Why The Workplace Can Be Difficult For (some) Autistic People

#1 Being Chronically Misunderstood

Why it’s hard: When your brain operates completely differently from those around you, unless they are well-versed in Autism, everything you do will be misattributed to something other than Autism, usually something perceived as undesirable and/or negative (eg. laziness, lack of knowledge/ability, ego, self-centered, combativeness, etc) which can cause adverse work outcomes such as bad reviews, being fired/reprimanded, etc. Even if an Autistic person is able to mask/try to hide their Autistic traits, masking itself can lead to burn out and also not necessarily prevent you from being misunderstood.

#2 Irritation Due To Incongruence In The Workplace

Why it’s hard: Many Autistic people have brains that thrive in environments with congruent goals and actions. When Autistic people end up in workplaces where rules/goals are unclear or nonsensical and/or they witness policies and actions that are incongruent and inefficient it can cause confusion and irritation with no outlet due to being misunderstood/judged/told to stop when sincerely bringing up these real issues.

#3 Lack Of Accommodations/Ableism

Why it’s hard: Many Autistic will ask for accommodations without sufficient follow through and understanding by their workplaces and/or don’t have access to accommodations at all. Ableist expectations of Autistic people cause significant distress/stress such as expecting neuronormative social behavior and punishing any deviations such as lack of eye contact, social exhaustion at parties, speaking directly, etc. Many Autistic people require accommodations to support varying needs due to having a dynamic disability and may not be able to sufficiently advocate for themselves and/or their needs are not taken seriously.

#4 Unrecognition/Undervaluing Of Autistic Strengths

Why it’s hard: When strengths associated with Autism such as pattern recognition and the propensity to develop efficient systems are undervalued, it can be disheartening and cause work to become unbearably tedious and unmotivating. Job performance metrics may focus disporportionately on areas an Autistic person may not have strengths in (eg. following hierarchy, networking, following neuronormative social practices) that leads to unfair advantage for allistic people and can cause various issues for Autistic people such as burn out, depression, lack of motivation, job loss, etc.

#5 Mistreatment/Workplace Bullying/Hostile Work Environments

Why it’s hard: Due to explicit or implicit bias against Autistic people and Autistic traits, Autistic people can experience mistreatment and workplace bullying that causes their workplaces to be hostile places for us. We can get reprimanded/punished for Autistic traits such as having dynamic energy levels or asking questions/needing support/more information due to bottom up processing or not reading inbetween the lines in social encounters. Misunderstanding social cues/picking up on red flags and other vulnerabilities related to Autistic traits can also lead to being taken advantage of or harmful situations for Autistic people.

#6 Eventual skill Regression/Burn out

Why it’s hard: The chickens come home to roost. Even if an Autistic person can keep working and pushing through all those previous slides, burn out may eventually catch up with them. Skill regression generally accommpanies burn out in some fashion and this can directly impact if a person can actually complete certain tasks or functions of not only their job but even in basic care tasks for themselves. This is basically the point where even if you are set on pushing through, your body/mind can no longer comply and this can have dire financial and life consequences for an Autistic person.