Reading Notes: Asperger's On the Job

Asperger's on the job. by rudy simone 978-1-935274-09-4

use your area of strength

to avoid errors and miscommunication, I always asked for very explicit instructions to clarify what people expected of me.

I also had problems remembering long strings of verbal instructions.

It is a good idea to get clear instructions in writing so you have something concrete to refer to over the course of your project.

(I agree with the good intentions, trouble with this is... people often aren't good at describing explicitly what they want. That's why people don't get what they want. They don't know exactly what they are looking for. They don't know how to give accurate instructions. They can't write code computer software correctly. If an employee was simply a machine that carried out the boss's instructions, it would do the work correct but the work would be all wrong.

Data science professor at George Mason gave personal anecdote when designing databases for NASA, how they built the thing exactly to specification and their bosses were unhappy because they requested the wrong database.

So people are going to be upset when they have to give clear written instructions. Because then if you do the job and it doesn't work, it's their fault. Their ass is on the line anyways as the boss, so they *should* make it straightforward for you to do your job. But in a political work environment where it's unclear what is going on, managers don't need to play nice, and aren't responsible when they don't have to be and will weasel a way out of blame and take credit when they can whether they deserve to or not.)

It is important to find, or create, a sensory environment that is conducive to your needs.

(Create is the keyword. You need to work out a solution to get the most out of your area of strength. You can't just grin and bear an average person's environment while your mind and your work quality suffers. You can't just mire in mediocrity with people who have no talent and punch in and punch out. You *need* to access your talent to overcome the 'normal things' that don't bother other people but will affect you.)

avoid jealousy

the jealous coworker felt insecure about his own talent and was worried that the Aspie's drawings were "too good."

I learned that people got jealous because designing was so easy for me. I learned to combat jealousy by allowing the jealous person to be more involved in my project. I would ask the person for advice or compliment him/her.

I usually finished a drawing really quickly, but to avoid jealousy, I would often wait two or three days before I would send it to the client.


to be successful, I had to show samples of my work to potential employers instead of selling myself. you need to save and take home paper copies of your best work.

(When you suck at bullshitting people, but you are legit talented... you keep it real. But to do that you need that proof, so don't ever throw away what you've accomplished.)

however, articles on extreme politics, sex, or religion should never be included.

(You are not expected to have opinions or expose the evil workings of society while contributing to an organization that is part of the evil. That could jeopardize the big scam that keeps everybody in line and enslaved to work. You are a skilled lapdog. Sit. Good boy.)


[above preface was written by Temple Grandin]

the majority of adults with Asperger's I spoke to had great difficulty earning a living. Most were on unemployment, welfare, or disability; some were still living off their parents; others were surviving only because they were married and their spouse had a good income and health insurance.


I had thought I was the only one who, despite many practical gifts, did not fit into the world of full-time employment. This has ... negatively impacted my self-esteem, finances, relationships, and health.

(It's not a meritocracy. Exceptional talent or skill, even if worked hard at and developed, is not the one essential criteria for success. We don't value people for their ability, we value the profit they generate for ourselves and nominally compensate them.


Excess merit can have the opposite effect, when it threatens balance in the workplace. When you gain too much attention or reward for yourself, and people around you can't find a way to take advantage of it, they want you gone. Because what keeps people on 'friendly terms', prevents them from taking advantage over one another is not moral principles or because they like you. It's because neither you or the other has the capacity to take advantage and use the other.


Above all, to be 'safe' requires conformity - and as part of fitting in, it requires a sufficient degree of mediocrity. (At least an outward appearance of mediocrity, like waiting a few days to turn in work that you finished, so people don't get jealous.) My Mom summed up her workplace philosophy: don't be exceptional in any way or have other people talk about you except about the exceptional the work you do. You don't want people to notice you for your opinions, your drama, the way you dress, or your personal life. She was right, but she was also basically saying, be a productive robot and be all but invisible.

When you exceed their capacity, then you become an enemy because you have the power to use them and they do not want to be helpless. Whether you have harmful intentions or not, it is unacceptable to them. Because people are unwilling to put themselves at risk. Society doesn't develop people to be strong and brave and noble. People are weak and petty and fearful.)

there are cultural differences between those with the syndrome and those without.

in the workplace, where a person is essentially held captive for a large portion of the day

[vs]the AS person's social anxieties and independent spirit.


those with Asperger's possess some extremely useful, important, creative, and marketable skills that employers are missing out on. Likewise, employers hold the paychecks, and those are what people with AS are largely missing out on.

(see that's the difference that accounts for why they're not hired. Because they don't care about your usefulness, importance, or creativity. they care about your profitability. that's the one deciding criteria for companies, how to make money. if you don't neuter your talents to serve their cashflow, you are not desirable.


and it's terrible tragedy to sell out your 'god-given' gift for a demeaning, stifled, belittled corporate job. it's a crime, highway robbery to trade in your usefulness, importance, creativity in exchange for working for the man. "oh but i have no choice" argument immediately pops up, "i have to earn money". struggle for life is necessity. struggle for money is indoctrinated.


money works because we ALL BELIEVE in its necessity. but money is no substitute for life, it is a substitute for POWER. and the form power takes is MALLEABLE. 

Money can become irrelevant - hyperinflation in an ECONOMIC COLLAPSE and your currency is worthless, WAR what good is your money when I kill your men and I take your womens, DISEASE so you have $100 million dollars why don't you walk into Walgreens and buy The Cure For Cancer (R)?, RELIGION/CULT ok so you can pay a guy to mow your lawn for $15/hr but I can get 100 guys to harvest my lima beans for accepting my love,

FAME/POPULARITY so if good honest Abraham Lincoln, Ghandi, and Princess Diana all somehow showed up alive at your door, you wouldn't invite them in for dinner? because currently our president is not the most likeable, although if you voted for him you probably would be more inclined to than the other three. SEX, known as the 'oldest profession'. we have seen the extraordinary lengths life will go to a pretty face, from Helen of Troy whose face launched a thousand ships to war, to scandals and affairs of the most powerful politicians and business leaders, to the vast terabytes and petabytes, and zettabytes of porn that was the primary widespread of the internet

POWER in any of its forms (Money or not) can be used as a stranglehold on life, it is not life itself)

Abraham Lincoln,
Vampire Hunter?

Barbara Nichols

[
Aspergians usually want to be social but find it nearly impossible to figure out how to behave in a social setting or how to maintain social relationships.

It is awkward for them to jump into a conversation and they report that they can't figure out how to add to the discussion without taking it off the track.

They struggle with sleep, eating, digestive, and sensory problems... and have trauma-related disorders.

Loneliness is their constant companion.

Asperger's ... can hyperfocus on one topic and have a tenacity that is matchless... they love information.

Once they have learned that they are not inferior... they begin to appreciate themselves and their considerable talents.

The culture at large has not accepted them as yet. Finding a niche in the world is what is needed and those lucky enough to find it excel and contribute significantly.
]

(Tear. That's the hope for making peace with society.)

people with AS often have difficulty obtaining and keeping jobs. the main reasons boil down to:

Not being able to utilize their natural strengths and inherent interests.


it is important that a potential employer does not assume that this history stems from a lack of desire to work. There may not be a harder-working segment of the human race.

(Tear. how painful it is when I work earnestly, harder and there's no one to know, no validation, even though it is exceptional with honest upright character - while entitled people get elevated and attention for corrupt behavior.)

AJ Mahari on appearing 'normal'

"sometimes it feels invalidating, a little less than respectful of my life experience and what I struggle with... Really what's behind that is a tremendous legacy of work. If you only knew what I have had to map out, read about, learn, study, analyze, process, slice and dice, and put back together in my own way; I mean, virtually everything. I've had to do a lot of work to be able to do what I do."

(If superficial people knew how many internal battles are lost and won, for an outward victory. What they see is just the tip of an iceberg.)

those who get their self-diagnosis wrong, if they have most of the traits of AS then the same methods of coping, the same strategies will apply.

Being misread, doubted, having our positive qualities overlooked, and blamed for our "faults," is quite common among us.

(That's right. What difference does a label make? Its purpose is to identify common qualities so we can talk about their challenges and common solutions. So if the symptom applies, then Asperger's or normal, diagnosed or not, it doesn't matter.)

most who claim to have AS have done their research and feel quite confident that the syndrome fits their profile. AS is not something that someone would want to have, just to get special attention or concessions.

It is not an excuse, it is a reason.

(Claiming a disorder that ostracizes you with no financial compensation or benefits... and then faking what is a very difficult condition to suffer... has nothing to gain. They may not identify accurately, but the point is to characterize the individual's differences and understand how to improve interactions with this person. It means both parties have work to do, and for the person without disability to understand the extra work that the disabled person has to do all the time, and make some extra effort on their part to accommodate.

One thing I can't stand is when people won't work on their character defects because of a separate disorder. Just because you have a disorder doesn't make you otherwise a perfect person. And it doesn't excuse you from building character. I don't expect a person with a disability to be capable of everything, but I do expect that person to do best of his ability and to try. Same as I expect everyone else.)

If your employee blew you away at interview only to have a swift and steep decline, don't think they lied to you or misrepresented themselves and their abilities. Understand that the capable, confident person that you hired is in there, but is getting diminished or obscured by certain environmental or social aspects of the job.

(I don't hate my job. I hate that I am being manipulated and kept from doing it.)

Allison

"I should try to understand that people love all these social aspects; she even said I should 'fake it' and fit in. I responded that I've survived this many years faking it as well as I can, all the time. But living life as a phony and not feeling human - these are the things everyone seems to tolerate and expect, especially at work. It hurts me. I can't keep it up."

(Understand that 'normal' for me is not being you. Acceptance of differences. How does a person who is different 'make' people accept him? She can't. Faking it to fit in is not accepting yourself, and if you don't first accept and respect yourself, others will not truly accept you.

But what she can do is exemplify the best of her differences so that people might choose to be more understanding and if they don't, do not take personally those people who can't see past superficial qualities.)