Autistic workers: loyal, talented … ignored

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/ap ... -ignorance

And also that corporations seem to define 'normal' as a smaller and smaller box.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/ap ... -ignorance

There's nothing wrong with including "Maintains Personal & Professional Confidentiality", "Demonstrates Initiative", "Exhibits Common Sense", and "Is Calm, Careful, Level-Headed, Sensible, and Serious" as part of a corporation's employment standards.

... and of course she's going to insist that it isn't true that she violated any of these standards ...

That's a really good article

I absolutely LOVE this one guy's comments to the article!!

JoeMcCann
07 April 2012 5:26am
252
she recalls: "I never fitted in. I was an observer rather than part of the team – 'the tribe' as I thought of them – because I never understood the unwritten rules."
The unwritten rules....Where to start. There's age, race, sex, social class and lifestyle. And that's just soft skills.
And the unwritten rules shift continuously. Plus, there's the fact, that many neuro-typicals ("normal" people) are hellish as*holes. Normal people are really flaky. They're not particularly great masters of communication. They can be very irrational - driven by fear, hatred and greed. They can have very strange ideas about the world. And they can feel very uncomfortable and threatened by people they feel to be different from themselves. This rule is actually the one that gets autistics fired - not the speaking out of turn and other hokey. It's the little differences that make them outrageously disruptive. The average neuro-typical says stupid stuff all day long, and never gets in trouble.
Then the rules get absurd. You have to be friendly, but not too friendly - there has to be a glib emptiness to your friendliness. You have to be enthusiastic, but it has to be on a certain level, that it is clearly false. If you're intelligent, hide it, it makes people feel stupid. You have to display flaws in your character - to avoid arousing jealousy - but not too many flaws (nothing weird). You have to be unclear in your communication. It's a greater sin to catch someone out fibbing and lying, than it is to fib and lie. You're allowed have emotions - but they must be shallow; never be too happy or too sad - and most importantly: your emotions must never seem genuine. You must be insincere at all times. You can be funny but remember, most normal people can't take a joke.
Then the rules get insane. Some unwritten rules are deliberately secret - they have to be probed - they're mini shibboleths. They can change without notice, warning, or even any real reason. Something is being negotiated. Not meaning to be sexist, but this method of bullying is more popular with women than men - when they say "you're meant to know!!", you, in fact, are not meant to know. Probably the version men do is worse, they don't even bother with the "you're meant to know!!". They do long uncomfortable silences...And that look ..slightly wide eyed and blank...but just enough of something to see, there's something up. The Faux Faux Pas. You're constantly on your toes.
And one of the craziest rules: You must show people you can read their emotions and intentions, but you must never give people the impression you have some magical power to see deeper into their souls, than they'd like you to. If they think you can see through them, they will fear you and hate you.
The unwritten rules are unwritten because they are too ugly to even write or speak.
People with autism, may have their problems, but "normality" is a madhouse, where they smear excrement over the walls, themselves, and each other. In a way, we're more barbaric than we've ever been. We don't go around beating each other to death with clubs, but many people will think nothing of destroying someone's career, that took years to build, over something as petty as jealousy over girl - jealousy over nothing. People with autism are spared the horror of seeing this go on, day in day out.
Normality is a bit of a piss poor aspiration. It doesn't even pay that well either.
Maybe it's a really bad idea to even try and integrate people with autism into that kind of environment. An enlightened hiring manager may hire someone with autism, only to have another manager eventually sack them, for not "fitting in" - looking a little odd at their desk. That sadly is the culture.

I won a peer recognition award at work and they still fired me.

I posted about this on my new blog:

http://maywatcher.blogspot.com/

under "more on autism and unemployment". Basically, with the coming of office work, people have stopped valuing actually doing the job. Instead, what is valued is playing the game correctly, being superficial as possible in a way that autistics can't pull off, playing the office political game in a way that autistics can't hope to do. America's offices are filled overwhelmingly with young women with college degrees who do nothing but play silly games with each other all day day in and day out. There are so many managers that they delight in ruining people just for the hell of it. And if you cross one manager, your life is ruined, since all employers require that all your previous employers liked you enough to not fire you. Even if you were laid off, the fact that you were let go is a sign that you're no good as an employee, so suddenly nobody will hire you. And the longer you're without work, the bigger the red flags become, since being unemployed is a sign that you're not worth hiring. Things you can't help are freely used against you. All this for a paycheck that has shrunk in real terms since 2001, in an economy where companies refuse to create jobs, instead creating them in China and India where people will work for far less than Americans.

" We don't go around beating each other to death with clubs, but many people will think nothing of destroying someone's career, that took years to build, over something as petty as jealousy over girl - jealousy over nothing. People with autism are spared the horror of seeing this go on, day in day out. "

I spent 12 years in school.. sacrificed my own social life for a career which was ended by two vindictive administrators who, because I didn't play the social games right,, decided I had to be let go and went to extremes to make that happen,, it is strictly two things,, does a person,,particular a woman,,,LOOK GOOD.. and ,, PLAY THE SOCIAL games,, NO one looks at how well you do the job..fortunately I was able..after a year off work,and much soul searching,, find a job in my area in another state,,in a MUCH lower capacity.I was dropped out of teaching credential school two months before graduation,,I had scored perfect scores in my practicum before that last year,, all of a sudden im failing something I had had a very successful track record. I am now exploring other career options more aspie friendly,,but I do agree,, as aspies we don't play the games,,but,,that also makes it much more difficult..End result..I will never trust an NT administrator ever again,,particularly NT women.

I believed in old school.. hard work and work ethics got one ahead,,NO any more,, its how well uplay the game and kiss butt to everone above you, something us aspies dont understand or do well with.

I have two opinions.

As a hiring manager, I am more likely to hire someone who can speak to their strengths in a way that meets my needs and is outgoing. Period.
If someone can be courageous enough to admit that they goobered it, and 'it' is not essential to the job, or they can show how their mistakes were relevant, I might also be willing to hire them. Thing is, they have to be able to tell me that during the interview. That is their one shot.

However, as a person who has taken and passed a few interviews, I have had to go through some indignities myself. Who here would like to attend a 'positive praise' meeting to be told that they might be fired, that their coworker does a better job, and that during the first week, the entire management staff called to let your boss know that you were weird? And that was supposed to be a constructive and uplifting meeting!

I have to say, thank goodness I was forced to leave. At my new job, people who are different are not shot down. We are valued. I can sleep at night now... didn't used to as I was terrified of being weird. I now sing 'baby beluga' and other songs between story hours and don' get pointed at. I am just naturally enthusiastic and I boogie in the halls. Yes, I am a vivacious manager. Barely a manger, but I am in management nonetheless. And I just might pass my probation period. Yee haw!