What are our employment rights as autists?

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^as question asks^

And when I mentioned my probable aspergers to my boss she said 'you didn't put that on your application' and I had to say no I didn't because it's not officially diagnosed. It's such a bl**dy hassle.

I couldn't help thinking she wouldn't have hired or even considered me if I said I was autistic, so what are our rights under the Disability Discrimination Act or whatever?

I don't know the specifics regarding the UK, in the states there are a set of Federal rules known as the Americans with Disabilities Act that apply to both employers and educational facilities as regards their obligation to prevent discrimination.

At the end of the day, however, I'm sure the same is true in both countries: It depends on how good a lawyer you can afford.

I do not know UK discrimination law but:

"probably aspergers" is sort of weak. Unless you are diagnosed by a licensed professional, i do not think you have anything to use in court.

Think of it yourself: Imagine people claiming they have this and/or that disability without proof, then frivolously suing employers because they did not get a job.


And btw, i do not think you should be required to inform your employer about such a diagnosis.

I am not a lawyer but i am knowledgeable about law. If you want a certain answer, ask a real one.

If you want my honest opinion, employment should be based on our ability to educate the employer about AS/Autism as well as our willingness to learn from NTs. Otherwise, there is no law that will protect us from an employer who does not want to be bothered to hire us.

In the USA, the ADA is fairly pointless legislation. Unless you are obviously handicapped, it does little to help you.

Unless an employer is dumb enough to not hire you and cite your disability as a reason, you couldn't make a case easily anyhow.

Disclosure brings a high risk of not being hired. Failure to disclose CAN NOT be a reason for termination as the law prohibits asking people about disabilities. The only disclosure an employer can ask for is if you have a disability that can be dealt with via "reasonable accommodation."

So, unless you are in a wheelchair, on crutches, have a seeing-eye dog or your AS is fairly obvious so that it would impair your interview, it's better to not disclose and get the job on your ability to interview. If you disclose, you may or may not get the job and you won't know if the disability is why you weren't chosen.

In American, the ADA requires that an employer make "reasonable accommodation" for the disabled. This is a big gray area of the law. A man in a wheelchair that wants to work someplace not handicap accessible may or may not have a case if the cost of retrofitting a building would be many times more than the value of the worker to the company. Then again, he might have a case depending on the judge or jury hearing the case.

Sadly, I hold to the opinion that if you have to sue for your job, do you really want it?

To the OP, hope the job's going well . An article out today re the Equality Bill states "If someone has a condition which won't affect their ability to do a job there's no reason it should be declared before an offer is made." It also states "Others who are up-front about their medical history tell us that it is almost impossible to find a job."

Though the following article mentions discrimination faced by job seekers with mental illness etc, it's just as relevant to those on the spectrum.
"Equality Bill Ignores Discrimination Faced By Job Seekers With Disabilities, Say Charities":
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/147714.php

The Disability Discrimination Act 2004 demands the employer to make "reasonable" adjustments, but the prove is on your side. So without an official diagnosis you rely on the good will of your employer.

Also: There are some exemptions for small companies and "reasonable" is an interpretable term.

Seems like people in England are heck of a lot more knowledgeable about AS than they are in the United States.

I know where to look for my next job now...

They can't fire you for having an ASD, but they can certainly decline to hire you. In some cases, they can EVEN tell you that it was because of your disability.

If they use a "Bona Fide Occupational Requirement" system, then a disabled person whose disabilities may interfere with those criteria can be legally screened out. Bona Fide Occupational Requirements are a list of criteria that must be met by any applicant to ensure that the job can be conducted properly.

Sometimes, BFOQs are vague and anyone with a disability that can be twisted to contradict a BFOQ can be screened out. For example, many job postings (the vast majority) have BFOQs such as "Excellent Interpersonal Skills" or "Excellent Oral and Written Communication Skills". I think you all know where this is going...

This is especially true considering that those skills are the hardest to test, and the skills that everyone claims to possess. So if you have an actual diagnosis stating that you are impaired in one of those "universal, vague BFOQs", consider yourself struck off the short-list.

A select few organizations might be willing to over-look it, but I wouldn't count on it. Especially with private sector. When companies are chasing the bottom line, don't expect much compassion and understanding.

The best approach is to apply to companies that do "Employment Equity" (or whatever it's called in your particular country), but don't require you to disclose the specific disability. If you MUST disclose specifics, only do it with an application that you're experimenting with, or public sector.

I had a similar thing happen to me. I didn't know I had autism, so I said I had brain damage, because that's what it felt like. My employer wanted to know why I didn't tell her that from the beginning. She treated me so differently, I switched to another job within the same company.

It is always dangerous to name a strange behaviour with any scientific name in real life. In my experience the most people accept easier the concept that someone is a bit strange than he he has a mental condition, how harmless this condition my be, there is in the background always a strain of "dangerous mad one" or the simply "the idiot".

"Rights" for disabled workers ? Officially, yes. In reality? Take it from a workhorse veteran of 46 different jobs at 46 different companies: They don't like weirdness in any form, or what they see as any type of weirdness. It is odd how some people on crutches sheen respect, while others on crutches or limping from an injury are picke don, much as birds physically pick on an injured bird. People have this totally diabolical natural way of making you feel unwanted .. they seem to be able to do this by instinct, though I'm sure some plan it. A well known national library refused to have me back after I FILED for disability discrimination. The very behavior they didn't like stems from the disorder! Their reasoning was not taking me back because of 'inappropriate' behavior. Strange, since received EXCELLENT employment reviews on every job. Trying to educate them does nothing. No company 'has' to take you back or let you work there. So saying you are discriminated against for a disability is nearly impossible to show.

Tell me about it. I went for a job as a State Trooper with the Idaho State Police and I was offered the job. At the last minute (before a final week of processing I knew I could pass), they took the offer back and basically lied to me about why they were doing that.

I thought about suing, but the wording of the "conditional offer of employment" said I had to "satisfactorily complete" all stages of pre-employment screening. I "passed" everything I was subjected to, but I knew that "passing" and "satisfactorily completing" are not the same things. The former is objective. The latter is subjective. If I sued they could cite any flimsy reason for why I wasn't good enough for the job; even if I was better qualified than everyone else.

All this, of course, happened before I even knew about AS.