AIBU to think dismissal during probation was unfair given autism adjustments?

[SereneRoseRobin]

I’m looking for honest views because I’m not sure whether I’m being unreasonable or whether this was genuinely unfair.

I was recently dismissed from a graduate/analyst role after my probation was extended. I am autistic, and my employer knew this. I had raised the need for clear written instructions, defined objectives, examples of similar work, timelines, and timely/direct feedback. Some support was put in place, including coaching, but I don’t feel the actual adjustments were properly embedded or reviewed before the decision was made.

The difficult part is that the concerns raised about me seemed mainly to focus on communication style, professional behaviour, asking for clarification, Teams messages, and quality assurance under pressure — rather than on whether I could actually do the analytical work. Some recent written feedback said my analytical skills were good, that my work did not contain relevant errors, that I was taking ownership, and that I sought support appropriately. Another person said I had picked up on a complex project well.

The project I was criticised on was not straightforward. I was a first-year graduate with no prior experience in that sector, and I was assigned open-ended/data-heavy modelling work with a lot of ambiguity and short deadlines. Some outputs were expected within hours or by the next day, so there was not much time for structured review. I also didn’t always get timely feedback while I could still act on it. Some feedback came months after the work had ended.
My probation extension was meant to allow support and coaching to take effect, but I was dismissed before the extension period had fully ended. I had submitted evidence of improvement the day before the decision, but I don’t feel it was properly discussed or considered.
The coaching report apparently said the benefit of coaching should be assessed after a longer period, because performance can dip while new strategies embed.

I’m appealing because I think they didn’t properly separate disability-related communication issues from actual capability, didn’t give recent improvement enough weight, and didn’t consider alternatives such as letting the extension run, providing clearer QA/communication frameworks, assigning more standard analyst work, or redeploying me to a more suitable team.

I’m not saying I was perfect. I know there were areas to improve. But I feel like I was assessed against unclear expectations, on complex work, without the timely feedback and structure that had already been identified as necessary for me.

AIBU to think this was unfair and potentially linked to disability discrimination/failure to make reasonable adjustments? Or is this just how probation works, and I should accept it and move on?

Back in the day, training in social skills for autistic people was considered appropriate and helpful

When was that? I remember it being an abusive and abhorrent program akin to conversion therapy.

"Masking" is seen as traumatic when it's actually what everyone does to some extent.

'What everyone does to some extent' is always used in the context of minimising and questioning disabilities. Just say what you mean.

I would say it is fairly obvious you used AI to write your OP.

Do you use it as you struggle with written communication? Unfortunately people can tell, and it looks unprofessional to be using it to send work emails.

The em dash and phrasing gives away AI

How soon after the recording incident were you let go @SereneRoseRobin ?

That's pretty common for autistic people sadly.

With the right adjustments and the right support it doesn't have to be that way.

Did op ask for micromanagement or hand holding or for the whole organisation to restructure itself around her?

Were they the adjustments asked for?

I use em-dashes copiously and I have never once used AI. I just read classic lit.

Read the OP posts, it’s quite self explanatory when you read her posts.

Yeah but you seem to be ignoring the issue of recording someone without their consent.

Yeah 9 months into a job, she really should have stopped being autistic now, or at least be able to act neurotypical?!

I'm not really sure why it is beyond the comprehension of some posters that people might be more casual and more frank on an anonymous online forum than they are in the workplace? In much the same way as I pay my landlord on time and in full every month despite my belief that housing is a human right, I go to work and am agreeable, productive and professional regardless of how I feel about disability discrimination (and again, I'm lucky enough to have a nice enough job and nice enough employer at the moment, so zero bitterness here).

I'm not ignoring it. It was a meeting she recorded for transcription purposes and the meeting would be recorded anyway and was only recorded into internal systems.

It sounds like it was a genuine error by someone trying to do their job. She apologised and now knows.
No need to make it seem weird by missing the context

@Branleuse she didn't apologise
"and didn't apologise to someone for recording a call without their permission"

"i didnt argue. i jsut told her i wouldnt do it again and it was an honest mistake"

From the op's posts, no apology

As bluntly as possible, if the OP's condition is so severe that she cannot comprehend the concept of apologising to someone for infringing their rights, perhaps she has a learning disability.

Someone screwed up GDPR at work once in a way that impacted other colleagues' capacity to carry out our roles (vital information not passed on) and had the potential to jeopardise health and safety of colleagues. Including mine. You bet I wanted an apology!

I've read them and I've reread them and I feel sorry that it's so fckn difficult to retain a job because so many workplaces are not only a toxic environment for neurodiverse people, but that when they ask for adjustments and support, they actually just get insulted.

What are people supposed to do?

Autistic people can and do make excellent employees, but it does take adjustments and understanding. It's complex, but 75%of autistic people not being in work, and the huge amount that want to work but even in the jobs they are qualified for, and want to do, it so often fails for other reasons, and then they get managed out or end up with burn out.

What sort of society is it you want?

That wasn't the same as the OP described at all.
It was a company meeting that she recorded for work purposes that never went further than internal systems. Not a personal recording.

I really feel people just want to argue in bad faith

You seem to be confusing “not in good faith” with “not blindly agreeing”.

The thread didn't start with people arguing, there were a lot of detailed replies trying to understand the OP's situation and trying to help.
Then came the "u wot m8" replies & OP calling people trolls, followed by the hyperbole about the world wanting autistic people to starve & die

She didn’t apologise.

and thats à gdpr breach and possibly a confidentiality breach depending on the information discussed in the meeting. And she hasn’t said what she used for transcription and whether or not the transcription was done by AI.

Genuinely, recording someone without their consent (which she did) is a misconduct in a lot of organisations.

I have tried to gather information from the op and she’s been really rude to me. She also called me a troll.

Move on. This sort of work and environment is clearly not for you, and you aren’t for them.

Which has been a pattern on the OP's previous threads, too -- similar pattern of shortlived graduate jobs/pathways in which she didn't succeed or was terminated after not passing necessary exams, starting several near-simultaneous threads on here about the same topic, complaining about injustice and unfair dismissal, and frequently either ignoring or responding to long, helpful posts of career advice by well-meaning posters with a barked 'what do yu mean' or 'wht do i do now', or accusing people of not being in 'good faith'.

I feel for you because I am autistic as well as having other disabilities I know that work can be absolutely brutal for autistic people.

I think you need to find something where you are a better fit. In a graduate scheme it is a steep learning curve. If you are autistic you need a slower learning curve. You need to think about the aspects of the role you did well in and those you struggled with and find something with more of your strengths.

A previous poster suggested doing a reflection. I think that is a good idea. There is employment coaching available for autistic people and that could be a good option.

It sounds like your work did try to help you. It is perfectly reasonable to have adjustments for autism. The recording a meeting thing was a mistake anyone new to the work place could have made. Not apologising when you were asked to is a big problem though. It looks like you don’t care about other people’s feelings. Everyone makes mistakes but you need to learn from them and they can let you go because of that.

Just because you did not succeed in this job does not mean you can’t succeed and you can learn how to do things that are scary even as an autistic person. However you need to take it slowly and not overload yourself .

Im autistic. I tried consulting and im shit at it So no shade from me on that front. No shade on spelling either coz mine is shit outside of work.

The thing I, even as an ND person, you can’t expect to have all the adjustments you want. They might not be reasonable in the circumstances.

And there are some behaviours that are just a hard no and a gross misconduct. A GDPR breach could land the company in hot water legally, for example.

And were you using AI? Do you know the company policy on use of AI?