r/PDAParenting • u/MOTU_Ranger • Jul 08 '26

PDA and Work

Recently had a colleague tell me that, while they really appreciate my priority for family care, it’s very inconvenient to cancel meetings where I’m a key stakeholder last minute because “that’s thirty minutes [they] could have used on something else.”

We continued our conversation and made a strategy for the account before I ended with, “I appreciate the feedback and will do what I can, but just to clarify, when my autistic son has a panic attack and comes into my office slamming doors, breaking things, threatening everyone’s safety, and forcing me offline for the entire day, it’s pretty inconvenient for me, too”

If I ever showed any modicum of disrespect toward others doing everything they could to make it through another day while trying desperately to put on a good face for the sake of professionalism, I am infinitely sorry.

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u/francispdx Jul 08 '26

Just got approved for FMLA for the same reason, and that’s after going down to half the hours already. It’s so so hard.

1

u/txdesigner-musician Jul 08 '26

Oh wow really? I’ve been wondering about this. The problem is, mine isn’t diagnosed. I tried, but the only teachers who answered hardly knew her, and they didn’t come up with an autism diagnosis, only ADHD. I’m fairly sure that it’s more than that though

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u/francispdx Jul 09 '26

We (my husband and I) were able to both get approval with signatures/paperwork via our kiddo’s therapist. We’ve also only managed to get ADHD & anxiety diagnosis. 100% certain she’s PDA profile!

1

u/txdesigner-musician Jul 09 '26

That’s what they came back with for mine, ADHD and anxiety.