Full disclosure

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I am torn. I have 2 big fish on the hook right now. Waiting to see who bites first. In a way I feel like I want to tell them that I am an aspie. There are certain detriments to this. I may not understand social interactions, verbal instructions, or unspoken rules. I look and seem normal, even fantastic in interviews, but how I do I make interviewers aware of the depth of who I am without making sound like I am damaged and can't be trusted? Do I tell them? Is it their business to know who I am like that? Sure they don't discriminate against religion, sexual orientation, but what about mental orientation? That isn't in the list. No one wants a "ret*d recluse" for an employee. Other than my aspieness, I am a major catch. In a week I had 2 interviews and a pile of recruiters trying to get me to visit them, and now I don't my future employer to hate me because I didn't tell them the "whole truth."

Thoughts? Thank you.

Why would your employer hate you? Because had they known they would not have hired you? They don't have the right to consider your 'disability' in determining whether to hire you unless that disability would clearly make you incapable of performing your duty. You're probably also entitled to some kind of reasonable accommodation, like having instructions given to you in writing, but I would not bring that up in an interview. Your cognitive orientation is a private matter, if you choose.

How about medium-disclosure, such as

'I can be pretty nerdy in my own way. I mean, I can really laser-beam in on a project, and of course that has its pluses and minuses.'

And you see how the person reacts, and you either tail back and perhaps take it to the side, or another medium step forward of your own choosing.

'Well, for example . . . '

And you educate the person step by step, small bite size pieces. These conversations not to last longer than 5 minutes, usually considerably less. And you also protect yourself, and graciously back off if the person is not receptive.

And you might be doing what I do, which is feel you need to 'excel' across the board, and that can become a one-dimensional trap.

When you look at it, really, about one quarter of people have substance abuse problems, maybe not fully one-quarter, but it is a significant percentage. So, I tell myself, I get there sober and 5 minutes early, I'm already ahead of the game. In particular, I do not need to over try.

I picked the third option.

As a rule, disclosure is only "beneficial" if it's quite obvious something isn't right with you and the lack on their understanding will just ensure you won't be hired. In this case, disclosure might test their open-mindedness and give you a shot.

Otherwise, if you can keep your condition under wraps enough to do the job and get by, better to say nothing until it starts to become an issue.

Unless your potential employer have a subsidy or look for different kind of people (nerd by design, creative jobs): Never

Employers look for the most able employee for a given job, your resume and interview are what defines if you are ok for the job. He wants to minimize risks

Saying you have some kind of problems will cast doubt in the head of the employer, and he will not have the time to go and learn about what the details, implications and his potential benefits of your problem are.

This seems pretty good to me. Kind of a way to 'continge' the social situation. That is, participating in the social interaction in a nonperfect, 'feel and texture' way.

If it becomes obvious that the person feels uncomfortable and isn't going to extend a job offer, then perhaps play the disability card, and as zer0netgain puts it, test their open-mindedness.

But this is not the situation initially described by izmyaspieshowin, who did well at the interviews. I'd say it then becomes an ongoing situation with co-workers (if hired, and even with a positive interview, there might be three or four other people who also had positive interviews, so it's still a numbers game) and I'd say disclose in medium, bite-sized steps, and see how the person reacts. For a co-worker is merely a potentially friendly co-worker at the start, you need to see how they react (and I for one need to remind myself of this from time to time).