This is a bit of an odd situation - but aren't they all?
I've worked as an administrative assistant for the same person - a woman we'll call Jane - for 7 years. I generally like her a lot. She's about 17 years older than me and I don't have a good relationship with my mom so sometimes I wonder if I don't - on some level - see her filling that role.
I was diagnosed as ADHD in high school, and that was re-tested (some computer test) in my mid-20s and confirmed. Even on medication, I'm 90th percentile for distractibility. Woohoo? I'm also OCD - not a fun pairing, since the medication for one counteracts the medication for the other.
In the last few years, though, I've been playing in my head with the idea of being AS. I finally discovered this site and, as I told a friend online, "I found my people!"
I went to see my psychiatrist last week and she confirmed - though without the official tests - that she believed I did fall on the spectrum. It was a relief, almost, for someone with actual training (as opposed to Dr. Google) telling me I was right and I WAS different. Not bad - just different. We agreed I didn't really need the testing, since it's not a "mental illness" and the best treatment is being aware you have it, and working with what you know about yourself to handle situations that NTs don't have issues with - but that I might.
Sounds good, right?
I've been having issues at work the past few months, though, and they've finally caught up with me. I got overwhelmed, and once that gets bad enough, I shut down. So, I had a meeting with my boss Friday afternoon and she and I chatted. Some of it was about me being overwhelmed and how to fix that, but I also mentioned my issues with meetings held in our building and how it's VERY hard for me to come back to whatever I was doing once I lose focus from answering the door, etc - I'm the receptionist for the building as well as everything else I do.
There were a few times I wanted to mention the AS - she knows about the ADHD and the OCD - but she basically cut me off and said, "Whatever the issue is, you need to make sure it doesn't impact you at work." This is fair, I guess, but it's also not that easy. I don't want special treatment, but I also feel it's normal for me to want to be able to say, "This is the issue I'm having and why I'm having it." Plus, considering sometimes I don't even know that I'm doing something (generally saying something) wrong, it'd be nice if she knew I wasn't trying to be rude or whatnot.
Do I just try to work around the issues and not tell her? Do I go through the steps to get an official diagnosis and then go from there? I'm not really sure.
27 Aug 2012, 7:29 am
