Disclosure when applying for job.

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I told my boss that I want to apply for another job, and asked her advice about disclosing my AS in a job application- she very quickly told me not to. What do you think?

Also, any experiences, good or bad, or disclosing in an application?

kt24, I think there are two answers to your question: As an employer myself, I can tell you that what an employer is looking for is somebody who can do the job with a minimum of problems. So, if you don't have an established track record of competence, I would probably not say anything.

OTOH, if you do have a good track record, it would be in your favor to disclose such a thing. Employers do NOT want somebody with a disability if they can't do the job; they desperately want people with disabilities who CAN do the job. It keeps businesses out of trouble with the diversity goons from the government.

I am very uncertain about this. I have been out of work for a while and want to go back to work and have been thinking of this. I need to explain why I have been off work for 18 months and the real reason is because I discovered I have AS and needed time to adjust to this. I have no idea if that is a good reason for a long time away from work.

I have always worked in software development, so I am wondering if AS would be seen as a plus for those roles. But I see increasingly that companies want the typical good communicator/team player types. So on that count they are not very diverse.

I've been told to only disclose on an application if there is specific benefits to the job that are because of being autistic specifically (and not just having traits. Don't disclose to say you hyperfocus - say you hyperfocus, disclose when you're applying to work with autistic children and you think that being autistic will help you work with them better than an NT would because of understanding their thought processes better).

If you need to disclose, you disclose during an interview at the earliest and depending on the situation (if your interview isn't as affected), only upon an offer. Make sure they talk to you and give you the chance to interview rather than discriminate at a higher level than that.