does AS qualify as any kind of disability?

Unless you have an official diagnosis and your 'symptoms' actually will interfere with your job functions I wouldn't tell a single soul, even your co-workers about your condition. Freinds, relatives and coworkers can accept us being very eccentric and strange but once they think you actually have a 'disorder' things seem to change quite radically sometimes.

I'm very sorry to hear about this.

It sounds like torture.

I've been reading books about teamwork recently (that I couldn't understand, but really tried to) and yes people really do things like this. It's almost beyond belief.

Oh dear...

The employment laws are tricky and the American's with Disability Act (ADA) - one of the mechanisms that might protect you - is vague on what constitutes a protected disability. As far as I know, the ADA doesn't mention Asperger's nor Autism but is more general in using terms like "learning disability" and "mental impairment". It gives a bad employer a lot of wiggle room to not accommodate you.

What I'd do first is get assessed, preferably by an M.D. that specializes in autism spectrum disorder. Without an official dx, you have nothing to back you up. Then I'd go about and seeing what your legal rights are either by consulting with an attorney that specializes in employment and/or ADA cases (don't go to a general practitioner, you need a specialist) or seeking local government agencies that help employees navigate through employment discrimination problems. Your MD, who works with ASD patients that undoubtedly have similar issues, probably can you refer you to the right people. Try to see if there are concrete examples of employers that were required by law to accommodate an employee with AS.

Then, and only then, consider going to HR. Tell them your dx. Show them the doctor's assesment. Give them information on what AS and how it requires some (emphasis on some) changes in how you work to maximize your productivity. Then show them documentation, if it exists, of how one or more other employers were required to and successfully changed their work environment to everyone's benefit. Lastly, give them the attorney's business card (if you have established a relationship with one) and say, with a smile, if they need help in understanding what the law requires, you could set up a meeting where we could all meet to hash out a solution.

Personally I will never tell anyone at my workplace about it, regardless of if it's HR, boss, coworkers, etc.

There are far too many ignorant people in this world that will think of me as ret*d in some way if I do.

Wow, so people actually treat you worse knowing you have AS than if you were just "weird"?

I wouldn't notify Human Resources unless having Aspergers is interfering with your job performance. Unless of course your hoping for any special attention or privledges...