To tell or not to tell – disclosure of autism in the workplace
Open accessAbstract
Autism, sometimes called an 'invisible disability', can lead to different difficulties for young adults entering the workplace as well as maintaining the job. One of the questions young adults with autism face: should he/she/they disclose the information about their autism to the employer? This current study aims to fill a gap in research on the young adult population with autism in the workplace, particularly within the Latvian context. Four young adults (aged 18-26) living and working in Latvia, who have identified themselves as having autism, job seekers and employees with strong language and intellectual abilities, and their mothers participated in this study. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather in-depth data from participants; after that, an inductive content analysis was made. The results reveal that young adults do not disclose that they have autism to neither co-workers nor employers, yet at the same time, they are ready to disclose it to close friends outside of the workplace. Four main reasons for not disclosing their status on the autism spectrum emerged. To begin with, young adults did not want to be treated differently; they wanted to be perceived as 'normal'. Second, they feared social stigma. Third, they did not feel there could be any benefits by disclosing their autism to their employer. Finally, it is much more important to explain to their employer what the often-unique limitations of each specific young person with autism are and how to overcome them than to just inform only of their autistic status.
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Access to support often depends on disclosure of diagnosis, self-advocacy, and the ability to navigate organisational systems not designed for cognitive variation.
“Access often depends on disclosure of diagnosis, self-advocacy, and the ability to navigate organisational systems not designed for cognitive variation (Nimante et al., 2023)”
From The system-level organisational design framework: a neuro-cognitive trait interaction approach to workplace inclusion for autistic people (2026) · cites this paper as Nimante et al., 2023
The “Disclosing ASD status” section says disclosure is needed to receive additional workplace support and accommodations, and identifies self-advocacy skills as a facilitator of disclosure. It does not say that access to support depends on navigating organisational systems not designed for cognitive variation; the “Employer related aspects of disclosure” section discusses employer understanding and workplace attitudes instead. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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References 33 · Cited by 6
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Kranke, D., Taylor, D., Jackson, S., Floersch, J. and Anderson-Fye, E. 2013. College student disclosure of non-apparent disabilities to receive classroom accommodations. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 26, 35-51. https://files.eric.ed.gov/full- text/EJ1026808.pdf
- Authors
- Nimante, D., Laganovska, E., & Osgood, R.
- Affiliations
- Department of Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
- University of Latvia (LV)
- Venue
- International Journal of Developmental Disabilities
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2023-05-04
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 414-423
- ISSN
- 2047-3869 (ISSN-L)
- 2047-3877
- PMC
- PMC10197981
- OpenAlex
- W4377023653
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 1.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- International Journal of Developmental Disabilities (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, disclosure, workplace disclosure, young adults, invisible disabilities, social stigma, fear of discrimination, employer-employee relationship, job seekers
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