Revealing diagnosis at work

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For anyone who HAS done this I have some questions for you:
1. How did you do this? Did you disclose to your immediate supervisor or did you bypass this person and go straight to HR?
2. Why did you do this?
3. Did it help you with your interpersonal relationships with coworkers or did it create a stigma? Do they even know?
4. Since revealing diagnosis, did you feel this changed people's opinions or perceptions of your competency?
5. Do you feel this increased workplace bullying?

I feel like if I were to have the conversation with my direct supervisor it might help in certain circumstances, such as helping her understand why when she just shows me something without any written instruction I'm not going to remember what was shown and rather than her be petty and condescending about it and talk to me like a child and over explain VERY simple concepts would just be more helpful for her to write out instructions. Also, yes I have already asked her to write out instructions. She has been less than accommodating. But I feel just given the kind of person she is it would wildly complicate the interpersonal dynamic within the unit. She's smart enough to not do anything directly where I could then make a discrimination argument against her, more I'm positive she'd make it a laughing point with the unit when I'm not around. This is a fairly petty person who has the feel of an elementary school mean girl in most of her interactions with people.

Just curious to hear from people who have disclosed their diagnosis with their employer to get a bit more intel on whether this would be a good move for me.

It looks like you're from the states as well...

Most employers will have you fill out a disclosure as part of your employment package, asking your race gender military service and disability.

On this form, I just check "Yes I have a disability" (autism is covered under the ADA).

Only HR sees the form, and you don't have to disclose what your disability is.

In my experience, it made the higher ups more cautious about how they laid me off.

I had to sign a bunch of papers saying I wasn't being discriminated against.

But you would also have the right to request reasonable accommodations to do your job because of your ASD.

I would not disclose to anyone other than HR. Let HR explain your accommodation needs to your boss. HR is bound to employee confidentiality, bosses and co workers are not (and offices seem to be breeding grounds for gossip).

This is what little experience I have with discloure.

If I were in your situation, I would have HR talk to my boss. The request coming from HR holds more gravity. And I would not tell my boss that I have a disability or what it is (legally no can ever demand to know what your disability is)

I did not disclose ASD diagnosis at the time of hire as I did not have a formal diagnosis. I am aware ASD is ADA protected and that a person is not required to further specify their disability.

Given you did not specify ASD, did you just simply make a list of necessary accommodations for HR to communicate to your supervisor and team?

My direct superior is very much a gossip, the people I work with are at times less than utmost professionals. Whatever would be communicated to her by HR I would imagine would not be handled professionally or delicately.

Did you feel that it was in any way advantageous for you to disclose upon hire that you have a disability?

I'm concerned that the potential pro's of disclosure do not outweigh the possible cons. My concern would be that rather than HR and my supervisor interpret the disclosure as a way to better understand me and how to better effectively utilize me, she would instead underhandedly ostracize me in ways that would be difficult to prove. She's just kind of a typical person in most regards, low empathy, very self-absorbed. I have never felt the need to ask for accommodation in any work environment before, and I have always excelled. The reality may be that this is just not the right fit for a variety of reasons but high on that list is this person.

It was advantageous for me. After about a year of commuting to the office everyday, I found it more and more difficult to make the trip. Even had to pull over on many occasions to have minor melt downs. I applied for, and received, the right to work from home. I think the fact the I disclosed the fact that I had a disability helped.

I wouldn't say disclosure helped me, really, because I wasn't able to properly articulate what the issues were for me in dealing with my autism at work, or what the organisation could do to make adjustments.

When I developed a mental health issue, which was probably related to autism in some ways, I just used the mental health diagnosis to request flexible working arrangement (I reduced my working days to 9 per fortnight instead of the usual 10). I found that managers had a better grasp of what mental health issues entailed and understood that reduced hours could help with it.

With autism there just wasn't that level of understanding - and not only from managers but from myself, in terms of knowing and being able to express what I needed and why.

Things seem to be changing though, there's a lot more information around now on managing autism at work than there used to be. So it might be worth disclosing, at least partially, if you think there's a chance of getting help for any workplace difficulties. And disclosure does provide a level of protection and security against being unfairly dismissed.

Oh, just realised I didn't answer your questions on stigma and bullying.

I think that is a valid concern, especially for those who may be younger and not yet developed a thick enough skin to not be concerned about what others think of them. Also for those who may be new to a career and not yet been able to show their usefulness and skill. There's definitely a danger that one will be seen as "lesser" after disclosure and treated accordingly.

For me it was OK because I'm fairly well established in my career, so people know I'm useful to the organisation. Also it helps to be able to feel able to go somewhere else if the workplace environment gets tainted by bullies. Once bullying starts, you're better off just getting out of there and into a more supportive environment.

I would certainly say it is best to think very carefully about disclosure, weigh up the possible positive and negative effects, and whether it will be in your best interests over all. It's generally only useful if you are needing adjustments / accommodations.

Ah to be clear, I absolutely do not care about these people whatsoever or what they think about me. But in terms of a business relationship, it is advantageous for people to think highly of you, and not to cut you down and ridicule you for a perception of being different.
I'm feeling like there's no way my direct supervisor and unit don't at least suspect it
If it puts me in a legally advantageous position to be recognized within a protected class of workers, this could potentially compel some to be a bit more mannered. Unlikely.
I feel like what would be more likely is an argument could be made for how this condition would lead one to the conclusion that I'm unfit for my position. The position itself, I'm great. The constant barrage of meetings is just wearing on me. They are mostly irrelevant to the job. This is just a rah rah lets all get together and motivate each other typically type of meetings which for me does the total opposite. I was sold this role as I am essentially running my own business, and that is NOT what this is. There are SO many layers of levels of people that I'm required to interact with on a daily basis. And again NONE of this is relevant to the actual job. I'm finding it's just wearing me down. If this were actually my own business I would not be compelled to have any of these meetings, for the company continuing education I would just do this on my own and not part of a class. It's just a seriously overwhelming amount of people to be dealing with which is one thing, but I was told I would have considerably more freedom and autonomy than I actually have.

Last edited by adromedanblackhole on 09 Oct 2020, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, that's a tricky situation.

It sounds like you need the legal protection of an autism diagnosis but without allowing others to use it against you?
In that case, consider informing HR of your diagnosis but stressing to them that you don't wish others to know.
Hopefully once HR are informed you get the legal protection but with less chance of other colleagues knowing about it.

After that, you can selectively or partially disclose to other people who may be able to influence the working environment in your favour, for instance if you can find an ally who agrees with you that the meetings are beyond the requirements of the role, or may even be reducing your productivity?

Well, just my thoughts.
Good luck!

At my old job I had no choice but to let my diagnosis be revealed, because I had a support worker who was paid to help me find a job and when this job did come up he had to be involved. So obviously the boss knew and so did some of the other workers. I didn't like people knowing about my label but there was nothing I could do about it.


It didn't actually create a stigma. Nobody suspected me of killing anybody, which was a relief.


Yes and no. I did get put on tasks that they knew made me anxious and stressed when I could have easily been put on tasks that I enjoyed and was less stressed with. But there were some tasks that I'd want to try but they didn't let me do because they thought it would be too stressful. So I couldn't quite work that one out.


Nobody bullied me there. I had a few clashes with a couple of supervisors but that was nothing to do with my label.

In the job I'm in now I haven't told anyone about my diagnosis. When I first started I even signed myself off the support worker thing because I didn't want them getting involved and my label getting around. I know they're only there to help but for once in my life I want to be in control of who knows and who doesn't. I'm happier this way. I even feel quite free, because since I was a young child everybody I met were informed that I wasn't "normal" and now that I'm in control of it I am happy to just sweep it under the rug. Yes it will probably rear it's ugly head one day in the future but for now I am happy and I irrationally hope that by sweeping it under the rug it might go away.

1. I told my direct supervisor who forwarded the information to HR who contacted me directly to follow up on it. From there, I was mandated to contact only HR regarding the issue.
2. The company had recently transferred me into a position that directly conflicted with ASD (basically 8 hours of constant talking to people) and it was extremely overwhelming. My previous manager had promised my job to someone else and used every opportunity to throw me under the bus until the company was fed up and just moved me. I tried negotiating for a different position but they wouldn't budge and kind of forced my hand. I eventually got frustrated with feeling burnt out and pushed into panic attacks all the time so I eventually told the manager and told him my disability conflicted with this job. Eventually, with the help of my doctor, they realized they were 100% in the wrong and acquiesced, giving me different job duties.
3. None of my coworkers know aside from other supervisors. For the most part, they are cool with it except for one exception. When I initially revealed it, most of the few people who knew were upset, though I think it was due to them not entirely understanding. I told them not to tell anyone else (mainly due to possible stigma) and thanks to HIPPA laws, they can't.
4. Not really. I got a couple comments from managers about TV shows that have people with ASD and how smart they are and a couple questions about how it affects life but no one ever says "he can't do that" unless it directly conflicts with my disability.
5. Only in one case. When I got transferred, the job duties they wanted me to do got transferred to another employee and one of the managers who was very unhappy he got stuck with the work. This caused him to constantly ask me to do menial jobs that weren't part of my job duties simply because I wasn't doing what he had to. Eventually, I confronted him about it and he put, in no less terms, "either do what I'm doing or do these menial jobs". I told him that's unlawful discrimination and I could have his job for it. He was irritated but after going to the big boss, he realized I was right and I haven't had any issues since.

I know it sounds like I had a lot of negative experiences, but this has been mostly positive for me in the long run. I was miserable before and outside of an extremely negative experience coming out, once everything was in order it was a very positive change as now my employer is knowledgeable about my limitations and I can still work hard on other projects.

Update: I disclosed and it wasn't a big deal. I also requested a transfer to a different manager who also frankly seems like he is potentially on the spectrum as well and everything is now fine.

That's cool, well done