In my opinion, management does not provide adequate support to people who have special learning and executive function needs due to neurodivergence.
The first 6 months of my tenure were some of the best I’ve ever had in my career, and I had a lot of autonomy and ownership that helped me thrive as the only person in my function after the manager who hired me left 3 months after I started. The freedom to execute and drive projects helped me perform well and resulted in a great rating during my quarterly review.
The company went into a hyper-growth stage in late 2025 with lots of hiring, and after that, something changed. I went from feeling great about my contributions and like I was a valued teammate to feeling like no matter how hard I worked, I wouldn’t live up to my manager’s expectations.
I disclosed a disability earlier in the year and asked for reasonable accommodations after receiving additional medical testing to find out more information about it and learn how I could best perform given some of my issues. That is where I felt things really went south. Not a single accommodation I asked for would have cost the company any money, but it felt like they were not something my manager was really invested in working with me on. It was surprising, because I thought we had a great relationship up to that point.
All I asked for to help me succeed was better clarity. Crystal-clear expectations, documented (the documented part is key here) goals, and to be held to a standard that was easily understandable, consistently applied, and not vague. Instead, my work was micro-scrutinized, making me feel less confident and like I lost ownership over it. I was given three areas to improve upon and one month to improve after my one-year performance review, but was not told specifically how those areas would be measured. Nearing the end of the month, I had only one deliverable in progress because there was nothing else new in my pipeline, So I raised concerns about how the one-month review of my progress could be evaluated fairly, because there was also no formally documented PIP. Rather than talk with me and address my concerns, my manager’s response was to coldly terminate my employment.
My takeaway from my own experience at Sortly is that there’s no time for anyone who rocks the boat or needs extra help, even if they have a federally protected disability. I luckily sensed there was a problem and kept receipts. I’ve also filed a complaint with the EEOC and am currently seeking legal counsel regarding how I was treated, because I sincerely believe neurodivergent individuals deserve a chance to be successful and in my case, I feel like Sortly did not allow me that chance. Invisible disabilities are still disabilities and not something to be swept under the table.
All in all, I felt like my experience completely flew in the face of the company’s principles. And the irony isn’t lost on me that pictures of me are on their brand new Careers page at a time when I would never recommend Sortly to anyone I know.
