Library / Watch / Think Autism Melbourne 2026
Lived experience, Think Autism Melbourne 2026
Kathleen McCarthy was shut out of talks on her own workplace accommodations
In short
At Think Autism Melbourne in 2026, Kathleen McCarthy said her employer excluded her from discussions about her burnout because she had a vested interest. She argued that such a policy is worthless.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
When Kathleen McCarthy went into autistic burnout at work and asked for support and accommodations, her employer decided that she was the one person who could not take part in the discussion. “I was not allowed to be a part of the conversation because I had a vested interest in receiving the accommodations”, she told the panel on autistic burnout at Think Autism Melbourne. In the employer’s words, as she relayed them, her involvement would have been a conflict of interest. She said the exclusion was intentional.
Her response, she said, was passive aggressive. She sent the people deciding her case a zip file full of research, which no one read. She added that she could have offered to put it into Google for them.
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Sources the story draws on
- Making Workplace Adjustments Easy, Effective and Equitable: Conversation Guide (opens in a new tab), JobAccess (Australian Government)
- Your rights as an employee under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (opens in a new tab), Australian Human Rights Commission
More from Think Autism Melbourne 2026
All 48-
3 minutes 7 seconds, captioned Autistic burnout is different from tiredness, and a holiday does not fix it Anita Aherne, Hannah Badenhop and 1 more Opening a Think Autism Melbourne panel in 2026, Anita Aherne said workplaces still had no clear definition of autistic burnout. The panellists described what it is and why rest alone does not end it. - 7 minutes 16 seconds, captioned Employers avoid naming autistic burnout because naming it creates liability Shamus Hart, Kathleen McCarthy At Think Autism Melbourne in 2026, Shamus Hart argued that risk averse organisations keep autistic burnout out of policy on purpose. Kathleen McCarthy described how risk systems turn it into a personal choice.
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- 6 minutes 6 seconds, captioned Prevent autistic burnout by design, and ask the person what would help Shamus Hart At Think Autism Melbourne in 2026, a panel on autistic burnout heard that it largely disappears when supports are built in. Hannah Badenhop set out what that means for workplace policy, and the panel heard the case for asking the person in burnout.
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