For those who think AS/autism isn't a disability

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I hope I don't get flamed for this but I want to hear your thoguhts.

It's difficult for lot of aspies to have a job because of their inflexibility. They are unable to cope with changes or they have a difficulty time having to be flexible. Their social skills are low so they might not do well with their customers because of their shyness or they are unable to engage a conversation with them, have troubles with small talk and the eye contact they lack etc. The guest could take it personal and complain to the manager about it, especially about the inappropriate comments the aspie made. And the sensory issues, the aspie might have issues with the uniform they have to wear because they don't like the fabric of it, the noise might be too overwhelming for them, the lights might be overwhelming too and other sensory issues stuff the aspie might have. There is the multitasking. It's hard to switch from one task to another leaving one of it unfinished and then you forget about it. And the timing, the aspie might unable to show up on time because of poor concept of timing because they don't know what time they should leave to make it to work on time. And the literalness, the aspie keeps misunderstanding what they are being told to do because they fail to connect the dots or read between the lines so to the other employees, they lack common sense because they have to say everything to them to get them to do what they want them to do and the boss might not want to tolerate that thinking they aren't very smart or they aren't trying hard enough.
So yeah, you don't call it a disability despite how all those problems can effect them on the job?

People with dyslexia have claimed dyslexia isn't a disability and say only reason it's seen as one is because people without it make it one because reading and writing is required in life. But it is a disability because reading is a challenge for them and they needed extra help to get through the challenge just like we have to work hard to get through the social skills by learning them, dealing with the sensory issues, learning how to read between the lines by learning what every sentence means when someone tells us to do something and we learn what it means, learning to be flexible is a challenge too because we have to deal with the uncomfortable feelings inside of us and learn to turn off those feelings so we don't feel it, with multitasking, we might have to learn how to get better at it so some of us might carry a notepad with us and write it down what we need to finish, what we need to do and check the pad all the time so we remember, we have to be lucky we find an understanding boss who won't fire you for failing to read between the lines, willing to work with you through your anxiety and other social skills problems. Also judging personal space can be a challenge too. Guests can have troubles with us standing too close to them or not leaving them enough room.

People with other disabilities like ADHD have claimed theirs isn't a disability either and the only reason why it is seen as it is because they make it a disability. To me it sounds like they are blaming their problems on other people.

Having a disability doesn't make you abnormal. Lot of people have them and still function in the real world. You can't even tell they have it just by looking at them.

There is a guy at work who is in a wheelchair (of course you can tell he has a disability). He can say he doesn't have a disability but the only reason why not having legs that work is seen as one is because they make it a disability because lot of jobs require you to use your legs. He still has it even though he has a job, he works in the human resources department. All he does is sit at his desk and do stuff and he wheels himself around the building when he needs to run errands or when he has a lunch break. But his disability still limits him like AS and autism limits us.

I still have a disability even though I have a job. Not all aspies are unable to have jobs. Lot of them do have one and lot of them don't.

I could not do my job if I were not autistic.

I could not be married to my wife if I were not autistic.

I could not enjoy the hobbies that I enjoy if I were not autistic.

It is a different lifestyle, but that doesn't make it a disability.

Musicians work at night, they must play for hours per day, they spend weeks and months working on one song, they often find it hard to make a living. Are musicians "disabled"?

Dyslexia has no benefits. Autism does. The ability to distance yourself from the pressures of society and come up with your own original ideas and not be afraid to pursue them (due to being oblivious) to the point of being obsessively dedicated is something that society should not be without. I can understand when we're talking about low-functioning but high functioning is a different story.

We, as autistics, are essential to society. Sure, we will probably go through tons of anxiety, consider ourselves sacrifices for the good of the rest of society.

And, chances are an aspie isn't going to apply to such a job to begin with.

I'm not going to flame you, I agree. I'm trying to avoid repeating my post in another thread, but the crux of it to me is that 'autism/aspergers pride' and believing that autism/aspergers is a disability do not have to be mutually exclusive, because there is nothing wrong with having a disability.

Incidentally, I was open with my boss about then suspecting and now knowing that I have aspergers, (although no one else at my work knows). When they had to do building work in my office two days ago, she arranged for it to be done overnight so that I wouldn't have to deal with the stress. Admitting that, in a small way, I am disabled, has saved a truckload of stress on both sides. Just one small allowance and I can do this job better than most NTs.

Yeah they're still disabled just like I still have a disability.

The first quote I highlighted - I know NT people who work in various creative industries who are exactly like you describe there, but they aren't at all autistic.

The second quote I highlighted - not everyone can work in the area they want to. Retail is a very large employment sector and for some of us - including me, although I've worked my way up to having a back room job - less than brilliant circumstances are going to mean that we end up having jobs in shops.

Yes even NTs are limited too because everyone is good at different things.

So I guess because they struggle outside the norm because of passion: Musicians, artists, scientists, authors, politicians, entrepreneurs and farmers all have a disability?

I am sorry but by that definition anyone except a sales person, a cheer leader, and an executive would be disabled.

I think those of us that are on the fringe often forget that the fringe is a very crowded place, and "normal" has a very slim majority.

Anyone who doesn't feel Autism is a disability isn't connecting the dots.

Are there any NT musicians out there?

The way you asked me, you made it sound like all the famous ones had a condition and none of them were NT.

NTs cannot hyperfocus like we do, and cannot distance themselves from society like we do. If they can, that probably means they have a ghost effect of autism to begin with.

I would have said the same thing if I didn't know a struggling reader. My son reads below grade level, but he compensates for it in the most amazing ways. His comprehension of what is read to him is several grade levels above what he can decode for himself. Because he can't go back and read the information for himself....he remembers what he heard amazingly well.

I also read that a lot of self-employed people are dyslexics. Nonconvenational thinkers.

I think it's pretty clear that AS is a disability. However, it isn't always a disability. I believe there are some people with AS who legitimately are not disabled any more, and also some people with AS (like myself) who are disabled by certain aspects of it but still do quite well overall. I'd argue that in some situations, AS traits can even be helpful. You talked about our inability to make small-talk with customers on the job. That's true, but sometimes employers might actually want that. I once had a customer-service job (checking people in for a cruise) where the manager specifically told us not to chit-chat with customers if there were too many people waiting. He wanted the process to go quickly, so my lack of small-talk ability actually worked fairly well for that job. (I did have some problems due to my aspie traits, but like I said, my aspie traits also helped at times and I was offered a job the following year.) Disability often depends on the context.

For every famous musician there are 10,000 (that number may be a tad low) struggling ones. They have the same passion, just nobody appreciates them. To say that a person is disabled because they would rather play the guitar than sell a car is a bit of a stretch to me.

It is very hard to define NT in terms like this. Are people with exceptional passion NT, or are they exceptional? Are people who are exceptionally lazy NT?

There have to be some people to sell cars, and there has to be some people to design them, some people to decorate them, some people to fix them, some people to buy them, etc etc.

I can solve complex technical problems in seconds, I can barely read. I am not disabled, I am specialized in abstract technical problem solving. I can do it much better than most.

Diversity is not disability.

Is lefthandness a disability?

Was that a rhetorical question you made to demonstate a point, or is it something you seriously want to know?