What to mention in AS disclosure at internship

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PaulHubert
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

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Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 77
Location: Charlotte

13 Apr 2014, 5:24 pm

As you can tell from this passage, I have had some issues at work with organization, speed, dealing with mistakes, and switching attention. It's not so much work as an actually an internship, so given disclosure is somewhat of a risk, in this situation, being let go isn't the end of the world, in fact at the very least, they must give me internship hours for the rest of my school semester; the catch 22 is that we are being evaluated on general categories like competence, personal responsibility, team-work, honesty, ect. and they are offering the best interns part-time positions, so there is the threat of an opportunity cost. The problem that I've been having at this internship is that what I am producing is being perceived as laziness, soldiering, performing below my capabilities when that is not the case. I have reached a point to where at the very least, I will be disclosing my aspergers and choose the one most problematic symptom for me, ideally I could disclose all of the ones listed below and still send the right message. I describe the symptom, a requested accommodation, and why the accommodation would be beneficial for everyone. This would be spoken to my immediate supervisor, paraphrased and not worded so formally, a rough draft. Let me know if any of what I'm talking about is missing any important context. Thank you

"Sloppy Days"
I have a difficult time processing large amounts of information, which is what happens when I
multi-task and switch from one task to the next. I am much more productive when I do the same thing oveer
over and over again, and not juggling a lot of different things at once.
I would like to plan out how I am going to split my time, focusing on one task repetitively for that
committed time, then moving on to next chunk of repetitive tasks, if something doesn't need immediate attention
ASAP but it needs to be done at the end of the day, I would like to devout a specific time ahead of time
to complete the task before the day is over, not immediately as I'm doing the task
this will allow me to get more work done in a day, even if something that needs
to get done before the day can't be done immediately
Processing speed
People with aspergers have slower processing speed, when I take my time with something, I am able to focus on
all the little details and and produce more without error; when I rush things and perform tasks faster
than what feels natural, I start to make errors, I switch to 6th gear and be on error-free auto-pilot.
I accept that competence is evaluated in the internship, so I believe it's fair to attribute
a slower rate of getting things done to how I naturally work, not as performing below my own
capabilities; but trying to fit the absolute deadline where if I'm not meeting it it's assumed I'm not doing everything
in my power to accomplish the task and working in 6th gear will only cause me to work even more
slowly and make mistakes
If you trust that I am doing my best and give me time to work at a natural pace,
then I will concentrate better, work faster, and be more accurate; and over time,
I will become better at the tasks and perform better than I ever have before.
Sensory Overload
When work piles up, things start getting messy, I have to process lots of information at the same
time and when I have anxiety or frustration over a ticket I can't seem to figure out or a big error I have "sensory overload"; my ability to think and
process information exponentially slows down, my train of thought becomes like a dropped vase and I have
to put the
pieces back together again to get on a roll. It's hard for everyone to work when they feel overwhelmed
but the ability to think for me changes at a neurological level, not as much as a lack of willingness to move on.
I would like to take a 5 minute break when these things happen, won't be common or frequent
I would be able to re-focus on the task I was working on with a fresh mind, and get
more work done than if I hadn't taken a break at all.
Accepting Criticism
I tend to take criticism as though there is something wrong with me, and therefore I become defensive, frustrated
and appear self-righteous to support that that isn't the case; I have been that way my entire life, and I am working
on internalizing the criticism the right way
I don't want you to think that I believe this "isn't fair" or that "your unreasonable", I am learning to cope
with mistakes and I plan to do so in the future.