Navigating Autism in the Workplace: Challenges and Solutions

I was mindlessly doom scrolling through Instagram earlier. Doom scrolling is an effective way of satisfying the urge in my mind to be doing something but without actually doing anything. I normally get a bad case of the “I should be” during doom scrolling. I was stopped in my tracks when I saw a collection of memes featuring SpongeBob SquarePants and discussing aspects and the impacts of working while being neurodivergent.

It is commonly known that autistic people are often unemployed, underemployed (working in jobs that they are vastly overqualified for*) or find themselves bouncing from job to job. A reason for this is that, if you place a neurodivergent person in an environment that can cause difficulties due to their sensory reactions, that are often operated by strict and unwritten social rules and absolute hierarchies then they are going to struggle. When I have been reflecting on my own working life I can see a plethora of examples of where my own autism has impacted my work. I can also see where, if given the support I didn’t know I needed at the time, things may have been much different.

Some of the statements on the meme, which were posted by a user called I Am Paying Attention, are the following:

1.     Me trying to stay positive in a performance review knowing everything they are asking me to improve on is just me being neurodivergent.

2.     Me whilst my manager badly hides her disgust when commenting on my neurodivergent traits.

3.     … realising that my accommodations weren’t as complex as my old manager implied.

4.     My brain when I’m asked to complete a task without understanding WHY I need to do it.

For me, these are the four that really resonated for me.

I would often need to see the reasoning behind what I was being asked to do. This is not because I am difficult or because I believe my time is very precious. It is because I need to understand how what I am doing matters to the big picture. I know that I am often a cog in a machine. Or a cog within a cog. But I do need to know what the purpose of an activity is. If it feels pointless or that it has no logical sense to it then I will either half-arse it or not do it. Obviously, in a job – especially in the administration jobs I have found myself in – this is not what they want.

One of the best Head of Departments I worked under would explain the WHY I could or could not do something. For example, I asked to finish a unit early because my class were totally disengaged. The Head of Department said, “I understand why you want to do that, and it makes sense but you can’t because of…” and they listed three reasons. That made sense to me. They took less than five minutes out of their day to talk through something and I got it. Not all managers understand neurodiversity or are willing to make small accommodations. Instead of grumbling and complaining with something that doesn’t make sense to me, I understood.

The second point, a manager “hiding her disgust when commenting on my neurodivergent traits” is something that I have experienced. One of my traits, and by far the most socially unacceptable one is I can sometimes say things that others deem inappropriate but were not intended to be. In one job the people I worked with had a two sided A4 piece of paper with a list of “Things Matt isn’t Allowed to Say Anymore”. I would say something and then I would hear, “Christ, Matt, that’s on the list”.

People I have worked with, who do not understand me or autism, have taken comments I have made and instead of speaking to me about them they have complained and then everything escalates out of control. A simple, clearly formal, conversation with me would have solved the issue. But they don’t do that. People often feel that they are accepting of everyone no matter their gender, sexuality, religion or how they identify yet they allow ableism to creep in. The traits that neurodivergent people display are not optional nor are they intentional. Yet it is often used as an excuse to remove or punish neurodivergent people.

They also do not understand how change can impact a neurodivergent person. If you have to learn new systems, new ways of doing things and new procedures then this will take longer than a neurotypical person. A neurodivergent person needs time and coaching. But working environments do not give people this time. Everyone is under their own pressures and their own stresses that dictates their own decisions. It becomes a matter of them saying, well, everyone else understands it. Which they may do but I do not. You wouldn’t say to a person in a wheelchair, well, everyone else can dance the Riverdance, why can’t you.

Finally, the feedback you get in performance reviews: another aspect of work that I have never understood, is targeted at aspects an autistic person cannot control. Yes, I get easily bored. Yes, I make small mistakes due to a poor short term memory – “did I check that file? I do not know but I do know I checked a hundred like them so I must have. Wait no, no I didn’t.” And then I am in trouble.

As a disabled person you are entitled to reasonable adjustments at work. These are small adjustments made by your employer to allow you to do your job. Think of it this way: if a company employs a person with mobility issues then they will make sure that they can get to their desks by installing ramps, moving their desk near a lift etc.

To counter some of the executive disfunction issues that Autistic and neurodiverse people can have you can ask for:

·       Clear, concise written instructions.

·       Regular reminders of deadlines.

·       A workplace mentor to help with the social side of work.

·       Working conditions that mitigate not exacerbate sensory issues (a change of lighting or noise levels so on).

As long as your requests are deemed reasonable then your company are obligated, under the Equalities Act 2010, to provide them. Obviously, if you are asking for wholesale changes to the building or something that would cost a lot of money then that is unreasonable. The main thing is being in open, honest communication with your employer and being sure about what your needs are.

With clear, concise written instructions then I can tick off what I have done and what needs to be done. I have taught neurodiverse students and provide them with a lesson checklist. The student works through it during the lesson and they know exactly what is required of them at any given stage of the lesson. Regular reminders, just an email saying “data is needed at the end of the week – please flag this email” would keep this at the forefront of my mind. Both of these adjustments are not massive but can make a massive difference.

These needs may change, and you may not know them all but by communicating with your employer you can thrive.

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations#the-current-situation