Bringing up your AS in a positive light at interviews

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I've disclosed to my last two employers, with mixed results.

The first heard 'autism spectrum disorder' from the person I was working with to get a job and immediately assumed 'ret*d, obedient slave'. That job didn't go so well, I got fired after four months of what, were I a neuro-typ, I would assume was a deliberate attempt to, through abuse, force an employee to quit.

On the other hand, the other employer mostly treated me exactly the way I needed to be treated. I mean, I'll accept a little more verbal abuse than the average neuro-typ, which is likely part of it, and it didn't hurt that there was a 'traditional' autistic person working there already, but I mostly always knew exactly where I stood with my job, which was awesome.

So I'm more on the fence than some, I suppose. I -want- to tell my next employer that I'm aspergian, autism-spectrum, etc, but I'm still working out how.

Oh, and related, I had an employer that I didn't disclose to when they hired me, and then I fairly promptly lost my job when something came up that necessitated disclosure.

I'd need an access accommodation at the interview itself, which is why I'd have to disclose in advance. I'd just ring them up and have a chat about it – I have to do that anyway, to talk about access for my wheelchair.

On the other hand I do work in a tiny industry that actively values diversity and where I can't imagine an interview panel who were all unknown to me (on the last one I knew four out of six, and for many years at that). Not that they wouldn't have concerns, and they'd be right to. I'm s**t at one of the things that would be on the 'essential skills' list for any job I'd be likely to have: networking. They'd just have to put up with that and let me do it my own way (and I can do it, just not at conference lunches in large rooms full of people talking) if they were going to employ me at all, and balance one weakness against a lot of skills and decades of experience. There's no way I'd take another job without disclosing first, I'd feel I'd accepted on false pretences. Nor would I want to work in an environment where I wasn't going to be accepted from Day 1. But that's just for me, I don't work in the commercial sector and I realise that probably has different rules to the arts/charity sector.

Put "Will do a work's trial" in your CV.

It helps as they give you so many weeks to prove yourself rather then interview you there and then.

You may or may not be paid for this, but they rarely give you above 16 hours a week.

I wouldn't advise it, honestly. There is too much confusion and misinformation out there about Aurism and AS. Instead, I would recommend that you bring up the traits that you think make you well-suited for the job:
hyper-focused, detail-oriented, learns quickly (as opposed to 'intelligent'), able to closely follow protocols, etc.

At an interview, play NT as hard as you can. Eye-contact, hand shakes, business attire, the whole nine yards. You can gradually taper off once you've got the job and have impressed them with how good you are!