Autism disclosure

Post Reply New Topic

Would it be worse to disclose autism or for people to just think you're awkward and make other assumptions about you? It seems like there is a lot of stigma with autism, but would disclosing be as bad as people knowing that you're different, but not understanding why?

Probably not on the job. I would say "no."

Most people will never treat you like a normal human being if they know you're autistic.

I wasn't going to disclose at work because I'm worried they might use it against me. I was just kind of curious to how most people in general might respond.

I heard a lot of people get negative responses. I'm not sure if it's because the person that they are disclosing I to dorsn't know how to respond or because of stigma.

Don’t disclose unless you’re really close to someone.

If you want to disclose, you would probably also have to take on the burden of explaining what it actually means for you, since very few people have an understanding on it. Then again, you can try explaining why you act that way and not throw the name of the diagnosis in there. If your disclosing to a whole group, it might take a long time to explain I think, unless they have that in common with you.

It is obviously going to depend greatly on the situation, type of people, where you live etc... I think there could be situations where it would be fine, but yeah, probably not randomly at work, and probably best when people know you well...

I don't really disclose but people can tell that there's something "wrong" about me anyways. My coworkers would joke about me needing to visit the 14th floor (14th floor is the psych floor in the hospital I work at ). Some try to guess what I have but I like to have them guessing.

Anyways, a group of coworkers actually got me to disclose that I have autism. Their response was positive and supportive. Most still don't know I have autism even the ones I'm much closer with. I usually disclose to younger co-workers because they're more familiar and they're always cool with it. One of them goes to the store with me after work because she knows I can't do stores. My field of work is overwhelmingly dominated by introverts so that probably plays a part.

Despite my positive experiences, I'm still very reluctant to disclose. I don't feel like explaining most of the time but awareness has to start from somewhere. But... it really depends on the person...