To what extent should you make accommodations for "time blindness"?

[ChedderGorgeous]

If a worker says they have "time blindness", what extent, if any, should you make accommodations for them in the workplace ? For example should they always have a 15 minute grace period for meetings and any agenda items involving them be moved to later in the meeting as a matter of course? Should you not be able to schedule meetings with them which are time critical ? My feeling is that if someone has "time blindness" then they should make changes in their day to day management to accommodate this in order to work as per their contract, rather like someone who gets the train, might get the train before , to ensure they get to work even if there are rail delays . AIBU ?

I've never yet found a genuinely "time blind" person. They manage to be there on time when it really matters to themselves. Its about choices and priorities.

I just put "get to a meeting on time" into Goblin Tools. Among the many tasks & subtasks related to planning how to actually get there, it sensibly included "Gather any necessary materials or documents for the meeting".

This is just the first-level list of associated tasks:

Prepare any documents or materials required for the meeting

Identify the necessary documents or materials for the meeting

Collect the required documents or materials

Ensure that all the documents or materials are organized and in order

Check if any additional documents or materials are needed

Prepare the necessary copies of documents or materials

Gather any supplementary materials or resources needed for the meeting

Double-check that all the required documents or materials are present and ready to be used

Obviously these need to be drilled down further before you can even start calculating the time needed to the stuff required in advance of actually being ready and leaving in time.

If nothing else, it explains why I was always up at 4am preparing for meetings!

Bollocks, there are several of us on this thread. Are we all lying?

Hasn't there been a viral TikTok about this? I read about a young woman who had gone viral claiming this
Like many others, while I am sympathetic to neurodiversity, I am a bit confused by the insistence that we all have to accommodate all things for all people rather than expect them to use strategies to overcome the issues

But the strategies are different for different things. If I have a super, super important meeting (work or personal), I will be on time. Because I will clear my diary and aim to be where I need to be at least 90 minutes early (and then I’ll be about 15 minutes early, generally). I cannot do that for regular meetings. I do have different strategies that work ~90% of the time, but I am grateful that my colleagues and managers are very understanding when I am not on time. It is not that I don’t try. It’s that this is as good as it gets.

It is a thing particularly with ADHD but reasonable adjustments don't need to extend to altering someone's job to that degree. They need to get to the meeting. It would be things like an accountability buddie/ coach, software to prompt, maybe some additional time for tasks perhaps someone to prompt them if they are in the office working next to them anyway. Not to miss important meetings or disrupt them y coming in late.

I was still sewing my wedding dress 15 minutes before I was due in church - and this was with three people helping, reminding and chivvying me. I got married in a dress held up with safety pins.

I've spent thousands on getting the next available flight after missing one.
I'm still trying to reschedule surgeries I have missed.

But sometimes I'm a day or a week early 🙄

@2024GarlicCloves what a brilliant tool! Do you have any other recommendations

I think if you really really cannot fulfill your role, because you are unable to be on time the vast majority of the time, it's probably the wrong job for you.

I wish! I also wish Goblin had been around while I was working.

PPs have made some really sensible suggestions about buddying up with someone (if you can find that someone?!) Coupled with a Goblin breakdown and a plethora of digital reminders, it could really help.

A man with no legs may be able to use his hands and climb up the stairs to get into the restaurant. Is this an accessible restaurant? Has he fixed his disability?

obviously he should try and implement strategies to help his disability. It’s pretty clear as a man with a job he’s probably tried quite hard all his life to fit in to a world that isn’t time blind.

interestingly NICE guidelines for ADHD treatment for children advise strategies, management etc as a first treatment followed by meds. For adults the first recommendation is straight to meds. You don’t spend 18 years of your life bumbling along aimlessly and hopelessly and then realise at 30 all you need is an alarm clock

Can only speak for myself, but I was accommodated because of the quality of my work. If all these specialist terms & diagnoses had been around 20 years ago, it might have been expressed as hyperfocus, along with the innovative problem-solving and creativity, etc, often associated with neurodiversity.

I don't need to click on any spurious link to recognise an ableist when I see one.

Shameful

More ableist bullshit which sadly is expected of such an intolerant, ignorant society. Time blindness is very real and sadly, contributes to further discrimination for those who suffer it as is clearly seen on this thread. OP I would take some time to speak with the person concerned to see, with a genuine and open heart, if there is anything you can do to support that person into equity within the workplace.

Another ableist comment.

It’s a real thing. It’s adhd. But there are strategies people put into place like putting clocks forward so you’re not late. ⏰

Try to bear in mind that not everyone with ADHD experiences it the way you do. Bring chronically early for things is one way a small proportion of ADHDers cope with their condition and manage potential lateness.. I can tell you 110% this would not work for me or most ADHDers. It is not deliberate and it is not for want of trying.

I know ADHDers who really struggle with addiction or who can't hold down a job. Neither of those things apply to me but that doesn't mean those people aren't trying as hard as me and that's why they can't do these things. It's because their ADHD is a different severity, type or affects them differently.

Being on time requires multiple skills. It requires you to be aware of time, to know how long things take, to be able to remember all the tasks you need to do to get out the door, to be focussed and not get distracted, to be able to quickly reassess what you need to do to get out of the door if something changes (like a knock at the door that delays you), you need to be able to work out accurately how long it takes to get somewhere and to remember to include contingency time, to know where your belongings are so you have what you need to take with you. You need to not procrastinate when getting ready and start the process in good time. Each one of those can be difficult for someone with ADHD. Yes you can try to have strategies but all it takes is one strategy to fail and everything comes crashing down.

Some of the comments on here are absolutely disgraceful.

They wouldn't dare say stuff about other groups but picking on the disabled is fair game

Maybe I am dumb about stuff like this, but my understanding of accommodations/reasonable adjustments was more "what can we do to help you achieve xyz?", rather than "you don't have to do xyz".
So if getting to a meeting on time is the issue, then things like reminders and the buddy thing a few PP have mentioned would help for someone with time blindness.

That's utter rubbish.

Yes I was half an hour late to my own wedding and up til 3am the night before (which I had PROMISED myself I wouldn't do) finishing things off that still needed doing. Some things didn't get done as I ran out of time.

How do you keep coming up with these zingers?!

TIL living in reality (the same one which prevents the actually blind from flying planes and performing brain surgery) is ableism...

Absolute insanity!!!

Quick serious question, Do they suffer time blindness when its finishing time??

Yes. I set three alarms, and usually work for 30 minutes or so after my finishing time.

Quick serious answer: Yes. Most people I know who struggle with time-blindness which makes them late starting things have exactly the same problems finishing things on time.

Sorry that it's not the answer you were fishing for.