Disclosure

[Tally]

What with the small matter of my divorce, I kind of forgot that I got diagnosed with Asperger's a few months ago, and that maybe I should tell work. I'm a bit worried people will treat me differently once they know I am retarded, although if anyone hasn't noticed that I am a bit different, they are not really in a position to judge.

 

Anyway, this is a first draft (edited for posting on the internet) of what I am considering giving in to my HR department. I want to include all the important things, without making it too long. It's exactly 2 pages of A4 at the moment. I'd really appreciate opinions on it:

 

Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with Asperger?s Syndrome, a type of autism. I have never required any adjustments in work, but now that I have a formal diagnosis, I would feel more comfortable if the people I work with know why I am different. I think that it could help to prevent misunderstandings. People sometimes fear what they do not understand, so explaining my differences might help others feel more comfortable as well.

 

Autism does not have to be a barrier to success. Many people believe that Bill Gates, Al Gore and Steven Spielberg are autistic. Anonymous, who shares my diagnosis, has held executive positions with two of the ?big five? supermarket chains. I personally know several autistic people with PhDs, and an autistic woman who wishes to remain anonymous.

 

Autism affects approximately 1 in 166 people so it is likely there are other autistic people working at this store, although they may well not be aware. It cannot be cured, but billions of US$ are being spent developing a pre-natal test for autism, so that in the future, people like me may never be born!

 

Autism is a life-long neurological condition which affects the way I think and experience the world. It is not a psychological illness, and does not cause mental instability, psychosis or violence. Autism is all-pervasive, and colours every part of my personality. Although it is not considered politically correct, I refer to my self as an autistic person, rather than a person with autism. I do not ?suffer? from autism any more than I ?suffer? from female-ness. Autism is a collection of traits, including difficulties in social situations and unusual sensory processing. I could describe the ?textbook? features of autism, but it would probably be more helpful to describe how it affects me in work.

 

I do not know how to initiate conversation.

I sometimes do not enjoy conversation anyway.

I cannot make eye contact.

I can?t tell when you are supposed to lie, and I sometimes upset people by giving honest answers. (Some people find this a very positive trait.)

I take things literally. If you ask me if I have seen someone you are looking for, I may simply respond, ?yes.?

I find it difficult to pretend to be interested when I am not, which may offend people.

I cannot read non-verbal forms of communication like tone of voice, facial expression and body language. As a result, I sometimes don?t realise when someone is bored, joking or being sarcastic.

I do not communicate my feelings through non-verbal communication. When I try, I normally get it wrong.

I find it hard to understand what another person may be thinking.

I cannot tell when someone wants help unless they ask.

I like lining objects up in straight lines.

I thrive on routine and predictability.

I cannot recognise faces very well. I tend to recognise people by their clothes or haircut, but these things are changeable. It takes me a long time to distinguish new members of staff from each other.

My brain does not process sensory input in normal ways.

Fluorescent lighting flickers. The lights above the fire exits are particularly irritating to me. There is no escape from the constant flicker as it reflects off other surfaces.

I see only in 2 dimensions. I cannot judge distance or speed. It is hard to cross roads and move through crowds.

I cannot see small items on the floor because of the textured pattern of the tiles.

Sometimes I don?t know how to manage obstacles, whether I am supposed to move them aside or go around them. I get used to where things are, and I have to work it out all over again when things get re-arranged.

Speech sounds like a random collection of unconnected noises to me, especially if I cannot see the person?s lips moving or there is a high level of ambient noise.

I can be slow to respond while my brain processes what has been said.

Certain noises are highly irritating to me. Whilst most people find the fire alarm annoying, I find it painful. It causes my vision to become confused.

 

Things That Already Help

Now that I understand my diagnosis, I am starting to recognise my differences, and am learning strategies to relate to non-autistic people. Work already seems to be an autistic-friendly employer. We are expected to work in a logical and orderly fashion. My job, in particular, suits me. Working nights limits the interaction required, because there are no customers and fewer staff. I often work on my own, so there is no pressure to fit in and act normal. There is less ambient noise. Some of the shop-floor lighting used to be turned off at night. At Work, lining up objects in straight lines is called ?dressing.? My hours are posted well in advance, which gives me plenty of time to prepare for changes to my normal routines. If people point and laugh, I am blissfully unaware.

 

Things People Can Do To Help

What I need most is for people to accept that I am not normal and cannot pretend to be, nor do I feel any great need to be.

It would help if people could make sure I can see their face before they speak to me, as if I were deaf.

It would help if people could use clear and blatant language.

It would help if people would ask me before they jump to the conclusion that I am being deliberately unhelpful or unkind.

I do not expect everyone to adapt their communication style to suit mine, but I hope they will be tolerant when I cannot adapt to theirs.

 

Further Information

I can answer questions about myself.

I have included 2 leaflets from the National Autistic Society which may be helpful.

The National Autistic Society?s website can be found at: www.nas.org.uk

 

Edited to add: The forum has turned all my punctuation into question marks! Grrr! It's proper punctuation in the original though.

Edited August 17, 2007 by Tally

[Kathryn]

Hi Tally,

 

Obviously I'm not the one you have to convince, but I think it's brilliant - detailed enough but succinct.

 

Just one "nit picky" thing - in your "things people can do to help" section, I'd probably use the word 'direct' rather than 'blatant' (which implies rudeness). It might help to give a couple of real life examples here of the kind of language you mean to make it clearer for those who don't know anything about AS.

 

K x

[Frangipani]

Hi Tally,

 

I think what you have written is excellent and very insightful and will be warmly received by your employer.

 

I think it is an excellent idea - and can only serve to break down the barriers and misunderstandings and myths about Autism. <'>

 

Good luck with that, its very thorough and precise and positive. High five to you Tally. Awesome!!

 

love

Frangipani

[Mumble]

Tally,

 

This is absolutely brilliant!! Yesterday I was sat at my computer with a blank screen in front of me trying for hours to put something similar together about me for the academics I work with. Being usually good at, and enjoying, writing, I found it such a hard task mainly because I had so much to say but only a page to say it in and because I am desperate for it to come across positively as I see my autism, rather than negatively as the mass media likes to report it.

 

I think you have achieved the positive slant really well in the main writing section. I had a bit like this too, and then started a list as you have of how autism affects me specifically. I then deleated the list!!!! My concern was that such a long list more than counteracts the positives in the beginning bit and could be viewed in a negative way: I think it is very difficult to get the balance right between giving enough information and giving too much so as to come across as someone who dwells on what I can't do (which I don't). I'm not putting this very well - what I'm trying to say I suppose is how many of these points need to go in the initial letter (i.e. they would make a huge difference of people knew) and how many can be saved for supplementary information for people who are interested?

 

Hmm - I don't think I've explained anything well there. I do think the writing is excellent though. Would you mind if I adapted and used some of the sentences in my writing?

 

Mumble

[Guest Lya of the Nox]

that is sooo goood

 

[Bagpuss]

Well done Tally, that is brilliant

[Tally]

Thank you all for your reassurance.

 

I've changed "blatant" to "direct." It does sound much better. I like "nit-picky" things, so thank you!

 

Mumble, I'm happy for you to use this to help you write your own. I found it difficult to include the positives when writing something that is supposed to explain what I need help with. It doesn't make sense to say, "I'm actually really happy this way, but please can you do things to help me anyway?" I think maybe the positives have to come across at another time. I haven't included traits that are not directly relevant to the job, like hand-flapping or clumsiness. I did initially because I realised other people might have noticed them, but it was 4 pages long and I still wanted to say more. I also felt it was important to mention the things that they are already doing right, so it doesn't look like I am saying I can't cope in the job or am just going to keep demanding adjustments.

 

I'm going to include a couple of leaflets from the NAS (unless someone can suggest better ones). I'm including one called "What is Autism?" There is one specific to Asperger Syndrome, and the Autism leaflet does tell you to read it. The AS leaflet is better in that it is more detailed, but it discusses a lack of imagination and creative play, when really, social imagination (empathy/ToM) would be more along the right lines . . . not that creative play really relates to my job, but I have an active imagination anyway and that part of the leaflet doesn't apply to me at all. It also says that all AS people talk all the time, and want to make friends but don't know how, which is plain rubbish. I don't want them to read the AS leaflet and conclude that I don't really have AS after all because I don't talk all the time and never stop. The autism leaflet is very brief, but maybe no one would bother with a longer leaflet anyway.

 

There is a leaflet called "Asperger Syndrome: What it Means to Us," written by people with AS. I have ordered one and I might decide to include that instead if it seems more relevant.

 

I've also ordered one meant for employers called "Looking for Staff?" It might not be relevant, being as they have already hired me, but as it is the only leaflet I can find specifically for employers, I will include it unless it talks rubbish.

 

I considered telling them not to read anything that appears in the press about autism/AS, but that would probably just make them read it more, and hopefully they are already aware that I am not a monster.

Edited August 17, 2007 by Tally

[Mumble]

Mumble, I'm happy for you to use this to help you write your own. I found it difficult to include the positives when writing something that is supposed to explain what I need help with. It doesn't make sense to say, "I'm actually really happy this way, but please can you do things to help me anyway?"

Thanks Tally - this is exactly the problem I'm having because there are things that I need people to know if they are to interact with me successfully, but I'm struggling with how to write them so they don't come across as complaining, which they're not. I think the way to get round this is something on the lines on I'm happy with the person I am but being that person can be difficult in an environment whereby my way or being is out of sync with what is considered more typical. Therefore to help me ... (hmm, not sure actually )

 

I haven't included traits that are not directly relevant to the job, like hand-flapping or clumsiness. I did initially because I realised other people might have noticed them, but it was 4 pages long and I still wanted to say more.

4 pages - that's very conserved!!! I've written so much (a lot just for myself for self understanding which has helped) that trying to find what is relevant for others is hard. Things like hand-flapping - as you say people will have noticed, so do I include it - or does that make it more obvious - or does that matter. I think what I'm going to do (I don't know if you have this option) because I don't know what others have noticed, is ask my supervisor (who knows about my AS) what is most noticably 'different' about me, so that I include things that others will find useful.

 

I'm going to include a couple of leaflets from the NAS (unless someone can suggest better ones). I'm including one called "What is Autism?" There is one specific to Asperger Syndrome, and the Autism leaflet does tell you to read it. The AS leaflet is better in that it is more detailed, but it discusses a lack of imagination and creative play, when really, social imagination (empathy/ToM) would be more along the right lines . . . not that creative play really relates to my job, but I have an active imagination anyway and that part of the leaflet doesn't apply to me at all.

I really don't like these leaflets. What I'm doing, because it will be more accessible to the academics I work with but is probably too much for your needs/audience, is putting together a webpage that has more detailed info and where I can link to sites that I think are useful and that do apply to me - not sure of these off the top of my head, but I'll let you know later when I've looked into them. With the NAS leaflets, I'll paraphrase to do my own version with an intro written by me along the lines of 'there is a lot of general information available but much of this is irrelevent to someone, like myself, diagnosed in adulthood who has had to develop coping strategies ....' and cut and paste in the relevant parts. I do feel that some of the generic leaflets could be damaging to me, which is why I want to create my own.

[Tally]

'there is a lot of general information available but much of this is irrelevant to someone, like myself, diagnosed in adulthood who has had to develop coping strategies ....'

 

I like this sentence . . . do you mind if I steal it?

[Mumble]

I like this sentence . . . do you mind if I steal it?

I charge in chocolate

No I don't mind at all - of course you can steal it

[cmuir]

Hi

 

You have to do what you feel is right for you and if you feel informing your employer that you have AS is right, then go for it.

Think your letter is very articulate, informative/factual and constructive!

 

Best wishes

 

Caroline

[pearl]

Well done Tally!

I've done a shorter one for JP's workplace, wrote it along with Dave his ESW, & it has been well received. They also have the Prospects book but his supervisor said, even on her short acquaintance with JP, that lots of it wasnt relevant.

[bid]

Excellent Tally!

 

It's made me think about writing something for my line manager, rather than just having a 'chat'.

 

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Bid

[Tally]

I was all ready to show it to my supervisor (see what she thinks) on Sunday before I handed it in to the HR department, and she's on holiday for 2 weeks!

[Clare63]

Good luck Tally, fantastic piece of writing, clear, informative and direct.

 

Clare x x x