Flexible work request meeting - awaiting autism assessment

shanni91

Hello,

I am waiting for my autism assessment which will take 8-12 months. My sensory issues, anxiety nas struggles with social interaction has got worse with age and I cannot tolerate the overstimulating environments for long like the bus and train station. I cannot tolerate my long 2 hour commute by buses and train as it makes me stressed and burnout which affects my health and wellbeing and work performance. I can perform better from home, control my environment better and focus on my work better. I have been working from home 2 years 2 days or 3 days and have recently submitted a flexible work request asking to work from home 4 days as I doubt they'd allow me to fully remotely work form home everyday. 

I have been getting unfair resistance to the request without justifiable valid reasons and they are not taking me health seriously and don't seem to want to find ways to accommodate my needs and make it work. I am off sick from anxiety and stress. My line manager arranged a meeting on 10th October but she then decided to pass the request to someone else to deal with. The new manager she's passed it to doesn't know my situation or my job so I've had to send her all the emails. She called me yesterday criticizing my GPs sick not saying it's not clear about how many days I should work from home and made assumptions as why she doesn't think she can allow me to work from home remotely more but said she doesn't know the ins and outs of my job and made things up. She even asked if I was going to be off sick longer. I'm starting to feel like I'm being discriminated against and I don't understand why there's so much resistance against me to support my needs and I know I can do my job remotely without major issues and have explained solutions but it doesn't seem like they want to listen or help. Im trying to find a union rep from my hospital to come to the meeting with me because I'm feeling anxious about it all and worried if I lose my job or can't carry on with the job and struggle to get a new job because of my struggles. My life seems to be falling apart. Do you have any advice?

Tori_Scope

Welcome to the community @shanni91 Thank you for joining us, and for being so open and honest in your first post here.

I'm sorry to hear that this has all being going on at once. It sounds like you've got a lot on your plate, and I'm not surprised you're feeling anxious and stressed.

I hope that a union rep, or someone else with knowledge on this, will be able to attend the meeting with you. 

We have pages on our website about facing disability discrimination and poor attitudes at work, which you may find helpful to read.

We also have a page about requesting flexible working, which you may like to read through.

Are you receiving enough support for your wellbeing at the moment?