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Vidory
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Joined: 6 Jan 2016
Age: 32
Posts: 2

12 Jun 2017, 10:10 pm

First time posting, here goes nothing..

I've been feeling pretty hopeless at work recently. I have Aspergers syndrome, but haven't disclosed it to anyone at work. I work in neuroscience related research. Because of having Aspergers, I've always wanted to better understand how the brain works, my special interest of sorts. We actually do somewhat autism related research, so you would think people are more understanding, but nope..

Half of our lab is made up of extreme extroverts. People who find it necessary to point out on a regular basis how quiet I am. Mostly nice people though, and if it was only that I can deal with it. A lot of other things have happened recently though, and it just seems that my "quietness" and the fact that I'm socially awkward is being completely used against me.

I love my job. As you can imagine, studying your special interest for someone with Aspergers is a dream. I think I can say that I'm pretty good at what I do as well, but that's brought me a lot of problems. My boss recognizes that, which is part of the problem. I'm was given an expensive computer, and then asked to go on multiple conferences. I wish we were a larger group and this didn't stand out so much, but that's not the case. We're a pretty small lab, and other people (nearly all of whom started before me) were not asked or given anything. I've been worried about jealousy for a while, and have even turned down travelling opportunities just so I didn't stand out so much. But it still seems to rub people the wrong way.

Most people are fine, but there is this one girl who is making my life miserable right now. I used to think she was a good friend, and shared a lot with her. I really regret that now. My boss tried to make us work together more, and have me teach her, which she hated since she was more senior than me. She's been hinting at me to leave, and have even started making other people think that I've decided to leave. I've never told her that. She also leaves my (important) things in pretty dangerous places where they could really easily break. And even turned one of my equipment off last week which was possibly detrimental for my experiment. I know all of these things were done by her because of the circumstances, but I don't have proof for anything (obviously she was smart enough to make sure of that). And they are all small enough things she will just say it's an accident. It's a lot of small things though.. I think she's also been turning my boss against me somehow. I have to train a few students to help with my experiments and things. I'll admit I'm not the most inviting teacher ever, I just don't know how to do that. I do consider myself a nice person though, and I ALWAYS try to be helpful. I won't get into the details but she's been making it seem like I'm not a team player and not a nice person to these students who are now scared of me. And I'm sure she's been telling things to my boss too, who is now irritated with me. I just don't know what to do anymore. I feel like my only way out is to actually leave like she wants me to. It's like the worse this situation gets, the more I shut down, and people then prove their opinions of me :(



Chronos
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Joined: 22 Apr 2010
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13 Jun 2017, 1:41 am

Vidory wrote:
First time posting, here goes nothing..

I've been feeling pretty hopeless at work recently. I have Aspergers syndrome, but haven't disclosed it to anyone at work. I work in neuroscience related research. Because of having Aspergers, I've always wanted to better understand how the brain works, my special interest of sorts. We actually do somewhat autism related research, so you would think people are more understanding, but nope..


I'm not surprised in the least bit. As I have previously said, most researchers aren't actually interested in their research.

Vidory wrote:
Half of our lab is made up of extreme extroverts. People who find it necessary to point out on a regular basis how quiet I am. Mostly nice people though, and if it was only that I can deal with it. A lot of other things have happened recently though, and it just seems that my "quietness" and the fact that I'm socially awkward is being completely used against me.

I love my job. As you can imagine, studying your special interest for someone with Aspergers is a dream. I think I can say that I'm pretty good at what I do as well, but that's brought me a lot of problems. My boss recognizes that, which is part of the problem. I'm was given an expensive computer, and then asked to go on multiple conferences. I wish we were a larger group and this didn't stand out so much, but that's not the case. We're a pretty small lab, and other people (nearly all of whom started before me) were not asked or given anything. I've been worried about jealousy for a while, and have even turned down travelling opportunities just so I didn't stand out so much. But it still seems to rub people the wrong way.

Most people are fine, but there is this one girl who is making my life miserable right now. I used to think she was a good friend, and shared a lot with her. I really regret that now. My boss tried to make us work together more, and have me teach her, which she hated since she was more senior than me. She's been hinting at me to leave, and have even started making other people think that I've decided to leave. I've never told her that. She also leaves my (important) things in pretty dangerous places where they could really easily break. And even turned one of my equipment off last week which was possibly detrimental for my experiment. I know all of these things were done by her because of the circumstances, but I don't have proof for anything (obviously she was smart enough to make sure of that). And they are all small enough things she will just say it's an accident. It's a lot of small things though.. I think she's also been turning my boss against me somehow. I have to train a few students to help with my experiments and things. I'll admit I'm not the most inviting teacher ever, I just don't know how to do that. I do consider myself a nice person though, and I ALWAYS try to be helpful. I won't get into the details but she's been making it seem like I'm not a team player and not a nice person to these students who are now scared of me. And I'm sure she's been telling things to my boss too, who is now irritated with me. I just don't know what to do anymore. I feel like my only way out is to actually leave like she wants me to. It's like the worse this situation gets, the more I shut down, and people then prove their opinions of me :(


If you are in the U.S. what I would do in this situation is...

1.Document all of the hostile instances by these people. Record the date, the time, what happened, and who did it.

2. Formally disclose the AS in writing.

3. You are doing neurosciences research so I imagine you are at a university. Most universities have an office of the Ombudsman. I would consult with this office as they might know of some valuable resources.

4. At some point, I would speak to my boss about my concerns....however it might be best to consult with a discrimination attorney first as they might be able to help avoid potential pitfalls.

Also, and this is very important. Sometimes, particularly those of us on the spectrum, are going to be treated poorly due to our social short comings despite our innocence, and a lot of people on the spectrum tend to go out of their way to appease others, but I don't think it's reasonable for you to appease this girl. You are obviously good enough at what you do that your boss has seen you as an asset, and if this girl is jealous of you, that's her problem entirely. Don't pass up opportunities to further your career to try to make this girl happy. There are millions of people out there like this girl, and you won't get anywhere in life if you cede these people authority over you, as you have done with this girl. Shine as bright as you can, and if someone is jealous of you, that's their problem, not yours.