QA department in particular is fairly toxic, a mess of aging work philosophy that lacks objective understanding and a game of old boy club politics - directive in its management with sanity/productivity lost providing data that is too variable and fabricated to be of justifiable practicality (but im sure it *looks* 'impressive' further up the ladder where no one really knows the context).
Communication and work processes take the lowest priority for leadership (unless they involve gathering data) and so are never properly developed, creating a stressful environment to work in. Post mortems are primarily a formality in which it is always 'too early' or 'too late' in further projects to adapt solutions from.
Efforts are made in terms of Diversity & Inclusion, and whilst I feel grateful to even have a voice, I cannot help but feel it more a pacifier than an active effort. Most time is spent *talking* about being inclusive but very little is spent on *listening* and *understanding* to what being inclusive actually means, let alone objectively driven action towards such ends.
The QA department is particularly averse to neurodiverse needs, given its low prioritization of effective communication and poorly planned/designed extraneous work processes. Reasonable adjustments are attempted but not made practical or realistic enough to be maintained, often being abandoned and forgotten about. There is also little drive to understand the reasonable adjustments, utilising an interpretation of them that benefits hr/leadership rather than the goal they were set out to achieve.
Career advancement is largely based on playing the social/data manipulation game as there is a distinct lack of objectivity amongst senior leadership which has shaped the departments culture. There is no room for flexible delegation within its rigidly hierarchical structure and thus no room is given for neurodiverse strengths to shine through and gain recognition, unless able to display neurotypical strengths whilst working under conditions that are directly hostile to neurodiverse needs. If there are communication problems due to autistic differences, it is made sure that you understand it is your fault and your fault alone. As such, problems with anxiety and general mental wellbeing are likely to develop...
Overall, as an autistic individual who first started enthusiastically learning everything he could at every spare moment - from our tools, to scripting, to coding in C++. I feel that enthusiasm and passion has been crushed by my experience. I no longer dedicate my personal time to career advancement and instead just try to survive until I can pursue another lifepath in my more focused passion for UX and Accessibility - fields which I now feel I only stand a chance of gaining recognition for through self-employment the way autistic entrepreneurs have like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.
