Aspies being 'used' in the workplace

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I knew a kid in high school, with Asperger's (or classic autism). He got good grades and was very book smart, but he was also very socially aloof. People took advantage of him. I remember once visiting the bookstore where he volunteered and the other workers made him carry everything while they slacked off. He once told me that he had volunteered there for 5 years and never got offered a paid position. He was always smiling and he didn't really have any inflection in his tone of voice, which was almost always high pitched. I feel like he had a hard time being straightforward with people and sticking up for himself. I don't know where this guy is now, but it makes me sad that people on the spectrum are being used as tools in the workplace and are stepped on. I know that we us aspies are told to "get a backbone" and stand up for ourselves, but honestly, why aren't those employees or employers ever called out for being ableist scumbags!

You are not used when you don't think you are being used. Personally I wouldn't mind carrying stuff while others were lazying around. It's better than interacting, kills time, builds muscles and makes you feel useful.
Not being offered a paid position after so long is different though. But I blame it on cluelessness. The employers probably assume if he wanted a paid job or were unhappy with volunteering he would ask or drop out. They are not forcing him to come and do the job, are they? Well, it's possible he thinks they do, he might think he can't drop out or ask for a payment, that's why he does nothing like that. Or perhaps he just thinks his job is not worth any money or that he doesn't need money - I am also at fault of thinking like this, thats why I struggle finding a job: how can I apply for a job and get myself hired if I believe what I do is not worth getting paid for ("Why would someone suddenly pay me for fixing their computer, mobile phone or getting some furniture together if I were always doing it for free? In order to get paid for it I would have to do it perfectly, be able to fix any computer without google help, know all about mobile phones and be really strong so I can also move the furniture upstairs." - that kind of thinking, nothing I do seems to be good enough to get paid for in my mind). Poor self esteem is a b***h.

People like me or him need some kind of "advocate"(a friend, family member etc.) to see whats going on and communicate it to the employer. I believe employers would be more than willing to be fair with us if the issue got addressed. More than "using" they are merely keeping the status quo till someone mentions it. Because they don't have to change anything if the person interested/someone doesn't ask them to.

The ASD person does get used and taken advantage. NTs use all those excuses to cover up their own crappy behavior.

I've worked twice as hard in the workplace because some other employees were slacking off. My supervisor didn't like it either but his hands were tied because management was racist or rather reverse racist. The slackers kept talking about Affirmative Action & how there would be problems if they weren't respected. Also some mangers were the same race as them & were also racist. I worked hard because I have a good work ethic in the workplace maybe partly due to my many disabilities. There's lots of things I cant do & I was receiving some accommodations so I felt like I had to compensate in other ways. I was also dealing with a bad depression & working was kind of a distraction so that may of been some of why I was a workaholic; coming in on off days & working a lot of overtime when management allowed it. I got good reviews thou & I had some authority by the time I quit. I was in charge of the department when my supervisor & someone else weren't there.

So many things are so much simpler when viewed in terms of the law of the jungle and natural selection!

Well, why would anyone pay you for what they can get from you for free?



That might be a second reason not to offer him a paid position. It makes sense for employers to want someone who can and will stand up for themself or the company. Letting others take advantage of you may hurt your own work or the company’s best interest; this would be very bad business indeed.



We get told that because it’s the only thing that matters. It’d be nice if the rest of the world weren’t competing with us for the same resources, but, alas, it is, and it will always be, since this is the nature of life. You can’t blame your competitors for out-competing you. You can only choose your own behavior. If you still lose, then you lose—it’s your problem, not anyone else’s. In particular, it’s not a problem for your competitors; to them, it’s success itself.

Gee Spiderpig, do you purposely come on here to insult people?

Spiderpig is into the Law of the Jungle----Dog-Eat-Dog---Social Darwinism, etc.

He has arrived at that position through his experiences---like I have arrived at my position through mine.

His remarks must be looked upon in that light.

I don't believe he is deliberately insulting people; but I believe he is very much into the "default skeptical" view of things, which does make seem like it insults people like us, who might not be at the "top of the food chain," so to speak.

What I'm saying is, in essence: Don't let him upset you. He is who is is.

Law of jungle (with social "skills" hiding it) is indeed NT law. But apparently this law is slowly destroying one another and finally destroying their own world. Natural selection also brought autism.

I get "used" often... I usually describe it as being "taken advantage of"... I generally don't mind if I have a slightly higher than average occurrence of this since it doesn't actually bother me. As long as someone doesn't harm me when taking advantage of my different perspective then I am OK with it. I'd rather people don't make a habit of it, and if I notice that someone is making a habit of it and I don't like it then I'll sever ties with that person completely.

I do have to somewhat hide that this happens to me, as it's socially unacceptable to allow people to take advantage of you. People view it as a negative attribute, as if somehow as a person you're less competent. For me, I just see it as a way to be less stressed in this already overwhelming world. Plus, sometimes the extra exposure to doing things give me more understanding on how to deal with stuff in the future. In general, when describing a situation where I know that I've provided more than my fair share of the deal I try to justify it by making up some less obvious value that I get from it... some of the times, these fictitious values are actually legitimate things that I do get out of the situation and I realize that I did get my fair share afterall.

Humans seem to have a habit of assessing transactions with a narrow view of value and so many people feel like they got the short end of the stick in a situation where they probably broke even... but sometimes if you look at all the types of value that someone gets from a transaction you can find that it's worth it. I think Kiriae outlines this pretty well in their post.

Gotcha Krafty☺☺☺☺☺ thanks