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?

There have been 474 posts on this thread, plus all the other posts on your other two threads you started yesterday on the same subject.

Many, many posters have given you all sorts of advice which might help you find your next job, but it seems you don't want to take it on board and you just want to continue to be rude to experienced people who have given their time to give you advice.

There are many, many graduates out there fighting for every job. I don't know why you think anyone here would want to give you any more advice when you have just been rude and unwilling to take on the advice already given.

Wow what a really awful thing to say.

The adjustments weren’t embedded.

I thought you were referring to this as an awful thing to say: "ffs. now help me find a job" but I see I was mistaken.

We can see your posts 🤔

You’ve failed twice at consulting so clearly it’s not a fit for you. You need to look at something else.

you should consider public sector as the fast pace of consulting seems to be difficult for you.

you will probably have to consider a lower grade role than you would like and are unlikely to be successful at à graduate trainee role at this stage as you don’t appear to be able to take on feedback at the level that would be required in a graduate role.

regardless of any reasonable adjustments put in place, make sure you read and take note of all policies and procedures and abide by them.

if you make a mistake apologise. Dont just say you won’t do it again.

don't use AI unless you have had specific clearance to use it.

when emailing people or messaging make sure you put the social niceties in - I hope you had a nice weekend, have a nice weekend, isnt the weather lovely for example, as every job has a social element.

You won’t get or keep a job with such a poor attitude.

We don’t know that. We don’t know what the company did or didn’t do. The op talks about needing timely feedback - this is something that can be interpreted differently, the op may have been given what is considered timely feedback but maybe she was expecting it on an hourly basis which isn’t realistic. Again being given example of the work before … you can only give that if the same thing had been done before.

You’re just being incredibly unkind she doesn’t have an attitude she’s stating facts

Ok, do you like the work you were doing? If so, you need to look at what other similar things are out there but in a slower paced environment.

You need to think realistically and have a good reflection on what parts of the jobs you did well at and what parts were too difficult/ you weren’t suited to. Use that as a basis for looking at if a job is suitable for you.

Make an appointment with a job coach and talk it through with them.

For the parts that you struggled with but which you will need in a job going forward look at how you can address your deficiencies in these areas. Here focus on what you can do to adapt rather than what other should do to support you.

In all fairness she does have an attitude. She has zero self reflection and keeps writing things like ffs which just comes across as aggressive and unprofessional. The biggest thing holding the op back right now is the op and she needs to have some self reflection otherwise she will never find a job suited to her. Pretending this isn’t the case won’t help her.

She’s bloody autistic what is wrong with you people? I doubt very much she’s like that in real life. Everything is open to interpretation and you were interpreting it in the worst possible light. You are dreadful people.
I hope nobody treats your children like this. It’s appalling.

Op has posted previous threads which reveal this isn’t the first time she has been let go from a job. So there is clearly an issue.

Op has also detailed that they were unhappy she didn’t apologise for recording a call without consent. We are trying to explain why this is bad and she is not making any effort to learn from this.

Sympathy - I’m autistic and have had a similar experience, right down to the clear communication requests (which everyone ignored)

Believe me when I say bin this off - you WILL find the right employer and team. I ended up going somewhere where my ND was a positive asset - my reasonable adjustments were taken on board and my boss is also ND and we communicate in the same way.

Okay just RTFT. Sounds like there’s a bigger issue

I have a lot of sympathy for her being autistic and understand that is hard for her and makes it difficult indeed a job. But she is asking for help and just offering sympathy is not going to help her in getting another job or getting over her sense of being discriminated against.

An employer can only make adjustments for her to a certain extent and if the company can offer the level that she needs then it isn’t the right company/job for her so the op needs to reflect on what she is capable of doing and what she isn’t in order to find a job that works for her.

And you are wondering why they got rid of you …….. From your responses, it would seem to be clear, no one wants to deal with someone who has this attitude, so they took a quick easy fix to deal with that. You can either continue in this ridiculous fashion, or learn from it and hopefully keep the next job.

You don’t deserve any help with this attitude

wdym

The attitude the op has shown on this thread is nothing to do with autism and everything to do with being an entitled brat.

it’s offensive to the neurodivergent community to have an attitude like this and say it’s down to autism.

You are a nightmare to employ clearly, and just happen to have autism, the two aren’t linked.

Your response is insulting to other autistic people. Being autistic doesn’t mean you don’t apologise for upsetting other people or mean you can be downright rude. I work with lots of ND colleagues and none of them behave like the OP.

Oh, the old I know an autistic person one of my friends is autistic bullshit. It’s almost as if everybody’s an individual isn’t it?

For the parts that you struggled with but which you will need in a job going forward look at how you can address your deficiencies in these areas. Here focus on what you can do to adapt rather than what other should do to support you.
A very sensible suggestion and some outside advice may help OP to recognise any deficiencies.

Agreed - I’m AuDHD and, if anything, I’m too apologetic about things like that. I also report myself immediately I make a mistake even when it’s unnecessary.

By hiding behind autism as an excuse, I agree it’s bloody insulting and also perpetuates the idea that autistic people are difficult in the workplace.

Agreed. All this shit
makes life harder for other ND people and it means we have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously.

It is funny that the only jobs I have ever been rejected for are the ones where I have mentioned being ND at the interview.

I think this really illustrates the issues.

It's not up to anyone else to find you a job. We aren't here solely to do whatever you want. You need to put the effort in and do the work.

@SereneRoseRobin Why don't you tell us what your reflections are after reading this post, about why the job didn't work out and what you need to change to be successful next time