Hello everyone, I need suggestions for work accommodations. I finally disclosed my ADHD diagnosis to my employer, and I have a meeting with my supervisor and HR director to discuss a plan for accommodations. I am having a hard time knowing what to ask for, because I am not sure what they can do to help me help myself with my ADHD symptoms. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
Start very simply and non-clinically.
What are the parts of the job that you really struggle with?
What are the parts of the job that you do pretty well (or less badly) in?
The simplest accommodation isn't even official. It's just finding a way to do more of the elements of the job you're good at and assigning the other stuff to other people.
But since you've gone official, you want to have an idea of the elements of the job. What do you do? ... And I'm assuming you're getting in trouble with the bosses? What is the trouble? Anything again that the bosses like?
I'm a newer attorney working at a law firm. And yes, definitely having a lot of trouble at work. The whole reason I even disclosed my diagnosis was because I have not made the changes that they wanted me to make after some time, and I could tell my direct supervisor was getting super frustrated because she didn't know what was going on. There is a huge difference between the quality of my work (which everyone has said is very high) and my ability to meet deadlines, communicate consistently, stay on top of workload, not procrastinate, etc. My supervisor was super supportive when I told her and insisted that she wants to keep me on and do what she can to help, but people in HR flat out told me they have never known someone with ADHD, so it seems safe to assume they don't know much about it. I'm honestly feeling very discouraged because I am finding it really hard to change in the ways they want and as quickly as they want. I'm pretty recently diagnosed, on meds and going to coaching, but it's still really tough and hard not to feel like a failure.
Hi Portia_pine,
I also work at a law firm (patent paralegal) so I feel your pain when it comes to workload, deadlines, and billable time expectations.
First, you are NOT a failure. Please extend yourself some grace. The legal field is incredibly stressful, but you can adapt and figure out ways to handle the things you're struggling with.
Does your firm have an automatically generated docket report sent to you every week? If you're an associate and not listed on your own matters, perhaps your docketing department can copy you on the reports generated for the partners you work with. A weekly docket report really helps me.
You might be able to request extra help in offloading certain tasks. Example: I just requested a shared inbox with our assistant so I can just drag and drop emails there that need to be saved in the electronic files. That way I don't have that sucking at my billable time or my psyche by cluttering my inbox.
You can also request extra training and professional coaching. One of our associates had a writing coach come in every month for a while.
One major thing that helped me was to focus on prioritization of incoming emails. There's a lot of advice out there about how to increase productivity (bullet journals, etc.) but a lot of that takes way too much time and work, and in my ADHD mind, just makes me feel more scattered. I keep it simple and have three priority inbox folders - high, medium, low. That helps me stay organized. For the productivity part, I just try to do my most difficult tasks during the morning, which is when I feel the best.
Anyway, I hope these ideas help you discover changes that will help your specific situation. Keep calm and carry on. You got this 
HMay13, thanks for the encouragement. I often do feel like I am a failure because other people in my same level have been able to easily adapt and manage things that I really stuggle with: billable time entry, hitting billable requirements, timely communication with partners and staff. Also, time blindness is a huge issue of mine, so deadlines are also a big problem. I have a hard time knowing how long things will take me, and end up promising things on an unrealistic timeline or I end up waiting too long to start and the project ends up being more involved than I realized. And oh god, email. The amount of unanswered emails in my inbox is ridiculous.
It's true that there seem to be so many tips and tricks that are supposed to help with staying on top of tasks and email, but if they involve too many steps, then there is no chance that the strategies will stick. But I think I am going to have to get better at delegating: asking my assistant to do shell letters/pleadings/discovery, blocking off calendar time, scheduling meetings and calls for later in the day.
Aside from honoring deadlines, the other biggest concern for them is billables. They want me to enter and finalize time every single day. I honestly have not ever been able to do any one task every single day. Ever.
But thank you for the ideas, I think I have an idea of some things I will try. My goal at hthis point is to try to scrap it together and show enough progress this month to prove I am trying, because even though I am trying so hard every day, it is slow progress and what they want is drastic change.
Anyway , thanks for the comment. It's tough and a little lonely out here.
Yeah, the billables are big. I have to enter and finalize at least 7 hours every day. I'm not going to lie, billing time sucks, lol. The partners I work with hate it too. It's a very annoying but necessary task. It took some time, but I compiled a collection of broiler plate time entries for many of my tasks and just customize them as needed, that way I spend minimal energy on it. You (and by you, I mean your assistant) might be able to ask your billing department for a report of all your time entry narratives to get you started (that's what I did). If you ask them for that, see if they can generate a report based on what was billed rather than entered, that way you can see what edits were made to your narratives (if any) and you'll get a better idea of what language to use (if that's hard for you - it was for me).
I get the email thing too. It's a never ending battle. I think I have at least 120 unread emails in my inbox right now.
Hang in there. I know it's hard when you feel like your peers are more capable and that you are falling behind (been there many times myself). Just remember that we all have strengths and weaknesses, but weaknesses are not failures, they are opportunities for growth. If you got through law school, I am confident that you will figure out ways to meet these challenges and overcome them.
You say, "I am finding it really hard to change in the ways they want and as quickly as they want." Nothing wrong with that statement except it's too general.
Time to get specific here. For me to give more specific suggestions, I need that phrase to be a lot more specific. There's a technique here. It's easy with ADHD to do all-or-nothing thinking. The more general and vague you are in describing the problem, the less room there is to think about resolving the problem. The problem becomes one whole blob as opposed to a process of steps and parts.
Late on deadlines ... how late? ... That's crucial ... Days late? ... Hours late?? ... How many days? ... How many hours? ... Have you always (in every situation) been late on work? ... If not, what was the situation/condition/context that helped you file on time?
Think about the process: do you have trouble starting?--a big ADHD issue. Or is it writing faster in the first draft? ... or in revising? ... or in finishing and polishing? Doing the research and reading on the case law for background?
One point I'll make is that I'm betting you are bad with outlining and organizing. You can improve those aspects.
So the quality of your work is good ... so that's a strength. Again, be specific. What are those good qualities? Big picture thinking, elegance of writing, thoroughness? ... Are you good at working with clients? Attracting clients? ... name your strengths ... that way you can claim them and credit yourself ... Crediting yourself for SOMETHING ... is absolutely crucial here when your ego and esteem is taking a major hit.
Can you partner with someone else? ... you provide the work based on your strengths. That person helps meet the deadlines ... You might need a mentor? You might ask to be sent to a course on legal writing. On your own, seems to me you want to hire a good ADHD coach AND do therapy. Are you in therapy? This situation is tailor made for depressing you and destroying your esteem ... You got to keep esteem up while you make the changes you can make ...
p.s. addendum
You need to get really specific--I deeply specific and granular--if your company is to help you. If you were to describe your issue like you are here, HR folks will have to interview in depth to help identify what accommodation the company can make. Ideally, YOU want to detail the issues before going on--you want to know where you need help. Now it's OK if you don't. ADHD and critical bosses can cause a lot of shame and when we feel shame, our analytical thinking and our creative thinking take a major hit. And this makes sense because work criticism is absolutely awful and shame-inducing for most of us, ADHD or not.
So if you can't get specific, that's fine. But the more specific you are, the more you can help HR think alongside you.
Remember accommodations aren't just to tolerate issues the employee has. Accommodations are also meant to help the employee do the job to the employer's satisfaction.
And congratulations for coming clean. This took enormous courage--congrats to you. There are so many of us who hide in shame and don't seek any help. You are doing a great thing, and this will benefit you (at this job or another) hugely in the long term!!!!
Thanks for the comment. I guess I did not think people would actually care to read all about my specific issues and strengths, but I definitely get what you mean.
My weaknesses are starting tasks, I thinnk because get overwhelmed by to do lists that are super long, Also, editing and finishing tasks, estimating realistically when I can have things finished. I also realize that I am not used to communicating as often as they like: they want to know when things are going to be late, how far I am on certain projects, and they want me to respond to emails same day. Often, I can't get the big substantive projects done very quickly because I am so distracted montioring email. I am often days late on things (never court deadlines, but I often miss internal deadlines that seem to be arbitrary and the work is anywhere from a few hours to a few days late). They also want me to enter all my billable time every sisngle day, and I don't know if that is a realistic expectation, because my whole life I have tried to implement new schedules with daily adherence (for any number of life things like exerise, meals, cleaning, various work tasks) and not one has stuck for longer than a few days. My greatest worry is that I won't be able to make progress up to their standards quickly enough. Like, I will not be able to wake up tomorrow and ebter time daily - it needs to be gradual progress. It seems like they want changes immediately, but at this ponint, I know my progress is more slow and steady.
As for strengths, I am great at working with clients, connecting the smaller pieces into a big picture to create strategy, and I am also strong in oral argument, depositions, and hearings (the more hands on things). My written work is also high quality, which they have acknowledged. My suervising partner has said to me that the work product is very high when they actually get it from me, and I win motions and get good results at mediation/arbitration. But my time management is atrocious and I miss deadlines, and have not been able to get my billables in on time.
Anyway, I am still not confident that it was the right decision, because I don't want them to see me as a lost cause or incapable of improvement. Also not sure how well they understandd it as a real condition. And yes, there is definitely a lot of shame - feels like I worked so hard to get here, just to mess it all up for myself. I am going to coaching, taking meds, and trying to find a therapist, so hopefully they can be patient enough to allow incremental progress.
Thanks for the kind and helpful comment.
As a consultant, I found it helpful to rely on my project manager to prompt me for status and deadline checks. He was tops at time keeping and understanding of individual differences. Your assistant might be able to do this for you.
For instance, why not set a standing daily appointment for a few weeks with her - or your coach! - for her to check that you’ve entered your hours and prioritized email.
I would also try to set expectations that change takes not just time but practice. A few setbacks should be expected but change will happen. You will naturally need to experiment to find the most productive solutions for you in the legal environment!
Get an ADHD counselor and probably a prescription. Accommodations won’t get your dopamine to fire and you can’t expect they’re HR to understand. A counselor can probably help you identify the true source of those trouble areas and that could lead to some ideas about accommodations. For me, in general, I set hard boundaries with my time, keep my Outlook calendar super accurate (even lunches if really busy), turn off every possible notification, and work with headphones whenever possible. The main “accommodation” for me is making sure other people understand and respect my working style so I can get stuff done.
Hi Portia_pine,
I am in a completely different field and don't have a lot of advice but wanted you to know you are not alone - I can relate in that work struggles are THE thing that lead me to counseling over 1 1/2 years ago and eventually to an ADHD diagnosis this week. Although the setting is very different (I work in healthcare) I have similar struggles with meeting productivity/billable units, time management, communication, prioritizing... they overall like the quality of my work but I am too slow... my assignment this week from my counselor is to try to figure out what kind of accommodations would help me so we can talk about it and she can draft something for me to take my employer... I have kept my boss informed about getting tested and she is also very supportive. Glad to hear your boss is supportive also - that helps so much.
Wish I could be of more help with suggestions but I am in process of trying to figure this out also which is what attracted me to your post. Glad there are others in you field here with suggestions.
I can definitely relate - my work and communication is slow, I have a hard time prioritizing, and billable time entry and minimum requirements are really difficult to keep up with. The fact that the work product is good makes it even more frustrating, because it feels like the good things get overshadowed by the bad, and it's demoralizing.
But I am glad to hear you are getting help and have a supportive boss. It's slow going with progress, but it's good to know there are others out there going through the same thing. Hang in there! It has to get better at some point, right?
Thanks - reading some of your new replies to others on the thread - we seem to have some very similar struggles even though the setting is super different... One thing my counsellor said some time ago is that with ADHD baby steps is the way to go - trying to do too many things at once they don't stick... she had me ask my boss what was ONE thing that would make the most difference - but it was hard for my boss to think that way - she gave me so many suggestions - just do the things - it should work... but it is I guess too hard for me to do that... she needed progress so bad... the higher ups were pressuring her about me... a few weeks ago my counselor gave me a more general accommodation letter to give her and I think that helped - she was able to give it to HR so they knew there was an issue other than me being "lazy" - She believed in me and my work ethic liked and wanted to help me - and was trying to defend me to HR _ having an accommodation letter helps. Now we are trying to come up with something more specific now that I got the official diagnosis. My counselor was almost 100% sure I had it but wanted the official diagnosis to come from a psychologist or doctor... finally got it... so hopefully things will get better soon. My boss has been trying not to "talk to" me as much about my productivity problems lately - so as not to pressure me so much - bless her she really wants to help - I could have been fired long ago for not keeping up.... so frustrating when you can't figure out how to keep up with expectations or get improvements to stick... I hope you find a good therapist (as you said you were looking - definitely recommend to find one experienced with ADHD or at least very familiar with it) and hope you find accommodations that work for you.
This is currently happening for me right now. This website has been very helpful. askjan.org/disabilities/Att...
This looks like a great resource, thank you! Wishing you all the best, it's a tough place to be.
Hi Portia_pine! This is just one suggestion among many excellent comments and suggestions here, but I thought perhaps this might help a little. You mentioned that you have an assistant - my suggestion is to delegate as much as possible to that person. I'm an ADHD virtual assistant (I'm both ADHD and support those with ADHD) with 25 years experience as an executive assistant - and delegating stuff to me has been has been an immense relief for people. Think about what you tend to procrastinate on, or really dislike doing, and see if you can have your assistant handle it. I do everything from scheduling appointments to paying people's bills and beyond because I always find out up front what the client dislikes doing, knowing those are usually the things that either don't get completed - or do get completed, but late. The more of those types of tasks that you can delegate, the more the work you do well will stand out. It also helps if your assistant can help you remain on deadline. I spend a great deal of time sending out reminders to people that things are coming due, if it's something they have to do themselves. I've found that to be extremely helpful for my clients, so just some food for thought. I wish you all the best on this journey!
Work place accomodations are agreements in a way for making adjustments to regular work conducts. I would suggest speaking to an occupational therapist, to help you identify your work specific weaknesses and the workarounds they know of, for you to try. Work accomodations are usually an ongoing process of trial and error with an employer to find the right fit.
For example, extra breaks taking medication and sugar lows into account. If you are taking extra breaks how to make your hours up and where.
Bar exam, adderall and no test accommodation 
I'm a Newbie! - Big question about Workplace Accommodations for ADHD
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I can't imagine how a typical brain works.
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