Hey, i'm currently applying for jobs in the UK and some places have "equal opportunity" forms to fill in with your gender and disability etc. As i am not professionally diagnosed yet, can i put that i am autistic on those forms, without actually having any paper diagnosis? I am worried they will think i am lying just to get an interview when i can't come up with any proof. tl;dr - does the Equal Opportunities Act 2010 accept self diagnosis?
Section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 says you’re disabled if:
you have a physical or mental impairment
your impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to do normal day-to-day activities
An impairment doesn’t have to be a diagnosed medical condition. [...] If you don't have a diagnosis, you still need medical evidence to show your impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to do day-to-day activities. [CitizensAdvice.org.uk]
I'm not sure how necessary it is to be able to evidence a disability in the workplace, but if you know that you would be unable to if it was or became necessary, you need to weigh up how necessary or safe it is to disclose. This might depend on your employer, or on circumstances. So:
Do you feel confident that you fit the legal definition for disability, and therefore believe strongly enough that you'd be covered by the Equality Act 2010? Or, if you're not sure, is there anyone you could consult about this who could give an informed opinion specific to yourself?
Do you think you need to be considered under Equal Opportunities (do you feel you are disadvantaged, and need it in order to get an interview)? Is being autistic something that impacts you in ways that you will require reasonable adjustments in order to be able to do your job, or are you able to cope well without needing reasonable adjustments?
Could you contact the company/companies to ask them? Knowing how open or closed they are to it might inform whether you feel it's safe and appropriate to declare it (and also, depending on the level of support you would need once employed, whether they're someone you are likely to be able to comfortably work for).
Would you be open about being self-diagnosed, or leave them to assume that you are formally diagnosed? (If in a situation where you are asked outright and have to either disclose that you aren't diagnosed, or lie about it, I'm not sure how protected you'd be if your employer found out you lied and sacked you based on dishonesty - not that this is something you'd do, but it might be relevant to someone else to either think about or look up to see if they can find out the answer). If you would not be open about being self-diagnosed...
What is the possibility that you might end up in a situation where you are potentially referred to Occupational Health for an assessment, or put in another situation where your employer might find out you aren't diagnosed/don't have any evidence to back you up? This could happen if you ask for reasonable adjustments, are off sick too many days or have too many absences within a certain period of time, or if you have any difficulties with things (but don't ask for reasonable adjustments) that might result in them deciding to refer you to see what kind of support you need.
Are you likely to want to use Access To Work? They'll do a workplace assessment, and part of the report will probably include whether you are formally diagnosed. Again, this might not be an issue if you are 'legally disabled' according to the Equality Act 2010, and if the workplace assessor is still providing evidence of your needs, but would this cause any embarrassment or awkwardness for you if your employer wasn't aware you're self-diagnosed?
Are you likely to seek a formal assessment in the near future, and could that have an impact? Would it cause problems if your assessment was during work hours and you had to book time off for a medical appointment? Would it be difficult not being able to be open about it if you haven't told them you're self-diagnosed? Sometimes assessors might include information about what kind of employment support someone might need, so would that make it awkward for you if you felt you couldn't share that part with your employer, or did share it but knowing that your employer would realise you weren't previously diagnosed?
Because, despite legal protections, realistically employers (and colleagues) can still discriminate, and this can cause problems in the workplace (whether it's just discomfort due to well-meaning but inappropriate comments, or outright bullying or discrimination), and it's not always easy to go through the grievance process. Often organisations can have a closed culture, which makes it harder to seek justice or to get fair treatment. However, it's also often difficult to take legal action against an employer, and whilst there might be situations where a diagnosis/medical evidence wouldn't be necessary to prove discrimination, there might be situations where it is.
For example, if you took legal action because you overheard a manager say, 'Oh, apparently they're autistic, that explains why they're so annoying and useless,' they're clearly making a derogatory comment about the fact you're autistic. In fact, if they made a comment like that and you weren't autistic, it wouldn't matter - their belief that you are and the fact they said something openly derogatory would be enough to be considered discrimination or possibly harassment (so you wouldn't need to prove that you're autistic - in the same way that if an employer said homophobic things to a straight employee because they thought they were gay, it would still be considered discrimination / harassment). However, in a less obvious situation, like if you faced disciplinary proceedings because you failed to stick to the dress code, or were demoted or passed over for promotion because you don't stick to the dress code, you might then end up in a position where you need to be able to evidence that you have sensory issues or some other reason for not being able to abide by the dress code, to defend yourself against the action and to prove that their actions were discriminatory.
And the fact people can and do still discriminate also means that, despite the fact an Equal Opportunities form might be used (which would suggest a willingness to hire people with protected characteristics), declaring any form of protected characteristic could still ultimately result in discrimination! If the person selecting interview candidates has prejudiced ideas of how capable autistic people are, they might be less inclined to give you an interview. Even if they are otherwise willing to put forward candidates who have other protected characteristic including other disabilities.
So, unfortunately, it's always a risk. Even with a formal diagnosis. So it's something you need to carefully weigh up.
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