Can I get on disability if I have Tourette's syndrome?

If someone with Asperger's Syndrome is fired from a job for sexual harrassment, can they appeal?

• A friend of mine who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome was recently fired from his job for sexually harassing a female employee, and both he and I do not feel that the firing was justified simply because he has Asperger's syndrome. It seems pretty clear that his disability caused him to sexually harass the employee because people with Asperger's Syndrome have trouble understanding what others feel and also lack the ability to realize when their actions harm others. As such, it seems that the only reason he sexually harassed the female employee was because he has Asperger's Syndrome, and the disability caused him to not realize he was emotionally harming her. He also claimed that he told his managers that he has Asperger's Syndrome when he applied for the job, but evidently his managers and fellow co-workers did not seem to think that his disability contributed to his harassing behavior so they fired him anyway. Is their any way that my friend can get his job back by arguing that his sexually harassing behavior was a manifestation of his disability, and if so, what options does he have to appeal?

• Answer:

  Having Asperger's or any other disability is not an excuse for sexually harassing anyone, everyone regardless how low their IQ is can be taught right from wrong. People with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) usually have average to above average IQ, therefore they know right from wrong. That being said they do have trouble picking up social cues from others that they are not comfortable or upset at their behaviour, however when told that their behaviour is not appropriate, they can curb the behaviours. If your friend was given warnings and or was told he was acting in appropriately and he ignored or continued the behaviour, then he has no legal recourse for unfair dismissal. I would hazard a guess your friend was given fair warning. Sexual harassment is very serious and if he can't control his urges then he should not be allowed to work with any woman, or he needs to be supervised at all times. Sexual harassment is not just emotional it is physical too, all of which is very damaging to the victim. If he was sacked purely because of his disability then that is another matter, and he has to prove it was due to his disability, and due not sexual harassment. I have worked with people with various disabilities including Autism and Asperger's, one young man with AS took a liking to another student, and a few staff members, he would run up to us for a hug, touch or ask for a kiss, we had to tell him firmly he could not do that, and if he did he would be excluded from program activities, or not allowed to attend any more. He learnt very quickly what was appropriate and what was not, often asking me was it ok to do this or that, before doing something that might see him in serous trouble (he was only 13), he also learnt that if he was upset, that he was not allowed to yell, but to find somewhere or someone he felt safe with and go sit next to them, he would often sit next to me rocking back & forth or twisting his hands. I recently saw him, and he is now 20, he came running up to me but held back from hugging me, (saying loudly, that he is not allowed to hug people), he shook my hand instead, before asking how was I going. I was very pleased that he sought me out, as I had not seen him, his father asked who I was, his son telling him who I was and where I worked, his father said well you must have made an impression on him as he rarely goes up to people to say hello. This young man said she is my friend, which made my day.