Disclosure and accommodations?

[entropie]

I'm currently about to ask for a desk in an office (we have an open office layout). I feel really weird about it because typically only managers get offices, and I am not a manager. But no one's using that desk, and I hardly ever get any work done during normal work hours and I constantly have a headache from the chatter and the people walking by. Bouncing a ball on my desk helps quell the anxiety but if I keep doing it I will just be contributing to the noise, and it doesn't help me get work done anyway. I also feel weird about it because I've been there almost 2 years, and people don't seem to have the slightest clue that I'm not NT, they just think I am aloof and quiet and kinda weird... I'm worried that if I disclose people will think I am exaggerating to get an office.

I'm also wondering if disclosure might help me communicate my other needs. I've tried to tell my manager several times that I prefer diagrams, design docs, and working through problems on my own asking questions along the way, but he insists on communicating all important concepts to me in one, big, verbal chunk once every two weeks. Perhaps if I put a label on it, he'll finally get that I am asking him to do things differently because of my neurobiology, not because I'm just unadaptive or not very bright. It just seems like a lot of people have misunderstandings about AS... it's in many ways a strength if you're in an engineering field (which I am), but I'm afraid that my manager will think of me as mentally inferior if I disclose to him.

Have you ever disclosed or asked for accommodations at work? If so, what accommodations did you ask for, and how did it go?

 

[Slithytoves]

Hi, Entropie.

Welcome to AC. You have a gorgeous avatar!

I have never asked for accommodations, though I have been manager to employees who have needed various accommodations in the past. Before you decide to disclose, it might be helpful to read the ADA guidelines so you know what is reasonable to request and what your employers are and are not obligated to provide.

Federal and ADA Disability Resources

A big mistake many employees protected by the ADA make is overestimation of how much it can do for them. You don't want to get into a situation where you have disclosed a "disability", then got yourself targeted as unreasonably demanding.

You may need to get a letter from your mental health practitioner explaining why the accommodations you seek are necessary. Discussing this with your doctor in advance is wise. They may have input as to what you should say when you disclose.

I hope this helps you.

 

[entropie]

Oh, okay, thank you for the link. I was hoping not to make it into a legal thing, I wasn't planning on bringing up the ADA, I was just wondering if telling people at work about my AS would be likely to help them understand me better or if it would just make them frustrated with me. My question is more of a social / professional culture one than a legal one I guess.

 

[SignOfLazarus]

entropie

I am uncertain if your response is based on the fact that you are aware of the information that Slithytoves provided already or if you do not want to be seen as difficult but my opinion is that you may want to attempt to address what difficulties you could be having via HR. [In fact given what you have written I strongly recommend this over addressing it directly yourself]

If you don't think that makes sense maybe you could discuss them further here specifically other than what you have already written and other users can help you brainstorm about them.

---

It is helpful to look at the ADA for personal information about what is or is not reasonable accomodation, I think is what Slithytoves was saying.

Going by the specific procedures they reccomend actually would protect you in the long run and just about any business in the US would be familiar to some degree with that.
To simply ask about the process you can go to the person who would be considered the Human Resources individual at your place of work and this should be the only person you need to discuss these issues with. They are basically the "relay" who can discuss the actually issue you are disclosing [in this case the diagnosis of AS] before considering whether you want to fully disclose to anyone else at your place of work or whether simply making some small accomodations or changes at work would help.

If some small accomodations would help, you can then get documentation from your doctor [a letter stating diagnosis and listing recommended accomodations, essentially] and you bring that to HR.
Your personal information stays with HR and they help you make these changes and help you work with management, and any co workers and "normalize" these changes and accomodations.

Often, in this process it can be seen that something as small as having instructions or requests written, being able to "checkin" halfway through a project about specifications and establishing a particular protocol, or other small adjustments can really help. All that you have said are reasonable [visuals, adjustments in environment or ability to use aids to make environment more conducive to work] and likely some compromise could be reached- with the exception of the office, but that could be gotten around, I am certain. [Could propose leaving door open- which may still make you accessible but dampen noise- you could have a white noise machine by door; you could be aloud to wear low grade ear plugs to dampen noise; I'm certain there are other things that can be done.]


Please understand- this is not a large imposition on your part.
This is a legal obligation by employers, but that does not make it a large imposition, nor does that make you a "troublesome employee" only to request accomodations. There are however, as Slithytoves suggested, limits- you still need to be able to perform your duties.

I hope something in here was helpful :]

---
ETA:
Sorry I posted this originally but kind of spaced out and forgot you gave some details that I thought you hadn't so rewrote it. eep.

 

[Slithytoves]

Oh, okay, thank you for the link. I was hoping not to make it into a legal thing, I wasn't planning on bringing up the ADA, I was just wondering if telling people at work about my AS would be likely to help them understand me better or if it would just make them frustrated with me. My question is more of a social / professional culture one than a legal one I guess.

I hate to start a reply with, "From my ample experience as an employer and in HR...," but it kinda fits, so consider it done.

Whenever you disclose a condition for which you need accommodations in the workplace, it automatically becomes a legal issue from the perspective of the company. You said that only managers usually get offices. This makes your particular request significant. If you get one, other employees may wonder why. And so it goes. The reason why the ADA was needed in the first place is because it establishes people with special needs as a special class. They needed that protection for good cause. If you're going to tread into that territory, it's best to do it well-informed and by the book.

SignOfLazarus was right, too, that I think it's just helpful all around to understand what cover the ADA provides. She was right about a lot of things in her post. Good advice in particular about sounding this to HR before approaching your supervisor.

Let us know what you do, okay?

 

[entropie]

Yeah, there's a lot of helpful stuff here. Thank you guys.

I guess I didn't realize that it was usually such a formal and secretive thing. I take it AS is usually judged pretty harshly in the workplace, otherwise all of these precautions wouldn't be necessary.

I should probably be more clear, while the offices are *mostly* for managers, there are a few non-managers who have been at the company about as long as I have and are in offices (some are even more junior than me on their respective teams), so it seems less like something that would cause other employees to ask questions. It's just something I have to ask for, which I'm excessively uncomfortable with.

An update on the desk: I talked to the person who is in charge of seating and other employee productivity things. I didn't mention specifics (and she didn't ask me to unless I wanted to), just mentioned I had neurological differences. She had the attitude that everyone has different thresholds for how much distraction they can handle and she wanted to make sure anyone with certain needs (neurological related or not) was in the best location for them. So that's good. It does look like everyone will be moving around in a month or so, so that all teams are seated together, and the particular office I was looking at isn't in my team's area anymore. But the people I'm sitting near now are pretty excessively social, whereas my new team is a lot more heads-down. Also, the employee productivity lady said that she was going to do whatever it takes to make sure I am sheltered from noise and visual distraction so I can be as productive as possible. It sounds like this will go well, but I'm still going to familiarize myself with the ADA and get my doctor's perspective on formal accommodation requests.

I'm still unclear on whether it's a good idea to tell my manager or my coworkers, from a cultural standpoint. I do my job well, I communicate everything I need to communicate, I meet my deadlines, and I am friendly to people. There have just been a few cases of people who think I somehow communicate "wrong" but couldn't express why or give me examples, they were just weirded out by me -- for example, this one guy who had concerns about working with me and went to my boss just because he "couldn't read me," or the project manager who decided to give me no credit for anything for an entire project because she hated me for my verbal difficulties (she yelled incoherently about me at my boss too). Since I constantly and openly welcome their feedback, always make myself available, I just don't know what else to do besides let them know I am neurologically different. But people who know seem to think I should be secretive about it. I'm very, very confused. I guess I just need to sit back and let them think I am weird...?

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

I'm currently about to ask for a desk in an office (we have an open office layout). I feel really weird about it because typically only managers get offices, and I am not a manager. But no one's using that desk, and I hardly ever get any work done during normal work hours and I constantly have a headache from the chatter and the people walking by. Bouncing a ball on my desk helps quell the anxiety but if I keep doing it I will just be contributing to the noise, and it doesn't help me get work done anyway. I also feel weird about it because I've been there almost 2 years, and people don't seem to have the slightest clue that I'm not NT, they just think I am aloof and quiet and kinda weird... I'm worried that if I disclose people will think I am exaggerating to get an office.

I'm also wondering if disclosure might help me communicate my other needs. I've tried to tell my manager several times that I prefer diagrams, design docs, and working through problems on my own asking questions along the way, but he insists on communicating all important concepts to me in one, big, verbal chunk once every two weeks. Perhaps if I put a label on it, he'll finally get that I am asking him to do things differently because of my neurobiology, not because I'm just unadaptive or not very bright. It just seems like a lot of people have misunderstandings about AS... it's in many ways a strength if you're in an engineering field (which I am), but I'm afraid that my manager will think of me as mentally inferior if I disclose to him.

Have you ever disclosed or asked for accommodations at work? If so, what accommodations did you ask for, and how did it go?

Yes. When given the choice, I've point-blank indicated that I don't do well in bull pens, and I don't explain it. Both times management moved on and got me more secluded space. When an unresponsive company refused, I bought very good headphones with noise-cancelling features and used them, aggressively. Moves the sound back from 10-15 feet, which made enough of a difference.

Second SignOfLazarus and Slithytoves, also.

 

[SignOfLazarus]

I'm still unclear on whether it's a good idea to tell my manager or my coworkers, from a cultural standpoint

This is a personal decision- but it should in no way be related to your need for accomdations and should have no connection. I was not clear that your question had to do with social/cultural factors.

My perspective on this?

I feel that most people don't care, particularly in a work environment.
I understand that sounds very harsh- and that is not my opinion. I care, but most people don't invest that much at work. Not in an actively cruel way but at the end of the day, most people who are your equal don't care to spend an excessive amount of time to get along with a person because they are on the spectrum versus them not being on the spectrum. It is often true apathy past what is necessary for the job or what energy might be required to get along during break, lunch or occasional after work drink- but that might be as far as it goes. For a lot of people it is their job, what they do to get money and then they go home.

There are absolutely exceptions to this- you have to judge whether your work environment is one of them because it certainly could be. I can't determine whether that is the case.

There are some managers who take the time to be paternal/maternal and possibly take a caregiving type stance. They will be personal and "take you under their wing". However, personally, it is less common for them to go out of their way to do so because of one individual person. If they are going to behave this way it is likely how they will behave regardless- not because they are making exceptions. They may be an individual who is more caring and supportive in general.

Other people will have more input on this, so definitely take that into account. We all have different experiences in working environments.

I do think it is important for you to clearly differentiate for yourself the social/engagement issue of disclosure to your fellow employees versus the HR disclosure in order to receive accommodations.

They are two separate issues both with differing possible effects [potentially good and bad]. Essentially I think other people can't tell you whether or not to disclose to your fellow employees because there are so many different environments and not all the necessary information can really be relayed in a text description, I think. It's also just kind of a personal decision- I can't judge how people might react, nor how you might feel about the reactions or if that would be an advantage or disadvantage.

I think kind of working through all these responses will likely be helpful since it's a bit more clear that you are specifically asking for possible social ramifications as well. [haha I think?]
I hope you get some more feedback on this.

:]
Laz.

 

[Slithytoves]

I guess I didn't realize that it was usually such a formal and secretive thing. I take it AS is usually judged pretty harshly in the workplace, otherwise all of these precautions wouldn't be necessary.

I don't know about secretive, as such. It's just that a measure of caution is needed. Especially if you're not able to read some of the social nuances in an office, it's good to be measured and informed in your approach in whatever ways you can be.

AS may or may not be judged harshly in a given workplace. You just don't want to find out the hard way which kind of environment you're really working in. It sounds like the "seating lady" has a good attitude. That's encouraging.

I'm still unclear on whether it's a good idea to tell my manager or my coworkers, from a cultural standpoint. I do my job well, I communicate everything I need to communicate, I meet my deadlines, and I am friendly to people. There have just been a few cases of people who think I somehow communicate "wrong" but couldn't express why or give me examples, they were just weirded out by me

I agree with SignOfLazarus that it's a personal decision, and also that most of the time, co-workers are pretty bland in their interest about others at the same level. I'd add that most personal disclosures are better made on a need-to-know basis. In any group, it seems there's always someone who thinks they're a play for pity or attention. Usually someone who likes getting pity or attention themselves.

It's worth mentioning that everybody isn't going to understand or like everyone they work with, no matter what the reasons are. Workplaces throw all kinds of personalities and styles together. Fact of life.

Finally, most people know exceedingly little about autism spectrum conditions. The information would likely be useless unless you wanted to make a point of explaining. Do you want to take that on as part of your FYI?

Again, this is a personal choice. I'm just throwing out thoughts in case there's something that hadn't occurred to you.

 

[Judge]

In the end, there is no simple, cut and dry answer to such a thing. You have to approach it on a case-by-case basis. Some people and the circumstances around them may be conducive to telling them of one's neurology. Just as others may not be.

All you can do is to proceed with caution, weighing each situation accordingly.

 

[entropie]

Haha, I guess it's another one of those things where it would be useful to be capable of reading people's attitudes / intentions.

I'll use the case-by-case approach, if someone is really confused by me, I'll just tell them I am neurologically different.. maybe I don't need to mention AS specifically, but it's probably enough for most people to understand that I'm going to behave differently than they expect and they shouldn't read into it too much. (In response to coworkers being bland about their interest in other people-- I wish that was the case here, I wouldn't even be asking this question if people weren't prying into my communication style, verbal patterns, facial expressions, things that are clearly beyond my capacity to do work.)

My workplace in particular does pride itself on being kinder and more welcoming than most software firms. I might just be too hesitant to trust people here because I've heard so many horror stories about heartless professional environments and relationships, and I can't exactly rely on my social intuition to evaluate each relationship. But here, I've seen people get respectfully checked up on due to things like anxiety disorders -- managers seem to be sensitive to those types of things, after all it does help people be more productive when they have their needs met. I'm probably freaking out too much, and it's probably not a big deal. Tons of people with AS work in software engineering and are great at it.