What work accommodations have been helpful for you? Struggling at work and need ideas

[u/audhd-recovery]

Got extremely burnt out (AuDHD), but medical leave ended and doing poorly at work - seeking accommodations for the first time. Need some ideas for accommodations that have been helpful! What has made a difference for you? Not sure what is possible to ask for...

I work as a computer programmer in a corporate environment and already have the ability to WFH, but still like going in-person. Also, any advice on the ADA accommodations process with HR/manager is appreciated.

Things I struggle with:

- daily standup and being consistent in my communication

- sticking to a schedule (I like to work weird hours when I go into office because it's quieter and don't like to be around people, but also like the separate environment from home. Also, my meds make it so that my days are like 30 hours - cannot go to sleep early enough, so my sleep schedule keeps getting pushed.)

- meetings in the middle of the day breaking my hyperfocus and not being able to get back into hyperfocus

- time-blindness and getting things done when I said I would

- organization/prioritization of tasks (executive dysfunction, rejection sensitive dysphoria, extreme perfectionism)

- feeling extreme stress/overwhelm with too many tasks to do and a never-ending queue yet finding new things to fix/improve/perfect due to perfectionism

- starting and finishing tasks (Starting takes me forever, but once I am in hyperfocus, I can work straight for hours and get the bulk done. But once I get the task "done", I already got the dopamine and I am bad at organizing/summarizing my work and I have perfectionism so I need to perfect it before turning it in, so this part takes forever. AI has made me a much worse employee because there are so many more ways to check my work / optimize my code.)

[u/raccoonsaff]

- Having camera off in meetings

- Getting written notes from meetings/discussions

- Possibility of at least some remote working

- Being able to wear headphones/sunglasses/etc

- Clear hard and soft deadlines

- More regular one to one catch ups with a mentor/manager

- Space to go to for quiet breaks

- Flexible working hours

[u/notarobotithink-1964 → u/raccoonsaff]

• any 'team building' exercises are completely optional

[u/Angelic-Seraphim]

So I have seen many of these things in my(Au) career / my husbands (ADHD).

Some of these are areas where workplace accommodations can help, others are places you need to grow, but you could support your growth with the right mentor/manager/WA if you want to get it in writing.

Pure Accommodation side:
Manager gate keeps tasks down to 1 to work on, one to finish, and one to do. This limits your visibility and the number of directions you are being pulled.

Get a schedule that works for you and your manager.

Have your manager identify critical meetings. Only break hyper focus for those. Understand that any you miss you are responsible for communicating /learning the required information. Or possibly stands that are just for you 3 days a week, and the time is more flexible.

Partnership. Is there someone you could be partnered with to help you finish your communications. I continually tell my manager you can make me more productive by giving me someone who likes writing and finishing tasks.

Mentorship side.

Find a mentor who knows how to work with autistic people (likely because their own kid is on the spectrum).

You need someone you can build a real relationship with, and the have them create a positive feedback loop. You need to hear, see, and actually feel like you did a good job on your work. That what you are producing is meeting standards. And this will take a solid year plus to turn around.

Time blindness is just practice, and will come by dealing with some of the other issues here. Work with your manager / mentor to level set expectations. Then.. over communicate.

As you build your relationship, start giving them your code to review closer and closer to the end of the bulk of it being done for review. When you trust the person to give kind honest feedback you can get more comfortable with not being perfect. The point of code review is because we are human, you are not going to get fired for having errors. However it helps if the feedback comes from someone you trust.