Have you ever experienced 'Ableism'?

Post Reply New Topic

Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your Autism or Asperger's Syndrome?

I would say I experience it on an almost daily basis, due to the nature of my job as i work performing customer interaction. Since there are no visual clues that I'm differently abled, I am expected to perform as well as an NT on any specific occasion.

I'm not sure if what you describe should be considered "discrimination."

I also don't care for the term "differently abled" because I see as politically-correct BS to avoid saying what should be said plainly.

If your job requires you to do X, Y and Z and you have a condition that prevents you from doing that, you are disabled in those capacities. If doing X, Y and Z are essential functions of the job, it's not discrimination to say you aren't working out and let you go or not hire you in the first place.

Now, if you can do something to compensate for an inability to do X, Y and Z, then it's a question of if it is reasonable to expect the employer to accommodate it.

If people don't know you have a disability, they aren't discriminating against you for expecting you do perform as everyone else. There is no legal or social obligation to assume someone is disabled and set things up in anticipation of such a person.

If you are asking for a situation to be designed so that everyone can do the task, what you ask for is equally impossible. Very few things can be configured so that everyone can do it equally well. Someone will always be left out.

Wow. All most autistics is asking for is a little patience or to be transitioned slowly toward a particular activity

Imagine if somebody said that being straight or having light skin was a bona fide occupational requirement.

You know it used to be considered an occupational requirement for women to be thin to work in some professions where they wanted to hire 'hot babes'. That is considered really prejudiced nowadays.

I have been called ret*d before and asked if I was. I may have faced it at my last job because the office clerk wouldn't understand I take things literal, when they keep moving things, I won't know where to find it anymore, I have a hard time with reading between the lines, I cannot remember to do something he taught me weeks ago or months ago if it's not in my routine, I need to be reminded to do something because I tend to forget and it doesn't occur to me to look at my pad. Still the same old "What did I just tell you?" "How long have you been working here?" "You should know this already" "use your common sense." I put up with it than quitting because I needed a job and have a hard time getting a job.

In high school kids kept telling me "listen" or saying I don't ever listen or telling me to stop asking questions. They wouldn't understand I can't keep up with what is being said and I am trying to understand the assignments or what I am learning. Also kids would tell me to sit when I would pace. Then teachers in the resource room get on my back about me falling asleep in class because they wouldn't let me pace. They also wouldn't let me listen to music or play my Game Boy but yet they didn't want me pacing to keep my energy. They didn't want me on the computer either. I couldn't win.

I am also sure I got it a lot in childhood too if kids always got mad at me for my clumsiness and kids thinking I am stupid or selfish and them bullying me because I was different and being rejected. Yeah i would say I got it a lot growing up. Now as an adult it's not a daily thing anymore or all the time thing anymore unless I am around the wrong person like I was at my last job or in the wrong environment where everyone is closed minded towards differences.

My point is that he has a job that requires social skills (dealing with the general public), and he has a disability that makes him crap socially.

What can the employer do? Dealing with customers is an integral part of the job.

He said it was a part of his job, you declared it integral.

which is another reflection of cultural ableism.

Also known as real life, no matter how bitter it is.

Unless you'd rather that jobs for people like us were magicked up out of nowhere?