Disclosing autism to work

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About disclosing the autism to work, has anyone done it just verbally or provided written documents? I was diagnosed with aspergers in 2007. At age 3 I was diagnosed with learning disability, so possibly I have been misdiagnosed. I'm in my 30s now. Is it a personal decision to have written documents stating your autism to your supervisor? When do you tell them? Obviously not during the interview. Did you wait a day? Maybe a year? Telling your supervisor about your autism verbally is probably not enough. They would have to read about it. Have any of you had issues with supervisors being mean to you because of the autism? Is it true that most autistic adults struggle in the workplace because of poor social skills? I'm ok with sensory issues. I don't get distracted when someone makes copies, uses the shredder, has their phone ringer on loud, or when sending/receiving fax. The one thing that does annoy me is loud laughing. But I don't think that's part of the autism. Plenty of NT adults don't like loud laughing at work either. I'm able to multi task. I have a cubicle out in the open where people walk by my cubicle and I'm ok with that. I am detail oriented which I know is a good thing amongst autistics. Has anyone gotten fired from their jobs because of poor social skills? Are we protected under the ADAAA? I saw that it was amended in 2008 in the USA. Can we get fired because we are not liked? I don't like parties at work because its a social thing. Do any of you take criticism badly? Do you often feel like a co worker or supervisor is personally insulting you so you respond rudely but it may be due to social skills? I take a lot of things personal insults because of the bullying from school so I may respond rudely to someone due to perhaps the autism. But that's no excuse right? Have you ever had a co worker or supervisor yell at you or use profanity? What do you do in those cases? Have you had situations where someone at work made you cry and you had to defend yourself? Has anyone sued a workplace? Have you had to tell your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, whoever in your family about any work situations that caused issues? I'm a contractor with the Fed Gov, but I hear that its not professional to disclose autism to the Fed Gov. With regards to being diagnosed with autism, I assume most of you went to see a psychologist for that? I'm sure psychiatrists can also diagnose autism, but they treat mostly people with mental illnesses and prescribe medications.

Thanks

Just from a legal standpoint, I think you only NEED to disclose a disability if you will be asking for accomodations for it. I have not disclosed my physical disability to most of my previous employers, and as I do not see a need to disclose for ASD, I haven't sought an official diagnosis anyway (I do have distracting sensory issues, but, I get along okay socially here).

I'd say, do it in writing if you do, but, in a meeting with your supervisor, so you are open for questions.

There is pretty varied advice on whether or not to disclose, and they all seem to depend pretty heavily on your supervisor and immediate coworkers.

I'm sure the others can share their experiences in the workplace, but, you can also find some interesting stories in the threads in this forum.

Best of luck.

I wouldn't disclose, unless there is some benefit (to me ) for doing so.

Disclosure should only be done once you need accommodation, and it should be documented in such a way to prove what you submitted, when and to whom in case you find yourself terminated shortly afterward.

Certainly, if you can get through your probationary period first, that's ideal. If they choose to keep you past that and then an issue comes up, there is no good reason for them to get rid of you. While you are in probationary status, while it might still look like retaliation to your disclosure, there are many legitimate reasons they might cite for why you are not being retained.