New Job Anxiety

[Thizette]

I start a new job on Monday (YAY), but I'm starting to have serious anxiety about it. I'll be working with people with developmental disabilities, and sometimes (especially the men) have poor boundaries around attractive women. Yes, I'm pretty. I'm worried about triggers. It's always made me a little uncomfortable how they stare too long or try to talk to you constantly. I remind myself that these men have 13 year old minds in adult male bodies and mostly they're harmless, but I'm still worried about being triggered. More than that, I feel ashamed for being so uncomfortable around men with developmental/intellectual disabilities because I know that they aren't trying to be creepy. It's been a tightrope for me to try and balance my (often irrational) fears and their right to be treated with dignity. At my former church there was a man on the autism spectrum who ALWAYS wanted to talk to me. Constantly. And it made me so uncomfortable, but he wasn't being inappropriate--not for someone with his condition. He was just trying to be friendly. And to his credit, he knew he had a hard time of it.

Mostly, if I'm triggered by something and the result is noticeable, I'm worried my employer will think I'm judging the clients or disgusted by them or something. It's not that. I'm just a jumpy person. Now I'm wondering if I should have disclosed my PTSD? I'm generally ok talking about it with people, but I keep it hidden from employers as much as I can because I don't want the stigma or coddling. So, if anyone has a useful mantra for this sort of situation...

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Well, just from my perspective, there"s nothing at all wrong with disclosing some (id say only as much as necessary) info about your mental health, if and only if, it could affect your job. You arent coverage by ADA there, job functions, and if I were that employer, id appeciate a "im working on this and will do my very best to not allow it to affect my job" heads up then to write you up or terminate you later. Ive recently had to disclose more to my employer for the same reason.

What and how much would be my question. And for me, id say stick with basics. So dont advise that you have PTSD but that you have anxieties about men and you realize they dont mean anything but are rather jumpy. Or some form of that. Be vauge but essentially tell them as much info as they need only to advise of the issue thats job related, you are aware, and will do everything you can to not allow it to affect your job. I always top it off with a truth "I genuinally care about every single customer I speak to".

Hope the helps! And congrats on the job!