Asperger's and Employment

I spent yesterday morning at a talk organised by Rainbow Autism CIC in Worcester featuring some of their very brave and articulate service users, humorous psychologist (do those words actually go together?!) Tim Lacey and the lovely writer Rudy Simone. The subject matter was Asperger's and Higher Functioning Autism and job prospects: the strengths and skill set of Asperger's and how to make best use of that.

Those with Asperger's and HFA made it abundantly clear in their words just how difficult it is to get work at all - especially in an area in which you are intellectually qualified, keep work due to misunderstandings,  and be accepted by colleagues and peers. The other side of this is the Job Centre (makes sign of cross to ward off vampires!) and just how unthoughtful and inconsiderate the system can be in making a difficult situation worse - impossible for many - with ASCs - do they really think they want to be there?

Tim Lacey talked about assessment and how the diagnostics focus on all the things people with ASCs can't do - so what about all the things they can do that NTs can't? - ok - hear pitch correctly, manage technology, draw a cube (think you can do that - try it!), focus for long periods and work with dedication - I must admit because I can do these things it never occurred to me until yesterday that others couldn't - and I thought it was my skill set that was lacking. Tell the truth! - how many strange and incongruous business ideas would that have put to bed without thousands of pounds spent if only they had asked the opinion of an Aspie :-)

Okay, so with AS you may struggle a little with people skills - but you should have heard the service users talks and also Rudy, who is a prolific writer (I really must get on with that 1 book I have sitting in chapters but unwritten), is also a consumate speaker, musician and comic. While I'm not in that league I work successfully as a counsellor online and f2f and no one notices - in fact I get very good feedback for the service I offer and people contacting me by word of mouth. I would even argue, in our fun loving and childlike way we make extremely good primary school teachers. So maybe even people skills is a nonentity - it is really only social skills that cause a problem and so shouldn't affect a work environment.

As Rudy - who wrote the guide Asperger's on the Job points out, those with ASCs are not disabled - they are differently abled. At work you won't find us sitting reading Hello magazine, talking about soaps and our weekend clubbing - we'll be working. Organisation is not necessarily a natural talent and things might be done slightly differently (my mother called me cack-handed and without an ounce of common sense) but these things can be learned and practiced well.

What is important is finding the right place - and that is where Aspie's can take control - create your own opportunities - work with your interests and what you have already had success, and also what your triggers are to avoid, with then use the Aspie's best friend Google to find out what you need to reach your goal.

Make others aware of your little foibles - if they know about your tics, muteness and stammering when anxious they will pay less attention when it happens - play for sympathy if necessary but preferably empathy and understanding. Remember NTs have little foibles all of their own - we are all individuals!

In an ideal world people will know more about Autism right from school - there was an argument yesterday that teachers are not well enough educated. As an ex teacher I disagree, teachers are very well versed in ASCs generally and special provision is made, but when you have 36 children in a class, a syllabus to teach in a limited time and impossible standards to reach - along with each of those 36 children having their own issues that need to be known about, recognised and understood - you really are looking at an impossible task. Companies should be more willing to listen however, especially when they are contacted and offered free information workshops. Ok, it takes out from work time but everyone should be improving their knowledge regardless of their work. Any company who has more than 88 employees and says they have no Aspies is blind, deaf and dumb to their employees needs. I would argue that the number of employees, especially in some areas (IT and engineering specifically) would be considerably lower to have a significant number of people with carefully hidden ASCs working for them.

So self-awareness, education for self and others, recognising strengths - and recognising that there is a world beyond the darkened room with the internet :-)

There's a long way to go - but attendance at workshops like these that Rudy and others do all over the world go a long way to increasing knowledge and understanding.