Why are accommodations for autistic people often seen as unfair?

[YourPoisedFinch]

In my last job, I received some accommodations and explained them to colleagues when they asked why I was coming in late. Instead of understanding, they accused me of fraud and faking my condition to get special treatment. This isn’t just my experience—many people with mental health conditions and other invisible disabilities face similar challenges. They’re either not believed and resented for receiving accommodations or believed but then negatively stereotyped.

Of course not. Being a (white, since we're going there) man isn't a special skill, work experience, a degree, a qualification, a disability, etc. And you ignored all those factors.

Women do need to get better at negotiation (I am one) and there are existing laws that help with that area of discrimination, too.

You do need to demonstrate on request that there is a disability that you need adjustments for. This is rarely asked for, but would be if there were suspicions someone was faking it.

From my experience as an autistic person, I think a lot of people believe that we could just stop being autistic if we tried, or that it's some kind of annoying affectation we exaggerate to get "special treatment", or that autism disappears once you're an adult, or something.

I am not saying it is my concern at all. I am explaining why the OP's colleagues are reacting badly to it. They probably think the OP is taking advantage 🤷‍♀️

The problem is because autism exists on a huge spectrum. There are hugely successful, talented and wealthy people who are autistic. There are doctors, CEOs and surgeons who are autistic. It's very unlikely that they received accommodations throughout their life by shouting "able-ism" (considering most grew up in the 90s) but they simply got to where they are through high-masking and hyperfocus. Accommodations are reasonable for those to genuinely need it but the problem is most people are biased due to experiencing many other autistic people who clearly didn't need it.

A vague analogy would be wheelchair use. Everyone accepts that wheelchair accessibility is necessary because 100% of people in wheelchairs need them. However imagine if 50% of wheelchair users had no issues at all standing up and walking or even sprinting, then it may start becoming an issue. Some of them might even be better than neurotypical people at running and sprinting so why would they need a ramp? This is not saying a lot autistic people have difficulties and do require special accommodations. However not all autistic people need them and that's the reason able-bodied people might see it as unfair. Not every single autistic person is disabled.

I understand how you feel. I have reasonable adjustments for disabilities and how my colleagues have treated me has verged upon bullying at times.
I am still there as I can't leave due to needing these adjustments to remain in work but I have little time for colleagues after how they have treated me!!
I suggest you hold your head up high and ignore them.

Brilliant post! 💕

Some wheelchair users can stand and walk but still need them.

LOL are you for real?

I think because some times it can feel open to abuse

i have lost track of the number of employees who wanted something (usually to WFH) and when that was declined get a diagnosis for an invisible mental illness or disability (usually ADHD or anxiety) and their requested reasonable adjustment is the thing they’d been turned down for.

and I say this as a Mum to a son who has ADHD and I know it’s a real thing - I can see it very clearly. But working from home would be the worst thing for him to get anything done!

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The ableds: "It isn't fair that disabled people get these adjustments in the workplace and we don't".
Disabled people: "ok, we'll have to stop working and claim benefits"
The ableds: "it isn't fair that disabled people get these benefits for not working and we don't".

I maintain that anyone jealous of my reasonable adjustments, Motability car and benefits is more than welcome to them, but they have to take my disabilities too.

It is right that the more you cope with things the better you get at it, and that being taught good coping skills makes a big difference. It is part of emotional intelligence - and it is correct that the more you practice the better you get.

But that isn't what this thread is about.

I don't agree with your colleagues passing comment on other colleagues either

"Everyone has stuff going on."

Yes, but disabled people are disabled AND ALSO have stuff going on.

Accommodations are to level the playing field so that the disabled can work at all.

It might mean they do less work than you, because they are disabled.

For those who think the disabled should be paid less because they do less work - how do you suggest disabled people make a living? Should they rely on benefits, which you ultimately would be contributing to? Or should they do the work that they are able to do, and pay tax, to contribute to (for eg.) the NHS and the benefits you will need if you become sick or disabled yourself?

Over the years I've seen people complain about a blind/ visually impaired person who had special software ("not fair, we should all get the same amount as it cost to spend on something we want"). I've seen them complain about someone in a wheelchair getting an ergonomic desk.

So, not just hidden disabilities. Just that people can be shitty and selfish, unable to see anything beyond their own pettiness.

You are better than them, OP. I do think it's better than it was 10 or 15 years ago, and I hope that continues.

I'm not the one setting people against each other.

But when people are talking about masking isn't that just managing to do your job around your symptoms? It might be uncomfortable but you are able to work or have I got that wrong?

I'm not sure that hearing about people who can take time off to play Candy Crush as mentioned above really helps either in terms of people thinking adjustments are fair or not.

If they feel that the reduced workload from a disabled colleague unfairly adds to theirs then their dispute should be to management to find a way to work around that workload and not against their disabled colleague.

I do think bad management is often a factor. I had a colleague who really struggled with inter agency meetings for multiple reasons but a fairly big part of our job involved them. Their "reasonable" adjustment was that the rest of us would take turns to attend on their behalf often on such short notice due to the nature of our jobs (lots of out of office time doing home visits/meetings/dealing with crises) that we'd end up reading the case file during the introductions and then had to provide proper typed handover notes. All eating into our time covering own our case load (I had 64 families on mine).

I would guess because it is not obvious why coming in late is a reasonable adjustment for autism in the way that it is obvious that a ramp is a reasonable adjustment for a wheelchair user or a special monitor for someone with a visual impairment or chair for someone with back pain.

Plus I do not want a ramp or a special monitor or chair but I sure would like to be allowed to come in later and I certainly don't want to be the only one made to come in at 9am whilst everyone else enjoys their reasonably adjusted lie in.

The trouble is the sheer volume of people with special arrangements now is getting to be more than those who aren't entitled to such things. As a genuine example in my office it's a shift work hot desking type arrangement except that so many people now have specially adjusted chairs that no one else is allowed to use that one literally cannot find a 'normal' chair to sit on at all now. Not a massive deal they can just buy more chairs but some of this stuff won't work en masse. If everyone wants to come in late then who will do the work first thing?

Another genuine example is that so many people have now been signed off from having to work out of hours that those of us that haven't managed this are now working much more frequently for no more pay. As far as I know each and every one of those might be a very genuine reason but the mass effect of it is that I have to work harder. Which sucks.

If the only way that your accommodation can work is that other people have to do your job for you or carry you then perhaps it is not reasonable and whilst it was not acceptable for them to call you a fraud I think it is acceptable for them to complain and be unhappy if it impacts negatively on them.

That isn't necessarily true. In fact, it's one of the things that made me realise that I should get assessed for autism, because I didn't understand why being in frightening or stressful situations over and over again didn't make them any easier to deal with even though people always say stuff like that. I thought it was some character failing I had.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Ignore the rude posters.

It's not managing to do your job around your symptoms in the sense that the symptoms are gone while you're focusing on work and then you can go home and the symptoms start up again.

Masking leads to burnout because when you get home, you've then got to deal with the exhaustion of having masked and the symptoms you've repressed and your usual symptoms all on top of each other, day in and day out.

In answer to the actual question, colleagues may consider it unfair if they have to pick up the extra work - which is a failure of management.

If you have 2 staff, one of whom has accommodations that mean they can do less hours, this doesn't mean work disappears. Say there are 100 units of work which would usually be split 50:50, when accommodations are made, the first person may only have time to do 40 units - the other person will almost certainly have to pick up the remaining 10 on top of their own 50.

In my own role I had a situation where no one at my level was well enough to do a full day, more like 5-6 hrs per day. I therefore was doing 10-11 hour days to keep up and almost had a nervous breakdown. The same people were well enough to do 8hrs on a Saturday to be paid 1.75x overtime. Up until I found out about the overtime I put it down to solely bad management, then I realised that people were gaming the system (at my expense healthwise).

I expect because people do take advantage, it reflects badly/unfairly on those who do need accommodations to be able to work.

Ultimately I'd blame it poor management.

The whole DEI industry is under scrutiny, with many schemes designed to increase diversity in the workplace coming into question. The This Isn't Working podcast reflects a changed mood among HR specialists in which questions are being asked about the costs and benefits of a diverse workforce:
https://thisisntworkingpodcast.co.uk/ep-8-fixing-the-dei-damage-what-should-employers-do-now/. I think the whole gender things has accelerated this. People are really, really pissed off at being compelled to accept things like pronouns.

This podcast and the others in the series are very interesting on the difference between what DEI was supposed to do in workplaces, and what the actual effects of it are — like residual rancour at some people being allowed to come in late for work while others aren't, or parents getting first choice of annual leave and those without children having to fit in around them.

I think probably its seen as unfair because there are plenty of us who are ND and just get on with it, asking for no special treatment. I don't approve of this trend for so many people thinking they are entitled to special treatment, and their numbers are increasing exponentially all the time while the rest of us pick up the slack. So where and when do we draw the line? Plus there most certainly are those who fake and seek to take advantage, always there have been the inept, the lame ducks, the precious snowflakes, the shirkers and the work-shy, and always there will be.