Employers Guide to Asperger's Syndrome (PDF)

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Deinonychus
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20 Jun 2010, 7:20 pm

ADoyle wrote:
I was actually kicked out of an internship program because I would often be so focused on something that I didn't acknowledge anyone else by stopping what I was doing to turn around and give people enough eye contact. It was what led me to get the diagnosis of Asperger's as I thought I was a good worker.

LOL that's like something that happened to me, I was totally hyperfocused on a task that if I was very lucky and nothing went wrong, would be done just in time; which meant the next task would be done just in time and maybe if I was real lucky I'd get through the day without being yelled at for not getting something done in time. Well my boss walked in unnoticed by me and seemingly yells my name at the top of his voice, startling me and causing me to almost shove my hand into a grind stone, so I go off "Jes** Chr***, what the He** are you trying to do, get me fu***** killed, yelling like that?" and he said "I'd never try to hurt you. I said your name 5 times before you heard me"


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Joe90
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20 Jul 2010, 4:56 pm

I'm currently looking for a paid job (part time), so I go to a charity shop to do voluntry work so that I can be occupied. But the thing is, I haven't told anybody there that I have AS, and if I did ''confess'' that I have it, they will probably be surprised and/or confused. I haven't really shown many Aspie traits: I don't flap my hands or rock backwards and forwards ect, and I always laugh at a joke and never take things literally, and I have good eye contact and good expression with hands and face, and I'm very sociable - I don't prefer to work on my own.
But there has been a few odd expressions that I have shown over the couple of years that I've been there. Here's a couple of examples. Read these carefully (if you don't get too bored) and see what you think:

Memory loss
I don't know if this has anything to do with AS, but I am an ''expert'' at forgetting things. I would start sorting through donations, then find myself doing something else and then leaving a mess behind me and forgetting to clear that up. . . I seem very absent-minded, but I don't think that's got much to do with having AS because mostly Aspies like to be organised - while I find myself running around like a headless chicken, jumping from one activity to another. This must show them I've got some sort of condition, possibly Dyspraxia. Also, I find myself delaying my work because I start talking to the others who work there - and I didn't think Aspies were like that. So that is actually something that will make people act surprised if I told them I have AS.

Taking the blame
People have been - sort of - blaming me for little things. It's not really personally, but if I get warned or told that I've made a mistake on something, I tend to just say ''OK, I won't next time'' instead of arguing back and saying why I did it and so on. Other people there have been telling me to stand up for myself and say that it isn't my fault, or something like that. But I don't, and the more I don't, the more people will feel free to blame me and they will think that I don't mind being told off about my mistakes. The one thing I am good at is asking when I need help with something. I'm never afraid to ask, so that's another Aspie trait I'm not showing. But I wonder if this difficulty with standing up for myself is showing part of my AS.

Making a ''social mistake''
By that I mean once or twice I have shown some social difficulties - which isn't enough to make people wonder with me, but it is enough to make me feel embarrassed or ''stupid''. Here's an example. (Get comfortable, and try to imagine yourself in this situation too, my Wrong Planet pals). Another woman who volunteers at the charity shop called Chris, was telling the manager that she's not keen on this new woman who started. I was standing nearby, and because I like gossip, I asked why. And her rude reply was ''I wasn't speaking to you!'' And I thought that was very rude because, a; it wasn't a private conversation - it was about the people working here who we all know, and b; I was just asking because I was concerned and just asked why she didn't like the new woman. I don't know if that's ''against the social rules'', but I don't think it was, and neither does all the people I've told, because they say they do that. But Chris seemed to think it was wrong, and made me feel really small and stupid.

Dealing with customers
When I'm on the till, I feel I don't seem very friendly to the customers. It's not that I'm ''shy'' or ''find it difficult'' - it's more because sometimes I can't always be bothered with them, and they're always awkward. Sometimes they ask me to get something out of the window display, so I have to get up and go right in the window to get the most out-of-reach object, and as I do so I knock everything else flying. . . and I feel like huffing and puffing at them because I think they're so awkward. Then another customer comes in and buys a load of stuff then after I've rang it all up in the till and open the cash drawer, they say ''oh I've got to nip to the bank to get some money quickly'', so there I am standing there waiting for them to come back and I can't do anything until I've finished serving them, so I've got a queue of people waiting. And then they start having a go at me because I'm keeping them waiting. . . I prefer not to deal with that hassel, thanks. So that's why I'm not very friendly to them because I can't always be bothered with the awkwardness of them. And they always give me big 20 pound notes when something costs 50p, and because I'm not the sort to argue at them, I tend to crossly take the big 20 pound note and. . . OK, I'm waffling on a bit here, but I just always feel so irrtated with people sometimes. And sometimes it's hard to be friendly when you're having a bad day or you've got anger inside you what you want to let out. . .

I hope this has made sense to you, and hopefully someone's got an answer to the question : ''I don't show many AS symptoms so I don't want them thinking I'm just a faux, but there are some odd expressions I give out, so is it wise to stay quiet about it or to tell them that I have AS?''

Thanks for your time.



Michhsta
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20 Jul 2010, 5:30 pm

My last job was in Pathology at a major hospital. My department was at the front of the lab so we had the onerous task of making visitors to the lab sign in. This required them to log their presence so that if there was a health and safety issue or the lab was on fire, we had an inventory of the people in the lab that were not pathology staff. I considered this to be a very important task even if it was annoying to have to get 30 medical students to sign in during internships.

One day a very distinguished looking man came to the lab. He had lots of security tags around his neck and a brief case and bundles of papers. He asked me to be let through the security doors and I asked him to sign in first.

He said "But I am the Director of Pathology for Queensland Health. I do not need to sign in."

and I said " I appreciate that you are the Director, but you need to sign in." I added a "sir" for good measure.

He said " Are you kidding? Do you not know who I am?" He did not appear offended, but more amused than anything.

I said " Like I said, sir. It is not a question of whether I believe you it is a question of whether your name is on this sign in sheet in the event of a crisis. I would never forgive myself if you got injured or fatally wounded because emergency services did not know you where here. Please sign the sign in sheet. it is the rules and I am not letting you in until you sign the sheet."

He kind of laughed and snorted at the same time and signed the sheet. I thanked him for his cooperation, let him through and went back to my job. I did not think I had done anything wrong until I realised that a few of the staff were looking at me like stunned fish. They could not believe that I had spoken to this man that way. I was not rude or obstinate, I just calmly gave him the facts and due process was followed. I did become worried though when they started going on about it and I thought "I am going to get a bollocking for some reason". To give you some idea of the seniority of the man.....he was my bosses' bosses' boss. The only person higher than him was the State Minister for Health.

Strangely, I actually received a commendation for my diligence after he left the lab from my bosses' boss. Apparently he had mentioned that with security measures like ours, we would never be vulnerable. When the Director left the lab, he winked at me and told me to keep up the good work. My boss totally spun out as he was standing next me when he did this.

As long as one is always polite but firm, it can work for you, regardless of who the person is.

Mics.


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