Depending on the organization or team in which you work, and your level of comfort in sharing your personal work style preferences, you could create a a short guide like “Hints and Tips for Working with me” to share with others. In some organizations you may find that you can share this via a link in your email signature.
Below I have shared just one example of such a guide that I used in the past in one organization. I was prompted to write this because the company culture was such that there was an expectation that employees would meet over lunch and no one realised that for me it actually made it very difficult for me to get time to eat or enjoy eating during such meetings.
Hints and Tips for Working with Me
How I look and how this impacts my communication preferences:
Those of you who have already met me may have noticed that I look a little unusual as I have an unsymmetrical face due to facial paralysis* on one side of my face. Colleagues who are already aware of this situation have asked how they can be of support so here are some simple things that might be useful to know when working with me:
- The range of movement in my face for smiling, speaking, eating and drinking is very limited and it requires more of my energy and concentration to move my face than for other people.
- This means that there may be times when it is easier for me to correspond over e-mail, or times when I will choose to be audible but not visible on virtual meetings. This is especially true towards the end of the day if I have been talking in a lot of meetings. It can also be more difficult for me to join virtual meetings in the middle of the night and so it helps if you can record meetings that take place at these time.
- Due to the fact that eating requires more concentration, I prefer not to combine meals with meetings (i.e. I prefer to avoid business lunches).
- Understand that my facial expressions may not match how I feel. Simple actions such as smiling and blinking can be difficult for me especially when tired.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, and feel free to share this information if you think it would help others.
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You can find out more about facial paralysis in general at these sites:
- http://www.facialpalsy.org.uk/
- Huffington Post blog on Accessibility “Facial expressions are key to first impressions. What does that mean for people with facial paralysis?”
- A day in the life of someone with facial palsy Youtube animation
*Facial paralysis, or facial palsy, generally refersto the weakness of the facial muscles, mainly resulting from temporary or permanent damage to the facial nerve.
(In my case, the original cause was damage to the facial nerve due to a type of tumour that I had surgically removed in my early 20s. )