When you told you boss you have AS

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I know some of you on here have told your bosses and people at work about your AS so I have a question for you guys;


When you told your boss, manager and people at work about your AS, did things get easier for you at work like:

Did they work with you?

Had more patients with you?

Explain things better to you?

Didn't get mad at you when you misinterpet what they say or when you misread between the lines?

I told my boss very recently, and then shen went on leave, so I don't quite know yet how she is going to behave. So far, it seems that she is behaving the same as before (yay! My preference...). And I do believe she will understand better in the future when I ask her to keep me out of highly political/stressful situations in the office.

But... she is also a qualified psychologist that is wayyyy more understanding and open minded than anyone else at the office. I would definitely not tell anyone.

In my case, the "work" situation only deteriorated, but it at least gave me something to fight back with.

I would only tell a boss about my DX if there was something very huge to be gained from it. Basically, I see it as a high stakes gamble, with your job and work history on the line, among other things.

Well, I did get a reprimand afterward.

Wow, that doesn't seem to bode well for me. Haha. Since I have to talk to my bosses (multiple ugh) about it. Few weeks ago I go my semi annual review and everywhere it kept saying "uncommunicative" "noncommunicative" "quiet nature indirect source of potential problems" and then after that I went from working five days a week down to two days a week. So I don't know if this will kep or hurt to explain more.

Telling your boss you have AS is just a fancy way of saying "I quit."

I got a workplace referral to my EAP program, when I "showed" them I had a disorder. I was up for a promotion, now I'm not sure when it will happen. My therapist thinks I have schizoaffective disorder, but I haven't even told him my life story yet. So far I got another purchasing admin I am trying to be my replacement and my boss gave me $200 since I missed a week of work and don't have a car. I can get another temp job in two weeks with my background and work with 140 of their suppliers, at least 20% are local. So I have not much to lose.

mojo123

Da only ppl know i have AS is me station manager, line manager n team support manager n they r very aware wid me n they always talk how well im doin me job.

I wish there was somebody here more knowledgeable about HR issues and the Americans with Disabilities Act than me, but I'm pretty sure that it's illegal to fire you because you have (what they would consider to be) a disability (at least in America).

However, if you are having issues in your job that relate to your "disability" that's a little less clear to me.

I think the three major questions would be:

1. Is AS considered a disability in the legal sense?
2. If you disclose a disability, are employers required to make reasonable accomodations for you to complete your job in light of your disability.
3. Does your disability prevent you from performing the essential job functions.

I'm thinking of the man in a wheelchair who wanted to be a law enforcement officer. The agency wouldn't hire him (and they didn't have to) because he couldn't perform the essential job functions (chasing and arresting suspects, etc) and there were no accomodations the agency could make to allow him to do those things.

In summary, if you get fired or reprimanded strictly because you disclose a disability to your employer, the employer is breaking the law.

Okay, here's a link to an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/cguide.htm

Under their broad definition, it appears that AS would qualify as a disability in regards to this protection.