Disclosing ADHD at work
Disclosing ADHD is a personal decision, you do not have to talk about your ADHD to your employers (there may be some exceptions, like the army or police- check when you are applying). Do you need help at work? If you are performing well there may be no reason to do this. Also, consider your work environment and how people have been treated in the past. How do you think they will receive the news? It may be that your organisation approaches people with neurodiversity positively. Bigger organisations may have information about this on their websites and what you can expect from them. You may have noticed others in your organisation being supported because of disclosing other difficulties, for example. Is there a general culture of understanding and support or not? This can help you decide whether you ask for support at work with your ADHD. If this is the case then it might be a good idea to talk to your employer about your ADHD, they may come up with some supportive ideas, even if you are doing ‘OK’.
If you are having problems at work then it may make sense to disclose your ADHD so that they can review what support they can offer you so that you might succeed in the workplace. Sometimes you can suggest, and get helpful changes, without needing to disclose your difficulties. For example, if working from home is hard for you because of distractions then you can ask to be office-based (or vice versa). You can ask to work flexibly (some organisations allow this) which may mean that you can do physical exercise during your lunch break and work later to improve your concentration in the afternoon, for example.
Talking to your employer
If you do decide to talk to your employers about your ADHD then think and prepare for this conversation. There is a lot of misinformation and wrong beliefs about ADHD out there so make sure you have some good information about what ADHD is (there is a good description in our strategies book) so prepare (write it down):
DEVON ADULT AUTISM AND ADHD SERVICE 14
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator