as you can tell by the title i got let go/fired yesterday from my job. they told me they couldn’t accommodate me, that what i was asking was unreasonable. they told me id have a better time fitting in somewhere else. i told them okay and packed up my stuff at my desk then left.
I am sorry this happened to you.
Are you familiar with the laws about disability accomodations where you live? (And if so, can you tell us what they are? Not necessarily specifically or verbatim, if you wish to keep your exact location private [as I generally do] , but just a basic idea if your being fired was even legal?)
I ask because the best ways to approach disclosing autism and asking for accomodations probably depend a lot on where in the world you live, as different countries (and different regions within countries) all have different laws...
As well as different levels of typical awareness; And different social trends re: whether anti-discrimination laws are ever followed or enforced....
Sadly I get the sense that even in places where disability is a protected ground and employers are not allowed to fire you for requesting reasonable accomodations (nor allowed to refuse to give you the accomodatins -- esp not if prior to your requesting accomodations they gave feedback that you were doing a good job and they had no intention of firing you, ever) that it happens a lot anyways and there is often or usually nothing you can do about it.
(Also I could understand not wanting to work somewherr where you are made to feel unwanted or unwelcome, or are resented,even if you could force them to give you your job back or give you accomodations)
i have an interview next tuesday at Books A Million at 1:30pm. i guess im asking if i should even ask for accommodations anymore at jobs? ive had multiple bad experiences with asking for accommodations, i think im ready to give up. my mom suggested maybe i collect unemployment for the time being if i don’t think i can hold a steady job. my partner said id get stir crazy if i did that.
have you ever asked for accommodations at your job? how did it go? what do yall do for work?
At my last workplace, I actually was given accomodations without asking (more flexible breaktimes; all instructions written down in concrete detail because I would not understand and/or forget most of what I was told almost instantly otherwise; bit of extra time for certain tasks; never being assigned to main desk during busiest time because I couldnt multi-task to save my life and would be instantly overwhelmed...was usually sent for my longest break during busiest time) just by disclosing I had ADHD....
I did not have autism diagnosis then (
although unknown suspected developmental disability was recorded all over the place from early childhood...was even on file with the police where I grew up...my autism has never been as subtle as I once thought) and all my autism things that did not overlap ADHD symptoms were bizarrely misconstrued as other things...
...but that was a one in a million work environment,....
And I suspect I would never have been hired if they had known I was autistic.
And I was so so certain I would not be hired back once diagnosed with autism I quit the position I was on leave from. (They held it for almost a year...I was good at that job but also wildly overestimated...I had to argue to be put on sick leave until I came back for follow up meeting and supervisor saw what a state I was in...def not okay.)
I was probably right about not being hired back after diagnosis...because the one supervisor I eventually told later said, in disbelief "Really?? You never seemed
that off...."
And because interacting with an autistic client was sort of a litmus test for the suitability of new employees...
I still remember being told I had passed the "[person's name]-test", of not making them uncomfortable nor seeming discomfited myself...I actually clearly remember that first interaction with them, and how restful it was compared to talking to everyone else (lol) and how I didnt understand why everyone seemed to think this person was weird....
My workplace also eventually decided it was maybe unsafe for autistic people so although I wouldnt be surprised if more than that one person had some kind of ASD ....nobody really knew anything about it....anyways the point is I am pretty sure I was right about not being hired back.
Autism seems treated by employers a lot like Intellectual Disability if not sometimes worse...because people cannot seem to categorize it within their pre-existing conceptual models of "atypical/abnormal brain things" and there are a lot of weird and inaccurate but very strongly held stereotypes about it.
I don't work for anyone now and havent for a long time -- mostly because there aren't a lot of jobs I can do well enough and taking care of myself is a full time job (and I fail at even that -- not down on myself, no longer think it is a shameful thing since I do my best and cannot control this about myself....it is just reality)...
And because most people no longer chalk up my weirdness to youth, since I'm not young anymore; So while I have actually never done well in interviews I probably have zero hope now, and wouldnt even get past that first hurdle;
When I first applied for Income Support (likely equivalent to unemployment) the worker immediately arranged a 2-day government paid neuropsychological assessment (was how I was diagnosed with Autism), suspecting I should be on disability....
Is there a branch of Specialisterne where you live? They are an autism specific employment agency that operates in [correction:] many countries see link: Specialisterne
Another idea is to see if there are disability specific employment supports offered by any other employment agencies or through government unemployment programming. (There used to be a couple in my area, although I would not be surprised if they have all lost funding in recent years.) These places usually have a list of disability-friendly employers, or will work with you to sort of liaise with potential employers you identify to explain how easy it is to accomodate you (usually it is not super hard, and concerns can be addressed - but employers may not give any credibility to what the applicant says).
If you just need something to do and to give meaning and purpose to your days you can probably volunteer while on unemployment (I'm not 100% sure about that though and it always varies from place to place what policies are)
Sorry I dont have better advice, but I wish you luck!
It might just take time to find an employer that isn't lacking awareness about disability and accomodations -- or you might want to try pairing disclosure of autism and need for accomodations with any disability-positive (and verifiable) information you can find about the benefits to hiring and accomodating an employee with a disability -- such as statistics that suggest people with disabilities tend to stay at their jobs longer.
That means I did a lot of job interviews and I got pretty good at them. I always treated prospective employers as equals and discussed with them on equal terms what I wanted and what I was capable of doing. So I sold myself and explained some of my quirks while I was at it.
