DeckardB26354 Report post Posted August 25, 2015 Hi there, I was diagnosed with Aspergers a couple of months back - which certainly explained a lot to me & came as a relief too. I have always had difficulty with working & never been in each job I've had for more than a year. My trouble with work has always been getting on with other employees, or in the case of when I was self employed, clients! This has mostly been other people upsetting me, to the point I have a bit of a melt down & leave. It's also less frequently been my direct behaviour - an example being me going into a colleague's drawer to use their hand sanitiser & not realising that broke social etiquette and was upsetting to her, getting reprimanded by the boss & feeling ostracised I want to go back to work - and need the income of an average UK salary, but I'm very fearful of doing anything but low paid, simple jobs, like working in a cinema (I'm a big film fan ) My actual field of work for which I'm qualified is financial services, doing research & planning for financial advisers. Although I haven't worked at all now for 2 years after a huge melt down in my last job, which turned my life upside down. I therefore wondered what protection there was in employment law for those of us with Aspergers, what it provides & how to disclose having Aspergers to an employer & how that's gone for you guys. I feel now my social awkwardness can be explained, if I have legal protection from unfair treatment, I'd go back to a demanding job Thanks a lot Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elemental Report post Posted August 25, 2015 From what I read, many AS - ASD people work in jobs that are far below their capabilities or qualifications level, for precisely the same reasons you cite here: the work colleague relationships. It seems to me that not a whole lot can be found out for free about UK law generally, unless you visit the Citizens Advice Bureau. Maybe you can find something out about this from searching on the web? Even in my blue collar manual jobs, I often had issues with people I worked with so eventually I chose solo-working jobs or used employment agencies so's I wasn't stuck in the same routine with the same people for over-long. I likely would disclose my ASD now anyways to an employer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeckardB26354 Report post Posted August 27, 2015 Yeah I'm a massive under achiever, because of difficulties with my mental health on its own (emotional melt downs) and because of social anxiety around NTs - because I find it so hard to understand them, it often makes me feel they run rings around me in a manipulative way, which gets me really angry! I like your idea of temp'ing - I'm much better in short bursts with other people - both in & out of work. I might look into learning Oracle and/or SAP IT - those companies use a lot of fixed term temp workers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeckardB26354 Report post Posted August 27, 2015 (edited) I'll also contact the CAB & research further, thank you At what point now would you disclose ASD? I've heard people saying when they disclose it at interview, they never get the job. Edited August 27, 2015 by DeckardB26354 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites