document everything that happens. If you want to go legal , get ready for hell. Start looking for the parachute. If they really want you out, you will be out. If you notice alot of silence around you all of the time,then Get the hell out of there. I was diagnosed disabled now.

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thank you for your help. it is probably a good thing.

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Calvin,

Sorry to hear of the suspension. It's late to go now to human resources, but you know what? I would go anyway. Here are a few thoughts.

I don't think you have anything to lose at this point ... But I would go to HR with the following attitude ... First of all, remember to get adhd accommodations, etc., you would have to go through a serious clinical evaluation beyond probably any you have had so far ... you probably don't want that. So I wouldn't really go seeking the official adhd thing ... I don’t think you can come in after the fact and get the official accommodation anyway. I think that needs to be done from the git-go.

I would do this: I would go and try to initiate a conversation about what a person with your habits needs to do. Frankly, if meds don't help you, you're going ot need to 1.) get an assistant or 2.) do other work in exchange for having someone do your paperwork or 3) pay someone out of your own pocket to do the paperwork.

Basically, brother, it's time for you to face up. You don't have to say the phrase "adhd." In fact, unless you have an extremely enlightened work environment, I would not use the term. But you do need to make clear that you simply do NOT do tedious paperwork well and that you need some adjustment or help with that aspect of the job. Frankly, that’s something you needed to tell the boss on day 1.

For example, if there a staffer you could pay to do this work for you? A secretary you could pay a little extra to do this on the side? ... Maybe a secretary could take your papers home at do it at night and charge you some extra money. This could be an informal deal just between you and her or you could have the support of the company on this. The ideal move for the adher is to offer to do what they do well for more hours in exchange for outsourcing the paperwork.

Either way, you've got to quit hiding this weakness. It doesn't work. I know: jobs are hard, and we're all afraid of losing our job if we own up to our disorganization and executive function problems.

But this just past year, I made a major shift in my job to minimize my adhd. In fact, I'm doing work that others do not want to do and in some ways it takes more time. But I decided that this was work that actually fit my adhd as it involved a lot more time out of the office, on my feet, interacting with people, etc. Guess what, extra time or no, my stress level went down dramatically this past year.

I know this can be hard to conceive, but remember, there are millions of rich people on this earth who do not do tedious paperwork well. Doing tedious paperwork well is not a precondition for success in life. The trick is that other people have found work and arranged deals that would play to their strengths. Know your strengths and really sell them to the company. The goal is convince the company that it will profit if you can do what you do best and get help with the rest.

So if I were you, I would propose a deal ... ask for a 3 month extension. Say just give me three months to turn this around and if I haven’t, you can let me go. But then say I really have been terrible with paperwork all my life and I need help in doing it. I’m willing to pay for this or do other work in exchange for having help with this.

Trust me: there are all sorts of solutions ... maybe you'll have to sit down with someone and do your paperwork right next to them exactly when they are doing it! ... Maybe you sit down with the boss’s assistant for 15 minutes each day. You've got to not be afraid of being different. Time to fully own up to your uniqueness. Do WHATEVER it takes (legally, morally of course) to get the work done, no matter how foolish it seems to an outsider ...

Come clean, cut a deal ... talk and chat around, find out secrets others are using ... there may even be easy software that others use ... But you're probably so embarrassed by the adhd that you imagine that everyone else easily files their records flawlessly ... I guarantee you that is not the case.

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Thant was good! I just played that card after I found (yesterday) that I have certain protections and at my back offices request had my doctor fax in an explaination. I should have done it earlier, I know that now. And thank you for the advice! I know I need an assistant but never thought they would give me one... you never know. I will take you advice and see if I can work a deal/extension.

Once again, thanks! I really thought I was alone out here!

calvin

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Hang in there and fight Calvin. You have a right to be less than perfect.

Phillyman

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I decided after struggling for about 2 months day in, day out, to tell my boss about my ADD and bipolar disorder. It was the best thing I could have done - the expectations from my boss are still high, but now that she knows that I need help focusing sometimes and staying on-task I do a much better job of staying on top of my work. She will come by every once in a while just to check on my computer monitor, to see the amount of paper on my desk for the day, and say, "You're doing better today. Keep up the good work!" Unfortunately my problems with focusing/hyperfocus also make me the perfect candidate for small, special projects around the office. I've been tasked with a couple different things that don't take more than a day or two, and that maximizes my results on that project because that's pretty much the extent of my hyperfocus time - 3 days. We have found a way together to play up my "disability" and turn my weakness into a real asset. If hyperfocus is your schtik, maybe you can ask your supervisor for a couple special projects like that as well to break up the monotony of doing your day to day job.

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Calvin I would certainly tell your boss about having ADD. As for you stating it's a "clinically rare" case of Adult ADD I presume you live in the UK then. The UK has had a policy for many, many years now of stating that ADD/ADHD continuing into adulthood is rare (even though there is plenty of documentary evidence to suggest otherwise), and also denying adults in the UK with proper medication and support for Attention Deficit.

I have a similar problem as at school I was diagnosed with ADHD and told I'd grow out of it when I left school.

After school I went onto college, didn't mention anything about ADHD as I'd been told I'd grow out of it, struggled with handing assignments in on time and everything, luckily however I had a really good head of our course (Phil Callaghan - sadly I never got the chance to go back and thank him for all his hard work with me, as he died before I got re-assessed), he was ok about me handing things in sometimes 2-3 months late, mainly because he knew that I was really good at what I was doing, which was programming computers, but awful at monitoring time.

I then went to University to study a degree, I failed the degree in the first year as I couldn't cope with all the paperwork I had to do, however I got a HND as HND's are more practical than degrees.

After leaving University I started helping as a leader in the scouts, I'd been in the scouts during my time at University as a member of the venture unit. However as a leader then I just couldn't cope, luckily the leader then suspected I had Asperger's Syndrome and my ex-Venture scout leader told me all about it. I got assessed for Asperger's and also found out then that my ADHD had continued from childhood into adulthood.

The ex-Venture leader who told me about Asperger's then arranged for me to come back to Ventures, with an extension running until I was 25 to help me sort things out whilst I was being assessed and to re-gain my confidence, after it being knocked loads of times by being sacked from loads of jobs all mainly due to them not understanding either Asperger's or ADHD. She also arranged for me to complete the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold award, which really helped, she did also try and get me to get the Queen Scout, but the scouts were a lot more restrictive over offering an extension on it, where as the D of E were more than happy to help.

During this time I managed to get a job with Safeway, and worked there until Morrisons closed the depot down. The manager was well aware and totally understanding of my disabilities and only put me in jobs she knew I could handle. When the department closed the manager was really nice and helped me immensely to find a new job elsewhere in another department. Then when the depot fully closed the other department helped me also to find a new job.

The next job I got I also told them about my problems and they were also really understanding and helpful. The only bad thing was they were constantly taking the mick, not just out of me but a few other members of staff there. In the end I handed my resignation in and walked away from them, and then went and founded my own business. This was thanks to the help of a team of lads in there that realised I was being wasted in there and helped me to decide to resign.

I now run my own business, still got a major problem with paperwork, so most of the time when buying things for the business I try and get electronic receipts sent to my e-mail, that way I know where they are and the e-mail system files them automatically. Thankfully at present my business is still not earning enough to be registered for VAT, I'm dreading that as there is a lot more paperwork involved, but when it is I'll probably hire someone to take care of the paperwork.

So certainly tell your boss, also if your in a union you might want to bring the union in on it as if your boss is treating you like a child he could be bullying you and in that situation he could be the one that gets sacked not you, although it could be just that the boss totally doesn't realise and he may be very apologetic after he realises. He is the one that needs to tread very carefully as well as if you live in the UK your protected by the DDA and he really doesn't want to get on the wrong side of that, even though it would be a lot of hassle to take them to court for breaking the DDA usually just a slight whiff of the DDA is enough to make most firms change their attitude, as even if it's settled out of court it can be very embarrassing and damaging to a firms reputation.

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