What makes a workplace ASD friendly?

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Joe90
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16 Jun 2011, 3:29 pm

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Telephone contact is better than face to face contact because no one can see the erratic gestures I make and voices can be trained very well (also you can conveniently blame things on the line quality ).


When dealing with customers face to face, they can see the unconfident but kind expressions on my face, and so they know they can take advantage of that and know that they can get what they want, then ending up buying something for free or something, because they know I won't argue. When on the telephone, they can't see who I am and I can't see who they are, and even if I had an unconfident tone of voice they might just think I'm talking poshly on the phone and so won't like to rudely take advantage of somebody trying to speak politely and posh on the phone.
So yes - speaking to customers on a phone will probably be less intimidating than speaking to them face to face.


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mrj
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17 Jun 2011, 8:33 am

i need structure to get me to do anything! otherwise i sit there in paralysis



blauSamstag
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17 Jun 2011, 10:52 pm

dahnuguy wrote:
People who send an email, then call about it, then after they leave a message because I haven't answered a phone in over 15 years........then they come by to ask about the email and if I got the meassage!! !! !! !!



I used to have a supervisor who, if i sent her an email asking her a question, she would print out the email, bring it to my cube, read it aloud, give me a verbal answer, and present me with a printout of the email i sent her.

She was a waste of oxygen.



LadySera
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17 Jun 2011, 11:41 pm

The only job I sort of "liked" was a sales floor job because I liked the times when I was alone and could just organize all of the stuff on the floor (zoning). However I was always being taken advantage of. I had no idea who was actually "above" me so I would basically just do anything my coworkers asked. This would lead to me having sometimes a half dozen to a dozen people asking me to do things all over the store. Sometimes this supervisor who was nice would ask if I'd taken my break (rarely) or lunch. Sometimes she would get mad at me about the lunch thing because if you didn't take it by a certain time you couldn't take one but there was no set time, it was just when you get a chance & get permission. Sometimes I would be finally finishing a bunch of stuff and someone would run up to me with something else on my way to lunch & if she was there she would say "No, she has to go take her lunch now". What's crazy that I realized later after I stopped going (family stuff, mostly) is that one of my friend's relatives worked there and she said that for 2 weeks after I wasn't there anymore people were calling for me over walkie talkies to do stuff. So basically it was known that I could do the tasks but it was very stressful feeling like I was doing a bunch of people's jobs. Plus there were times that you had to get people from other departments to help you with things and they were almost always uncooperative and complained about it.

So basically I would like it better if clear tasks and time frames were assigned and if I was actually told who was above or had power over me. I would also like to work somewhere that you have the same schedule every day. As a minimum wage employee I've never had a job like that. I would have constant anxiety all of the time rechecking my schedule worrying what my days and times were for that week. Plus I hate having to work a job in the afternoon because then I fret over going all day. It's better for me if I can go in the morning because I'm basically just up and out.



OddFinn
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18 Jun 2011, 2:11 am

I am still educating my co-workers, but I would say that the company I fork for is ASD friendly.

Here are some things I have managed to teach others not to do / to do:

- Not to attach Post-it notes on my computer screen nor leave notes on my keyboard. I explained to them that if a taxi driver would have to start cleaning notes off the windshield when they would neet to start driving, that would be a frustrating thing to to. And my computer is my tool, and I don't want to have any notes attached to it. I placed a box on my desk, and told everyone, that they could bring notes into that box.

- To give me the first hour of my work day without asking any questions, calling me to meetings, or talking to me anything except greeting me.

- Not to yell at me, or I'll just walk away from them.

- Not to expect an answer from me in two minutes, if I am concentrated on doing something else. Instead, they can ask if I have 15 minutes. And if the problem is not important enough that it should take 15 minutes, then they should try to solve it by themselves.

Plus I am the only one that has a room that I don't have to share.


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Tassie
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30 Jun 2011, 7:31 am

I'm an Aspie who works in an emergency department.

I've never quite figured out how the constant chaos doesn't bother me - but I do need constant stimulation in my job or I get very bored/anxious/stereotypical.

I also need a very quiet home life to counterbalance it.

I'm wary of AS friendly workplace construction as it once again tries to pigeonhole us all into a specific set of behaviours/requirements.