Lili Marlene, it used to be the case that if people in my department were not good at a particular job but good at something else, efforts would be made to accommodate them.

For that reason, I didn't have quite so much trouble in the earlier years of being employed in the department. If I was under a manager and we didn't get on (some were jealous that I was brighter than them even though I'm sure I never tried to act superior in any way), then I could get moved to a different team if I spoke to the union.

For the past 5 years though, the range of tasks and placements has been much more restricted as instead of having a wide variety of tasks in each office, they have been consolidated into a few or even one site, causing massive dislocations at times.

I'm probably one of the few Aspies who survived but it was at the cost of a lot of personal heartbreak and unhappiness. A lot of other people in the same situation including NT's just quit when all the changes happened that they weren't consulted about.

Even the union rep in the end said I'd probably just have to leave but this was before I got a diagnosis. I actually found the union rep to be very two-faced, saying they were acting in my best interests, but actually siding with management. I don't talk to her any more. She puts politics in front of the union members' interests and I know quite a few others who've observed the same thing.

Unfortunately, the new Industrial Relations laws in Australia will probably pass soon and that means fewer safeguards for people like us.