Back when I was 16 I applied for a voluntary role with the Prince's Trust, which included a free Level 1 Health and Social care course, at the time I would have been doing my A Levels but encountered enormous difficulties and ended up in an unfit state to continue due to enormous stress, and having a nasty flare up Crohn's Disease, which wasn't helped by that. As a result I dropped out of sixth form. So I decided to apply for that role, and attempted to contact the Prince's Trust coordinator who I will call Jane. She didn't get back to me, so on the assumption that I could be accommodated nevertheless, I turned up smartly dressed which set me aside from everyone else, I was the smartest there by a country mile.
I was then called for interview and accommodated, things started off with the Serco manager, who I will call John very well, he was in the company of an NHS staff member who I'll call Emma. Then John asked me a completely illegal and wrong question, that being whether I had Autism. Not knowing my rights, I answered the question honestly in the affirmative i.e. I said yes. He then asked me if I did well at school. My response to that was to answer again in the affirmative i.e. say yes, but then say too much, and go onto explain that I found sixth form a struggle, and as a result I had dropped out of it.
His response was to refuse my application on that basis, and to suggest that I apply to Project SEARCH, which (with all due respect) caters only to the needs of those with learning disabilities i.e. low intelligence, and was unsuitable for me, because it would be way too boring for me, so I didn't even bother applying. It's unlikely that they would've accepted me anyway.
Could I have sued had I done so within the statute of limitations? What do you think? I think that this incident, which was 100% illegal, demonstrates that Serco are an immoral company whose death is inevitable at this rate, unless they get their act together, and that public bodies e.g. NHS need to stop using them ASAP. Hell, I should've called the Police on that manager for a hate incident in my opinion.
What if I had simply answered "no comment" to the Autism question? How do I deal with the same question next time? What about the question of whether I did well at school? Should I have simply answered with "Yes, I got 8 GCSEs", and nothing else? If not then how should I deal with it next time?