Why Work Seems Harder Than It Should: Examining Adult Autism Assessment
For many adults, navigating a career can feel overwhelmingly difficult and confusing; as if work were more difficult than it appears to others. These adults experience stress and burnout on the job. But for some adults, this continuous struggle to function may be indicative of an underlying issue. An increasing number of adults are recognising that undiagnosed autism spectrum disorders may be impacting them at work. Understanding the process of assessing an adult for autism spectrum disorder can shed light on why some adults find work challenging and how to provide the most effective and meaningful assistance so they can succeed at work.
When Workplace Expectations Do Not Align With Internal Experience
In the current workplace, employees are expected to communicate rapidly, multitask, work together, and use social niceties in order to be effective. The expectations placed on these employees can create barriers for those with undiagnosed autism. What may seem like a very simple task, such as group conversations or being expected to quickly change to new rules, requires a significant amount of effort both emotionally and cognitively from workers with undiagnosed autism.
Autism doesn’t indicate a deficiency in intelligence or motivation; a majority of people who have autism have demonstrated the capacity to perform well in a variety of tasks due to their special skills, dedication, and attention to detail. However, an individual’s daily satisfaction with work is dependent on how they experience their environment from a sensory standpoint, how they communicate with others, how they approach their work, and how they interpret the actions and intentions of others.
When an individual is not aware of their own neurodivergence, they can blame themselves for not being able to succeed at work. Self-blame can lead to increased levels of stress, burnout, and decreased self-esteem and can therefore perpetuate the idea that the workplace is much more challenging for them than it is for individuals without neurodivergent traits.
The Discovery of Adult Assessment and Late Identification
Historically, most individuals who have been diagnosed with autism were diagnosed in childhood and often had more visible characteristics of autism. However, as society has become more aware of the existence of individuals with autism spectrum conditions and changed their diagnostic criteria, a large number of adults have never been evaluated or diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum when they were children. As a result of the increased societal acceptance of autism as a valid neurodiversity, adults seeking an assessment have increased significantly recently.
Indicators that Work Issues may be Related to Autism
An official diagnosis requires a trained clinician. However, some patterns that repeat frequently can lead some individuals to consider undergoing an evaluation, including the following:
- Difficulty interpreting social cues and understanding the political atmosphere of the office
- Preference for routine and experiencing distress when there is an unexpected change to a scheduled plan
- Sensory sensitivities that interfere with productivity
- A focus on detailed items but a challenge in seeing the context of the entire picture
- Fatigued after prolonged periods of social interaction
These traits can exist on a continuum and can present differently for different people. Autism is not defined by one single behaviour but rather by a set of behaviours that create a pattern of experience which acts to influence the person’s communication, behaviour and sensory processing.
If a pattern of behaviour is significantly affecting your ability to be productive in the workplace or affecting your general well-being in the workplace, you should consider undergoing an evaluation to assist you with knowing what you are experiencing and how to move forward. You should check that your Occupational Health Service provider offers a Neurodiversity Workplace Assessment to guide you.
The Effect of A Late Autism Diagnosis on Your Emotions
Responding to an autism diagnosis as an adult can be emotional and some may find themselves feeling positive that an answer has been found to explain or relieve some of the challenges they have faced throughout their lives or some may experience sadness about the fact that they did not receive help sooner.
Being diagnosed allows adults to start to advocate for themselves in the workplace by asking for the types of aid that will help them to be more productive at work. These types of aid include things like; easy to read written instructions, a routine schedule or predictable scheduling, a quiet place to work, non-verbal communication options and/or written forms of communication.
Many adults with a late diagnosis of autism will no longer view themselves as limited by autism; rather they begin to recognise that they have strengths that are typical of analytical, persevering, honest, creative and/or subject matter experts.
If you find that work is often too complicated or exhausting compared to others, you may want to consider exploring what could be the root of those feelings. This answer may likely lie in your own undiscovered neurodiversity and not due to any kind of failure on your part. The adult autism assessment process allows you to explore this question and provides clarity and validation around the issues that root from your neurodivergent brain and how they impact your day-to-day working life. Furthermore, by having an understanding of how being on the Autism Spectrum influences both your own and your peers’ experience in the workplace, you are able to replace self-blame with awareness of yourself, while simultaneously allowing employers to create inclusive cultures that build upon their strengths and celebrate diversity in the workforce. Once the proper support systems are put into place, the workplace will no longer feel harder than it should be – it will become a place where every person’s brain has an opportunity for success!