Asperger’s Experiences & Personal Growth: Stephen’s Evolution

Creating Autism Friendly Workplaces

• Stephen McHugh • Episode 44

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Unlock the unique potential of neurodiversity in the workplace as I share my personal journey navigating life on the autism spectrum. Ever found yourself puzzled by social cues or overwhelmed by the prospect of facing a simple phone call? You're not alone. I recount experiences that highlight the subtle signs of autism and how they can manifest in professional settings—everything from the intricacies of social interactions to the powerful focus on niche interests like astronomy. These stories reveal not just the challenges but the often-overlooked strengths that autistic individuals bring to their teams, encouraging a reimagined, more inclusive workplace culture.

In this final chapter of our autism in the workplace series, I offer practical advice for managers and colleagues aiming to create a supportive environment for neurodivergent employees. Accommodations need not be complex. Sometimes, even a simple awareness and understanding can make all the difference. Learn how adjustments can be seamlessly integrated, enhancing communication and harnessing the unique talents of autistic team members. Join me as I give my insights into how workplaces can become places where every individual is recognised and valued for their diverse contributions.

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Thanks for listening. You can find me on my website stephensevolution.com, or on twitter here. You can sign up to receive news of new episodes when they're released here.


Artwork produced by Elena Designe
Music composed by Nela Ruiz

Stephen McHugh:

Hi there, and welcome back to another episode of the Stephen's Evolution podcast. I'm Stephen McHugh, your host. Here, I explore life on the autism spectrum, sharing my experiences and insights every two weeks and insights every two weeks. This episode is the fifth and final one about autism and the workplace. In this episode, what I'll be doing is, focusing on how colleagues and managers can identify potential signs of autism in their fellow workers, and make any necessary adjustments to allow for a more inclusive work environment. For any listeners who may be interested in understanding more about the signs of autism, you can check out an earlier episode of mine. It's titled 'Recognising the Signs of Aspergers'. I believe it provides valuable context for this episode on workplace inclusivity. On workplace inclusivity, if you've missed any of the previous four work-based episodes, you can catch up on them anytime. All you have to do is head over to the link stephensevolution. buzzsprout. com for my podcast to find them.

Stephen McHugh:

Looking ahead, I'm excited to let you know that I'm planning future episodes, the aim of which will be to delve into topics I'm really interested in. It is to do with language development through storytelling and communication too. What I'll do is explore figurative language, including idioms, and how these fascinating aspects of language can connect with me on my journey on the spectrum. But first let's get stuck into this topic recognising autistic workers in the workplace.

Stephen McHugh:

Now what I'm going to do is take a closer look at some of the potential signs to look for in any potential autism in the workplace. I'll do this by using examples from my own personal lived experiences to help illustrate these traits.

Stephen McHugh:

One area where autism can show up can be in social interactions. For example, when trying to understand sarcasm or knowing when someone may be joking can be tricky at times. There can be the issues of identifying and reading various forms of body language and working out voice tones. Sometimes I'd have this puzzled look about me, even leaving my colleagues perplexed. Furthermore, there were times when other colleagues around me would point out to me to take no notice of whatever it was during such situations, which I found beneficial too. I've also experienced moments where I think I may have taken things to heart that others might be able to just simply brush off.

Stephen McHugh:

Having said that, I managed to find ways to connect socially too, at work Christmas parties. On one occasion, I remember being able to think up jokes of my own. Looking back, this helped me to engage with colleagues in ways that felt more comfortable and enjoyable for me.

Stephen McHugh:

Another potential sign can be related to how one may communicate. For example, there were one or two times when I hesitated to answer phone calls. When I hesitated to answer phone calls, it wasn't that I was unwilling. What made me feel uncertain here was the unpredictable nature of phone calls. It was the thought of not being prepared for a conversation, or being unable to help the person to whom you were talking to on the other end. This could feel overwhelming.

Stephen McHugh:

There were also times where I wouldn't respond to questions from colleagues straight away, especially when I was asked about why I did a particular task in a particular way. . It wasn't that I didn't want to explain, explain or I was ignoring them. What I was simply doing was processing the question, question and thinking about how to answer it in a way that would work for everyone concerned.

Stephen McHugh:

Repetitive behaviours or intense interests can also be another clue. Often, during breaks or lunch, I would browse content related to my interests, most notably astronomy, such as telescopes. A few of my colleagues couldn't help but notice that and pick up on it. Such a focus on a specific interest felt natural and more relaxing for me. Interestingly, my attention to detail and my mental arithmetic skills have been strengths at work too. I remember one manager pointing this out during an appraisal. Looking back, this was a nice recognition of a skill that I had. These examples, for me, can highlight how some characteristics of autism can be visible in the workplace, whether it be through challenges, preferences or even hidden strengths. It can be by identifying traits like these that colleagues and managers can look into better ways in which to support neurodivergent team members, thus leading to a more understanding and inclusive work environment.

Stephen McHugh:

And now I'm going to talk about some adjustments that I believe can be helpful for autistic individuals in the workplace. Based on my personal experiences, such accommodations don't need to be very complex. In fact, even small changes can make big differences. For me, one adjustment that might have been beneficial for me from time to time would be to have noise-reducing headphones, in environments where there was likely to be more in terms of noise. By being able to block out such distractions, this could lead to one being able to focus better on whatever they were doing. Having said that, in some roles that I worked, there were radios playing music and other forms of entertainment. This would help me to take my mind off certain thoughts and things, and help me to be more grounded throughout the day.

Stephen McHugh:

When it comes to things like flexible work hours or remote options, I found that I didn't need those kinds of measures. We're all different, of course, and whatever adjustments may be suitable for one may not necessarily be suitable for someone else. It all depends on our individual needs.

Stephen McHugh:

As for fostering understanding and patience in social situations, what I'll do is address those in more detail later in this episode, as I believe they may fit better in that context. One key takeaway here for me is adjustments don't need to be one- size- fits- all. What the approach here should be is, to tailor them to the individual concerned, and it's always, in my eyes, worth having an open conversation with an individual to find out what may work best for them.

Stephen McHugh:

And now let's move on to what I consider to be an important topic. It is to do with fostering inclusive environments in the workplace. This can be about creating a culture that can celebrate and support neurodiversity, while identifying the unique strengths autistic individuals can bring and offer. Firstly, when it comes to differences, there should be focus on celebrating neurodiversity and encouraging others, like colleagues, to embrace the unique perspectives and strengths of autistic team members. Some of you may be colleagues of autistic workers, and you may have come up with your ways in which to help them feel supported, and valued.

Stephen McHugh:

From my own experience, one thing that was important to me was loyalty, one of the qualities that I considered myself to have had, and I'm sure many other autistic individuals could bring that to their work, and perhaps do. What I did was stayed with employers for as long as I possibly could, even until when positions eventually became redundant.

Stephen McHugh:

Reliability is another key trait. What I always did was, was made sure I worked hard and dedicated myself to completing whatever tasks I was allocated to the best of my ability, understanding the importance of being and dependable.

Stephen McHugh:

Certain skills I've found stand out in roles I've worked in. For example, my good eye for detail allowed me to identify unique and complex . patterns In one role. This proved beneficial, beneficial as I could determine better ways when it came to trying to search for records stored on various storage media as requested by clients.

Stephen McHugh:

I believe I've always taken pride in accuracy and efficiency, especially in roles with slower paces. However, this would also come with a tendency for me to sometimes double or even triple check my work out of fear of making mistakes. This anxiety looking back stems back from childhood experiences. It would be reassurances from colleagues or managers that my work was up to standard. This would often help these feelings.

Stephen McHugh:

Now, want to share a memorable example from one of my past roles. It was where I would notice tiny images etched onto tapes that here, were many meters long. It was by using specialized cameras that one could view these images in full size, with all their details more apparent. One day, just simply out of curiosity, what I decided to do was calculate how many images were on a single tape, and of all the tapes that were stored. Once I had used a number of tapes over time, I noticed they all had the same number of sections on them and each section had the same number of images. By multiplying the number of images in a section by the number of images in a section, by the number of sections, I would arrive at a figure of around between 10 and 20,000 per tape. This was more or less the same for each tape. Then what I would do is calculate the total number of images across all the thousands of other tapes and realize the number was in the tens of millions or maybe even in the hundreds of millions.

Stephen McHugh:

On a later date, management asked all of us if anyone knew how to calculate the number of images on one film. Thanks to my curiosity here. What I was able to do here show exactly how I worked it out, thanks to my fascination with extremely large numbers. This stems back to another fascination, which was extreme dimensions. Other strengths included fast keyboard skills and having a good memory. This allowed me to instinctively know where the keys were on the keyboard in relation to my fingers.

Stephen McHugh:

Another key thing here is to fostering an inclusive environment is to encourage open dialogue about neurodiversity in the workplace by providing safe spaces for employees to discuss their needs and experiences can, I believe, go a long way to building mutual understanding and create a stronger sense of belonging. Some companies have taken action, like Google, Microsoft and Auticon. They have actively hired autistic employees, by recognising the unique strengths they can potentially bring to a work environment. This is great to see. All in all, by celebrating diversity, valuing unique skills, workplaces may be able to truly embrace inclusion and thus maximise every employee's potential.

Stephen McHugh:

Before I wrap up, what I want to do is take this opportunity to touch on one more aspect. It is to do with social expectations in the workplace.

Stephen McHugh:

Looking back, I must admit there were occasions when colleagues noticed I was quieter than most. On one occasion, on an outing outside of work, I was told that I needed to do more to join in a bit more during such outings. While these comments were likely well-meaning, they did, to some degree, add a bit of unnecessary pressure or expectations. However, over time, one thing I've learned was, the importance of respecting and honouring individual comfort levels when it comes to socialising and communicating.

Stephen McHugh:

For me, knowing and understanding when something in particular may or may not be relevant to a particular conversation could be sometimes challenging, and larger gatherings could also feel overwhelming. The noise, the number of different conversations happening at once could be a lot for me to process. Smaller gatherings, on the other hand, I found suited me much better. Despite these challenges I faced, one way in which I was fortunate was that I was working in teams where I felt welcome. I was invited to social outings, and even small acts of inclusion had a positive impact, benefiting not just me but everyone in the outings as a whole.

Stephen McHugh:

Interestingly enough, nobody in my workplaces ever really knew I was on the spectrum. However, looking back, there were certain behaviours of mine, like being quiet and reserved more often than not, not may have been noticed. These behaviours had already been observed by a few close relatives in times when I was .

Stephen McHugh:

For for example, I would often ask questions instead of making statements. One thing here I can think of it may have been to do with me looking for more in terms of reassurance. These differences ended up being transferred to the workplace and, while some colleagues may have noticed such behaviours, they may not been able to work out that they were connected to autism have .

Stephen McHugh:

What I have learned here is that while such differences are noticeable, they don't define any person's ability to contribute, whether it's unique ways of thinking, problem solving or communicating. These, for me, far outweigh the challenges faced.

Stephen McHugh:

It's also, for me, very important to give employees the choice of whether or not they may wish to share their neurodiverse background. Not everyone will feel comfortable disclosing such information, and such wishes should be respected. At the same time, people in workplaces should assume neurodiversity exists, and foster an environment where it can be acknowledged, respected and openly discussed when appropriate. Some of you may do this already and, as I bring this episode to a close, what I'd like to hear is your thoughts and comments.

Stephen McHugh:

What I'd like to hear is your thoughts and comments. If you've worked with autistic colleagues, what steps did you take to accommodate their needs, support them and make them feel welcome?

Stephen McHugh:

If you happen to be on the spectrum what ways have colleagues or employers supported and valued you?

Stephen McHugh:

And, for any employers who may be listening, what steps have you taken, if any, to educate your teams about any workers, and create supportive work environments for any autistic workers? Please feel free to share your comments and thoughts by texting this podcast via the link in the description . You can find this on my host platform, Buzzsprout.

Stephen McHugh:

And that brings us to the end of this episode, the fifth and final one in this short series dedicated to autism in the workplace. I hope you found it all informative and thought-provoking. Looking ahead, in my next episodes I look to explore topics that are of great interest to me language development, particularly figurative language, including idioms through storytelling, and how they can connect to my personal lived experiences. To stay up to date on newly released episodes and other podcast-related news, visit my Stay in the Loop link, which can be found towards the footer of the homepage of my website, stephens evolution. com. Thank you for listening, and I look forward to having you join me again in two weeks. Until then, take care.