Autism the thread

[Tom]

Excellent news Matt, well done. Maybe just see how work goes for a little while now before thinking about any next steps?

 

[Matt N]

We have to filled out the “manual” by a team away day on 10th December, as there is apparently going to be a session on “personalities” as part of that. So I have to have decided what to say in that by then, really.

I’m still slightly undecided about whether to put my diagnosis in, but after my line manager’s supportive response and reassurance that the wider team is “supportive” (which to be fair, they absolutely are from my experiences of them; my office has a very friendly and understanding culture), I’m erring towards yes, as transparency is encouraged and I feel it might be useful for team members to be aware of some of the possible quirks resulting from my condition.

Come to think of it, the Grade 7 leading our development team said that she went on a session about “autistic colleagues”, and the main thing she said was that she “found it really interesting hearing about how other colleagues work and how to foster inclusion within teams”. So I think she would be supportive as well.

 

[Alix]

Matt, as a CS myself I can almost guarantee the vast majority of people you're working with will be supportive - even if you're a contractor, your colleagues will have had it drummed into them for years about inclusivity, reasonable adjustments, the usefulness of diversity of thought and opinion, so I'd be very surprised if they were anything but kind about anything you decide to share.

Not sure about your department specifically, but everyone in my department has to do about 3 hours mandatory training every year on what I personally find is basically how to be a decent human. Doesn't matter if you're a manager, Grade 7 with a team or AA with no staff, it's made extremely clear how we are expected to behave towards colleagues and service users/clients whatever your dept calls them. As an example of how detailed the training is, I do not have to face the public and yet have to complete training annually on such subjects as what to do if I notice someone sits down a bit gingerly (possibly domestic abuse, possibly FGM, possibly hard work out at the gym).

You're not obliged to be 100% truthful in that manual. You could say nothing to declare, but you might find things smoother if you do share anything that would make working life more tolerable. If you do decide to share something significant, I would predict the worst thing that will happen is you'll be asked to feed into some sort of learning experience or join a neurodiversity network, but you can always say no thanks if you don't want to.

 

[Matt N]

Matt, as a CS myself I can almost guarantee the vast majority of people you're working with will be supportive - even if you're a contractor, your colleagues will have had it drummed into them for years about inclusivity, reasonable adjustments, the usefulness of diversity of thought and opinion, so I'd be very surprised if they were anything but kind about anything you decide to share.

Not sure about your department specifically, but everyone in my department has to do about 3 hours mandatory training every year on what I personally find is basically how to be a decent human. Doesn't matter if you're a manager, Grade 7 with a team or AA with no staff, it's made extremely clear how we are expected to behave towards colleagues and service users/clients whatever your dept calls them. As an example of how detailed the training is, I do not have to face the public and yet have to complete training annually on such subjects as what to do if I notice someone sits down a bit gingerly (possibly domestic abuse, possibly FGM, possibly hard work out at the gym).

You're not obliged to be 100% truthful in that manual. You could say nothing to declare, but you might find things smoother if you do share anything that would make working life more tolerable. If you do decide to share something significant, I would predict the worst thing that will happen is you'll be asked to feed into some sort of learning experience or join a neurodiversity network, but you can always say no thanks if you don't want to.

I did have to do lots of mandatory training when I started working in my particular department; the training I had to do took cumulatively almost an entire work day. The training you describe sounds very familiar, even if possibly not the same, and one of the courses I had was EDI, come to think of it!

 

[Amy]

Hi Matt

I would imagine that your colleagues have already formed their own impressions of you by now, and those are unlikely to change based on you disclosing your diagnosis. I also think that people are far more aware of autism these days and probably know a few autistic people, so are less likely to view it as something out of the ordinary.

In this situation, I would disclose my diagnosis, but that's because I'm pretty much guaranteed to get the wrong end of the stick/react badly to a situation/generally screw up my interactions with others sooner or later, so I think it's probably beneficial if people have some understanding of why this might happen. It all depends on you and how your autism affects you, I guess.

It's good to hear that your colleagues seem supportive.