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Deciding whether to tell employers you are autistic

Whether or not to tell people you are autistic during recruitment or at work is a personal decision. There can be pros and cons. Some autistic people find they are better understood and get the support they need after disclosing, but others report facing stigma, being treated differently and a lack of understanding and support.

Do you have to tell employers you are autistic?

No, you do not have to tell an employer you are autistic during recruitment or at work. There is no legal obligation for anyone to disclose that they are autistic or otherwise meet the legal definition of disability. 

Whether or not to disclose is a personal decision that you should make after considering the potential benefits and risks in your particular circumstances. 

By law, an employer can only ask an employee about disability for specific reasons. ACAS provide examples including: 

  • to prevent health and safety risks
  • to avoid disability discrimination
  • to monitor the number of disabled people in the organisation.


Potential benefits of disclosing autism at work

The main legal benefit of disclosing autism at work is that you are telling an employer you meet the legal definition of disability and are therefore entitled to: 

  • reasonable adjustments to stop you being disadvantaged compared to non-disabled people
  • protection from disability discrimination. 

You do not need to have a formal diagnosis to meet the legal definition of disability and be entitled to reasonable adjustments. It is judged on the impact of the disadvantage you are facing rather than specific diagnoses. 

For information about reasonable adjustments, read our page What are reasonable adjustments and when can they be requested? 

For information about disability discrimination, read the section ‘Autism, discrimination and UK employment law’ on our page What can I do if I’m having trouble at work?

Autistic people report that the potential benefits of disclosing can include: 

  • increased understanding and acceptance from colleagues
  • increasing the understanding of autism in the workplace
  • reducing the pressure to mask your autistic characteristics
  • helping to protect your mental health and wellbeing
  • helping you to manage and sustain employment
  • the opportunity to show that being autistic is an advantage in the job
  • being open that autism is an integral part of your identity
  • connecting with others in the workplace who are also openly autistic 
  • making other autistic colleagues feel more comfortable to disclose
  • helping you to assess whether a job or workplace is suitable for you, and to filter out any employers that will not be accepting of your autistic identity
  • helping your employer to understand any issues you may have had or be having, so they can support you better.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) suggests that someone should talk to their manager if they feel that disclosure may prevent future problems. Some autistic people quoted in a research paper have said this is true for them: 

"I need accommodations in order to keep a job for more than one to six months. Not disclosing isn't an option for me. If I don't disclose, I will either be forced to quit or be fired."

"There’s no point going to work somewhere if they don’t know in advance and are not accepting and welcoming of me right from the start. I’d just encounter more problems and end up being fired probably. So at least it filters out the places that would be bad for me to work."

– participants in Romualdez et al., 2021, Diagnostic disclosure experiences of autistic individuals in the workplace
 

Potential risks of disclosing autism at work

Evidence suggests the main risks of disclosing autism to employers are: 

  • finding a lack of autism understanding and acceptance
  • finding a lack of appropriate support or willingness to make adjustments
  • experiences of stigma, bullying and discrimination. 

Autistic people report concerns that by disclosing they may: 

  • face stigma and discrimination from management and/or colleagues
  • be seen as seeking special or more favourable treatment
  • be considered less capable or unsuitable to do a job
  • be shunned, bullied, exploited or underpaid
  • be rejected during recruitment, dismissed from their role or not treated equally
  • be assumed to need additional supervision or are unable to work independently
  • compromise their autonomy (ability to make their own decisions about their work) and impact their privacy
  • be pigeon-holed into certain roles based on stereotypes about what autistic people are good at
  • become overwhelmed or not know what support they need if they are struggling to come to terms with their autistic identity, especially in the months after a diagnosis in adulthood
  • be better off tackling any challenges by themselves, to provide a sense of achievement.

These concerns are unfortunately not unfounded. Various research has found examples of employers and managers with prejudiced beliefs and/or a poor understanding of autism. Employers have been noted to make assumptions about autistic people based on stereotypes, including that: 

  • an autistic person would be unlikely to fit into their team or would be unlikely to be a team player
  • it costs more to hire an autistic person
  • it would be more difficult to hire an autistic person or that they are unsure about the process. 

Some employers have also said that they don’t know where to get support or advice about employing an autistic person and would worry about getting it wrong.
 

The impact of not disclosing

The risks of disclosing outlined above mean that many autistic people decide not to disclose to their employers. However, this means: 

  • the employer is not legally required to make any reasonable adjustments, because they could not reasonably be expected to know the employee needs or is entitled to them
  • it may be harder to access support schemes like the Government grant scheme Access to Work
  • there may be an increased risk of misunderstanding and/or miscommunication
  • there may be an increased pressure to mask their autistic characteristics
  • there may be an increased risk of burnout
  • the autistic employee may struggle to meet job demands due to a lack adjustments and/or the difficulty of explaining their needs without disclosing.


When to disclose autism during recruitment or at work

You can choose to disclose that you are autistic at any point in your employment journey. There is no right or wrong time, but there can be pros and cons of disclosing at each of the various stages. 

Open the options below for information about the pros and cons of disclosing at that stage.
 

Deciding who to disclose to

You may decide to disclose to different people depending on which stage of recruitment or employment you are in. 

During the application process, you could choose to disclose to the HR department or hiring manager. When you are in work, you could disclose to your line manager or another senior manager, your HR department and/or to your colleagues. 

Some people may prefer to disclose to a few trusted colleagues only, but others may be happy to disclose to everyone in their organisation. When disclosing to someone, you should be clear about who you agree to the information being discussed or shared with. 

If you are disclosing to a manager or HR representative, it may be a good idea to request a confidential meeting.
 

Partial or full disclosure

You can choose to disclose partially or fully. Disclosing fully means telling your employer you are autistic. Partial disclosure means telling people about the challenges you face or the support you need without telling them you are autistic. 

Partial disclosure 

For example, in partial disclosure, someone may tell their manager that they find it difficult to concentrate in a noisy environment, so they need to work in a quiet room or use noise-cancelling headphones. This communicates their needs and offers a solution, without disclosing autism.

Pros: 

  • reduces the risk of facing prejudice or unhelpful assumptions about autism from others
  • may feel more comfortable and less like sharing private personal information
  • inclusive employers will be happy to accommodate these kinds of simple adjustments, regardless of diagnosis or disability status. 

Con: 

  • Not all workplaces are inclusive. Although many employers are happy to make simple changes if they improve employee wellbeing and productivity, they have no legal obligation to do so unless it is part of a reasonable adjustment for a known disability (which requires full disclosure). 

Full disclosure 

Full disclosure involves someone explicitly telling their employer that they are autistic. By disclosing a specific disability, this ensures that their employer has been made fully aware of their disability and so takes on a number of legal duties under UK employment and equality law.

Deciding what you want to share 

It may help to make notes to help you decide what you want to share in either a partial or full disclosure. You could: 

  • consider support you have received in the past, such as at school, college, university or in other job roles or workplaces 
  • benefit from asking friends or family about what they think would be helpful for you to share, what your strengths are and adjustments you may need
  • prepare by practising or roleplaying the conversation with a friend or family member. 

The Association of graduate careers advisory services (AGCAS) disability task group has created a neurodiversity disclosure resource with examples of professional, positive phrases you could use during a disclosure. 

If you are disclosing fully and telling your employer that you are autistic, it may be helpful to share a small amount of information about autism with them. This could help them develop a better understanding of autism and how to support an autistic person in the workplace.

Insight from autistic people

"I sat down with my close colleagues one day and explained my diagnosis and what it meant. It made things a lot easier. They were all understanding and in fact, to most people I have told, it has not been a surprise (at least for those that had familiarity with autism). Telling managers in particular makes things easier as it can help lead to adjustments being made." 
– Anthony Birley, Employee case study – IBM

"I have a master's degree and numerous professional accreditations but in the past when I have told work colleagues that I’m autistic, they would suddenly start talking to me very loudly and slowly. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be humorous." 
– Andy, Employment Autism

"Your boss or employer might have a preconceived idea of how autism is 'supposed to look' and they might put you in a box, unfortunately, thinking that you're going to act or behave in a certain way…. My thoughts are, before you go into the situation, get clear about what you actually want them to know and what specific accommodations you need to be successful." 
– Taylor Heaton, A Workplace Strategy for Autistic Adults

"[I disclosed mid-interview.] My words were something like: ‘Ok, I’m going to do something I’ve not done before in an interview. I’m autistic, which means I have the perfect kind of brain for this job. I’ve got the attention to detail, I’ve got the concentration and focus, I’ve got the loyalty to work well in a staff team… but I don’t have the perfect brain for job interviews ..., but please don’t see that as a reflection of how well I’d perform at the job, because if I were to pass the interview I’d most likely be really good at it.’ ... Turns out they admired my honesty, and gave me the job."
– Chris Bonnello, When I ‘came out’ as autistic mid-interview

"I would never say that I [am autistic] upfront, before the person knew me. I might consider saying it in an interview if I was really, really confident that they already liked me and they already thought I was amazing. … If you make a good first impression, then later on down the track, when they already like you, you can say, 'Can you please put some effort into trying to understand me, because I work better with this; I need this concession; this makes a really big difference to me.’" 
– Paul Micallef, Aspergers and Employment - Part 1: Getting a Job

"My suspicions were (and still are) that, while publicly championing diversity and inclusivity, organisations privately disregard disabled candidates. ... So, did I disclose my autism diagnosis when applying? Absolutely not! But when attending interviews, I always believed that I was 'clocked' as autistic due to my voice, mannerisms and patterns of speech." 
– Alix Hodges, My autism left undisclosed

"If you're a late-diagnosed autistic adult like me, you probably already realised that many people have a huge misunderstanding about what autism actually is. And this can be problematic in the workplace because whenever you disclose your diagnosis, if you choose to, it can come with the whole world of trying to educate other people about what it actually is." 
– Taylor Heaton, A Workplace Strategy for Autistic Adults

"Coming out as autistic at work is risky. I won’t sugar coat it. ... It should only be done if you feel it’s the best decision for your personal situation, and only to the people you can trust. Don’t feel like you ‘have to’ or that you ‘owe’ it to your boss – you don’t. It is entirely up to you."
– Jude Clee, Coming out as autistic at work

"I half blundered my way into a conversation where I told the stock room staff that ‘I am opposed to change’ and that ‘I am autistic’. As anyone who has worked in retail will tell you, gossip spreads like wildfire ... I quickly found myself sat sitting in front of one of my managers....  The manager, who discussed my autism with me, was nothing short of incredible and after giving me the usual response of ‘My cousin’s wife’s sister’s goldfish’s original owner was autistic’ we talked about the ways in which she and other members of staff could support me." 
– James Ward-Sinclair, Should I tell my boss that I'm autistic?

"I've found that disclosing in the right workplace can make life easier, but unfortunately, disclosing in the wrong workplace can have consequences. Disclosing autism is not appropriate for every situation, but it may be necessary to request accommodations in the workplace. … it is good to highlight why giving [an adjustment] can be a benefit to the organisation. [For example, giving the reason] 'so that I may be most productive', shows what's of benefit to the organisation." 
– Lyric Rivera, An autistic perspective - disclosing and accommodations

Links, resources and article sources

 

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