Work Disclosure Getting You Out Of Phone Calls

Post Reply New Topic

At this point this question is more for curiosities sake, but it could become a reality in the near future at my job...

Would disclosing ASD at your job prevent them from moving you to a full time cold calling position? I've had to do some of this work in the past and mentally it was very unhealthy for me.

Thoughts or personal experiences would be helpful.

I share your extreme aversion to making phone calls. Fortunately, it's only part of my job. To answer your question, you need something not available here: your rights per the A.D.A., as studied and explained to you by an attorney. An initial consult might be free, and you might even be able to find a way to request one by e-mail.

You know why e-mail is preferable, of course.

I think disclosure might do it. I looked over part of the accommodations on the ADA and it doesn't specifically mention anything about phones, but it does mention these few questions:

What limitations does the employee with ASD experience?
How do these limitations affect the employee’s job performance?
What specific job tasks are problematic as a result of these limitations?
What accommodations are available to reduce or eliminate these problems? Are all possible resources being used to determine accommodations?
Can the employee with ASD provide information on possible accommodation solutions?
Once accommodations are in place, would it be useful to meet with the employee with ASD to evaluate the effectiveness of the accommodations and to determine whether additional accommodations are needed?

I think this might work.

I'm glad I could help!

yeah, they kept sticking me in a recptionist/front desk position. i kept warning them, but they didn't listen. so finally i got officially diagnosed, filled out a work form and they keep me away from all the light and noise now.

Thanks for the help RobertLovesPi.

Simmian, did your disclosure reduce the number of phone calls you had to make or take? Were you removed from phone work all together?

If anyone else has some personal experiences related to this topic, it would be great to hear from you.

I don't mind so much answering phones, I used to answer studio request lines all the time and probably would never have dated if not for the chance to chat girls up on the phone before meeting them face to face - but I was in control of that, I answered when I felt like it (it didn't ring, just blinked a light), ignored it when I didn't feel like it and if someone got rude with me, I was free to hang up on them and put the line on hold for a while.

I did do other jobs involving phones. One where I had to answer calls and take phone orders, I hated it, but the real stress there was from noise around me more than talking to idiot customers.

One where I had to call previous customers and invite them to set new appointments - I wasn't selling them anything, and they had done business with the company before, so I was just reminding them to come in again and setting a date - if they said no, I could say "thanks for your time" and let them go. Those people were generally friendly and almost never got mad or rude.

Then there was a job in actual Telemarketing, where I was given a long list of random phone numbers and had to sit for hours, calling one after another, reading a high-pressure sales pitch off index cards and I was not allowed to end the call until I made a sale, or the other person got mad and hung up on me. I did that for less than two weeks and reached the point where I had to quit or commit suicide. I'm pretty sure that was the most miserable job I ever had in more than 30 years.

It just isn't in most autistic peoples' nature to pressure strangers into doing things. Well, if you don't count stalking them and begging them to love us.

will@rd

In the past I had to do cold calls for a company I used to work for. At the most it took about 10% of my work time during the day, if I was even calling that day. It usually brought me to the verge of meltdowns every time (a few times it actually did), and I always left the phone calls covered in cold sweat. I made the calls in an ideal setting too; I went into an unoccupied office and generally the surrounding atmosphere was very quiet.

Currently I work a job that's just as bad if not worse than your telemarketing job. Bright lights hundreds of people in an enclosed space etc. etc. and the people we're calling will be more than pissed to here from us.

I know you're in the US, but in the UK it *should* fall under a reasonable adjustment, given you provide full explanation and it isn't the main part of a job that you've applied for etc.

OH yes. it did. for now, i'm in a separate room in the dark (not totally dark, since i'm near windows), away from everybody--but still near them. the only calls i get--which is very very few now, are from co-workers or maybe a wrong number. although i say "for now", because we are moving to a whole new building soon...and we were just shown the floor plan recently...and it doesn't look good at all...so i am not sure what is going to happen to me now....

Thanks everybody this is quite reassuring to hear.

Thanks for responding Simmian. I hope your move works out. My company is planning on moving at the beginning of May and the layout of that building looks awful, too.