Disclosing AS at work

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Had I been smarter enough, I would have gone on to complete a PhD in my field at the time (I have a master's degree in higher education administration) then gone on to get a research/teaching position at a four-year institution. The issue you will run into is the lack of research that has been done on adults on the autism spectrum. Everyone wants to focus on children and young adults on the spectrum. No one until just recently wanted to do any sort of research study dealing with adults on the spectrum (some sort of groundbreaking research study is about to be conducted for adults on the spectrum). Social scientists are only beginning to see what goes on with adults on the spectrum but there's a far ways to go yet. It's like going just entering one end of the tunnel and not even seeing the light at the other end of the tunnel yet.

Email me at GCAspies@gmail.com and tell me more about this study so I can wrap my head around it. If you email me, reference the topic of disclosing AS at work bit.

Thanks,
Scott

I disclosed to my boss my ASD condition but ONLY because of the work I was in. I had been in checkstand and found myself getting overloaded and frantic after being in there for a short period of time. At the time, I didn't know what it was but I asked my boss to transfer me back to my old position. All was well until management shifted and I was pulled back from my old position and told I couldn't do it anymore. Long story short, I ended up getting into another department but butted heads with management there and was forced out. I begged my boss not to put me in the checkstand again but he refused to listen and I found myself getting overloaded and panicked once more. Shortly after, I found out about Aspergers, had myself tested and was diagnosed. Another long story short, I took the evidence and told my boss about it so he legally had to transfer me out of the checkstand, which was a massive relief for me and helped increase my productivity tenfold. Now they're aware of my strengths and weaknesses (due in part to an awesome psychiatrist) and if I find myself unable to do something, they're willing to work with me (versus their old stance of "get over it this is a business and we'll fire you if you can't do it").

However, thanks to this experience I also learned how ignorant people can be about ASD, which is why I never tell anyone about it. Out of all my family and the five managers (who had to be told to help work around my symptoms) who know, only my dad and one boss, who confessed his son had it, were ultimately supportive about it and knew what it meant. I was confronted with a lot of misinformation such as "Autism and Aspergers are completely different, you don't have Autism", "Autistic people don't have feelings so you can't be Autistic" and "You're not gonna kill a bunch of people like that Lanza guy right?". Most people's idea of autism is what the media portrays us as and that's not necessarily a good thing.

In other words, don't tell your boss unless you have to. There's too much misinformation out there and unless you're confident that they'll accept you for it (and won't later use it against you) or you're put into a position where your at a disadvantage unless you tell them (like me and the checkstand), it's best to keep it to yourself.

Unless it benefits you in some way (e.g., increase in salary), I wouldn't disclose that I have an Autism Spectrum Disorder at work. It could lead to many problems.

There's no obligation: autism is not contagious!

Agreed.

What people with aspergers syndrome find a hard time understanding is that success in the work world has a lot to do with fitting in and being one of the pack. Anything that creates a divide between you and your coworkers is a reason why they should be hired/promoted/not laid off over you. You could be the smartest person at your work with a great record, but be passed over for promotions in favor of a moron with a drinking problem and less experience, all because people like his personality. It's better for people at work to think you're a little weird and misunderstand you, than for them to be saying you have some type of "brain disorder called ass burgers" and laugh about you behind your back.

As several people here have said, it's probably best not to disclose it, particularly if it makes no difference to being able to do your job - although that places the onus squarely on you to fit in with your colleagues and do what you're paid to do. But if it affects your ability to do your job then you might need to think about telling sympathetic people.

It also rather depends on the employment/workplace law in your country. In the UK and the rest of the EU, for instance, it is illegal and punishable by large fines for employers or co-workers to discriminate against someone with any form of physical or mental condition - although employers sometimes find ways to get round this, and colleagues can react badly as a result of ignorance.

In some respects it's not dissimilar to the situation faced by members of the LGBT community: when, where, how and to whom to come out is a decision that they have to make throughout their lives, despite being protected by anti-discrimination law.

So if I were you I would keep quiet and glory in the fact that you are wonderfully different.

"don't ask, don't tell"
if some specific symptoms of your version of ASD cause issues, disclose those issues only, but keep the 'bigger story' silent if you can. (do not deny it though, if it comes up)

I feel like I have to tell the employer that I have a condition. My stress levels can sometimes affect my work performance, and if I don't tell them anything at all, the employers will assume I am ''normal'' and if I do run into any emotional/behavioural issues, they will think I am just being difficult and disruptive and will probably give me the sack or something. Plus the last employment I was in I didn't tell the employer that I had any condition, and people got shirty about one of my quirks, and they all verbally ganged up on me and made me feel really humiliated, and I thought these people were nice. I burst into tears, which I don't think they expected me to do. But I just felt so embarrassed, and it affected my self-esteem. I don't want something like that to happen again. I'd rather people know the reason why I have quirky behaviour, and if they are nice people then they should be more empathetic towards me.

But my behaviours don't scream out Asperger's Syndrome. So I don't have to say ''I have AS''. I could say anything I want, like ''I have ADHD'' or just ''I have a learning disability''. In the UK most people with any type of condition just say they have a learning disability, and then when they say that, they don't get all these stereotypes assumed about them, so people give them a chance more.

Autistic people don't have feelings??? What kind of person thinks like that?

And thanks, Scott, I just emailed you.

I totally don't blame the people who keep it to themselves when able (sometimes, like Jerry being put on a checkstand, you really can't keep it to yourself). But when no one is "out", it helps other people argue that you're not there. The current number in literature is that only 9% of autistic adults are gainfully employed. If that many people weren't working we'd have a serious problem in the world.

In the 70s, homosexuality was still a psychiatric disorder in the DSM. Many people tried to get it taken out, unsuccessfully. What finally got the diagnosis out of the DSM was a bunch of psychiatrists standing up and saying, "I'm gay, now what?"

I've had colleagues say, "I don't believe I've ever met an autistic adult" then go off to a meeting with an autistic adult that they didn't realize was autistic. One article I read, published in the past few years, said that most teaching and nursing students they surveyed believed that autistic people drooled and smelled bad. Ummm.....? Come on now.

I'm hoping that with my research I can show that, though anonymously, autistic adults are THERE in the working world, not being treated fairly.

I'm brand new at all this stuff, having only just been diagnosed late in life.

Something "interesting" happened to me recently. A client I disclosed to suddenly now no longer needs my services. I totally understand that the reason could be completely, 100% unrelated to the disclosure. I totally concede that possibility.

But still it has made me wonder. I've made a decision now to just not disclose anymore to anyone. I don't think there is enough comprehension of what the spectrum is, for it to be something you can tell anyone about without consequences. At the very least a bunch of misunderstandings, at worst, being let go in a way that doesn't directly allude to it.

There's a prime example of a reason NOT to disclose!

Maybe Asperger's/Autism wasn't the prime inspiration for Birdie's client to leave her--but I would purport that it certainly put a little doubt into that client's mind.

Be careful who you disclose to. There's no obligation to disclose. Asperger's/Autism is not contagious.

Just be careful. Otherwise, your economic viability might be threatened---and it's not because you're autistic.

I agree, kraftie.

While I can't say for sure that it had anything to do with my being let go, it was, well, "interesting" to me that this came quickly on the heels of my disclosing to her.

I had thought she would be an okay person to tell, but sometimes one can be wrong about stuff like that.
I'm finding that out.

I disclosed to my boss on Friday after a big blow up with her. I can't handle the job unless things change so felt I had no choice. She has 2 grandchildren with AS so I hope she will be understanding. It was last thing on Friday so we didn't talk for long but she said we'll go through my duties today, as I was getting upset they hadn't been made clear to me. I'll keep you updated how it goes.

Isn't there a law against firing someone because of a disability??

Yes, there is.

However, I gather that it's not unheard of for a boss to find ways around things like that. I've noticed on WP threads about this kind of thing, that some people here have been fired by bosses who managed to, lets say, "find a work-around" that law, with suspiciously close timing to the person having disclosed.

For example, the boss finds some other legitimate-seeming reason why they have to let the person go. They might pick on some other aspect, or tell a white lie about having to cut back. I believe there are also some places, including certain States, where a boss doesn't have to give a reason to let anyone go, if I'm not mistaken. (Corrections welcome.)

Of course, there's no real way of knowing for sure that the person really was let go because the boss freaked out about the autism thing. Maybe they really did not do the job properly or maybe there really are cut-backs. But I've seen the occasional person posting here that a "letting go" happened not long after they disclosed they had ASD or had to explain a meltdown, etc.

Then suddenly "We've had to cut staff" and other reasons.

In my own case, I'm self employed in a "free market" line of service work. I'm freelance and my clients are basically customers who hire me on a regular basis. Thus, if they want to let me go and find someone else who offers the same service, they can do so for any reason or made-up reason they wish. It's like being a plumber -- nobody is obliged to keep using my services.

Thus, they're not really held to the same laws about discrimination as a proper employer would be. If it came to a court of law, my client could simply maintain that she just couldn't afford me and didn't want the help anymore. They couldn't prove that her real reason she let me go was because I told her I had AS and that she didn't want to have me anymore because of that, if that was the reason.

So, with my case, I just have to suck it up, unfortunately, and I'll never really know.

I do know I'll never disclose again, just in case there is the slightest benefit of the doubt that this was what made her uncomfortable. The only reason I did with this client was because I had a mild shutdown due to sudden chaotic circumstances thrust upon me that I couldn't handle one day, and I wanted to explain to her why. She's a therapist with some knowledge of the autism spectrum, leading me to believe it would be just fine. C'est la vie.

i felt I had to disclose because of some changes at work that left me in a weird position and my strange work record showing the equivalent of A+ ratings on some very difficult things, Fs on some supposedly easy things...

Anyway, I had a weird experience with a client later. I had only disclosed to my boss and HR and this was supposedly just an issue in my group, but this client was a good friend of my boss. For six months she had been talking to me about how much she appreciated my analytical skills and how my technical diagrams of abstract processes were really helping her group and then suddenly she was talking to me as if I was a very young child.
It was really strange. I can only conclude that my Boss told her and she has very strong, mistaken ideas about autism.
That kind of sucked, but otherwise, no negative consequence and a lot of positives.

I guess for those working for a proper employer, if the decision to let the person go came suspiciously close to the AS disclosure I'd say they could take it to EEOC and it would be investigated.