Autistic workers may be your best employees

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"With the right preparation and on-the-job support, young people with Asperger’s, a high-functioning form of autism, can excel while greatly benefiting their employer, says Carol Hacker of JVS Toronto, which specializes in helping individuals who have trouble finding work":
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article ... t-employee

...until they suddenly change their schedule, then all hell breaks loose.

Autistic job placement service says autistic people may be your best workers. Not really news...

But it is interesting that the person featured found work as a courier, and someone suggested that on the other thread about jobs where you can work alone.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt215843.html

Yes, we can be the best, but I find that a lot of supervisors kind of like to be lied to. One job where I did medical transcription, we had women who stole, did time card fraud, often did not show up, did not do good work, yet they kept their jobs until they could not anymore. Meanwhile, I am "written up" and threatened with being fired because I paced. Is that so bad?

The interview process also seems to be a problem. Even when I have a "portfolio" of work as Temple Grandin suggests, it seems that people in HR would rather be conned. I do better if I speak to the direct boss than an HR person.

Also, supervisors need to speak up when someone on the spectrum acts like an as*hole. At one heating and air company I worked for a worker "mike" seemed to be on the spectrum. Everybody said he "really knows his stuff but gets cranky" At the morning meeting Mike was usually rude and abrupt but no one corrected him. I think they should have, as he was terrible with customers and maybe would not have been if his boss and coworkers spoke up.

I am almost find this offsensive.

I have no problem doing manual labor, I actually enjoy, and have always been a good worker.

I'm even quite good with customers, as I treat every customer the same whether or not there an a***hole or a nice guy, as they interactions are extremely predictable.

My problem is my back and left arm have been destroyed due to stimming.

I was a good/ok newspaper deliverer but the pay was low. I was ok/bad/crap at my other two jobs.

HR was usually my problem. In several cases, they wasted everyone's time because they did'nt actually ask if I met the desired requirements, I think that speaks more to the internal processes of the company and how willing they are to accept that sort of work product (from HR). In other cases, they rejected me based on some vauge reasoning. I always did better when I talked to the front-line manager.

The guy stole, did time card fraud, often did not show up, did not do good work, did coke and they promoted him. He got fired after an affair with one of the bosses wife's who worked as a secretary went bad and she ratted him out. Meanwhile I got bad reviews for "reasons they could not put there finger on" The strange world we live in.

Its is my opinion there are some situations you just cant win in. Its unfair and I see no reason why it will change. What I fear is with better understanding will just make discrimination worse.

Last edited by DoodleDoo on 25 Nov 2012, 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

How is that worse than pacing. Although wouln't the pacing help keep the employee in better shape and less likely to die in a heart attack and have another costly interview and training?

You are fast.
Pacing is not the issue really, its beyond that. Its the personality difference.
I forgot to mention they implied I was stealing when they were the ones actually doing it. It was very minor stuff, really it made no difference. They were just grabbing at what ever they could to bring me down true or not.

... if you let them work for you, of course. Not many employers are willing to employ an autistic person. It´s because they believe all the nonsense that´s been told about the autistic community for years. However, the autist can be a great worker because of his/hers absolute focus on the given subject.

You've been extremely helpful, so bugger off: What started out as a routine study of group behavior ended up turning a bit surreal. According to the authors of a new paper, they started out trying to find out how long a group would tolerate members that abused the common good. In the process, they found that members who put the most into the common good were quickly expelled from the group. Not entirely believing it, they replicated the findings—twice. Some of the hate comes from the overly officious group members, who viewed those who gave more than they needed to as breaking the rules. But some of it also comes from people who think that altruistic behavior like this simply raises expectations unnecessarily.

Bonus points go to the people who put the press release together for the best two opening sentences I've probably read all year: "You know those goody-two-shoes who volunteer for every task and thanklessly take on the annoying details nobody else wants to deal with? That's right: Other people really can't stand them."

... and if they can deal peacefully with co-workers who are used to banter, humor, and social intercourse during their probationary period, then they might be your best employees!

I think a reasonable assumption would be that employees are applying for the position that you have available. If you're going to the trouble of a formal hiring process, that would be the first step. If sending in an application for the wrong position is an Aspie trait, we're going to have to re-name this website "OurPlanet".

It would be helpful if prospective employees show up an an interview. I'm aware of several cases where canidates did'nt show up, which, again, is not exactly an Aspie trait.

And how much eye contact is required for the job? Perhaps we should discuss cultures where eye contact has a different status that in the cultures usually discussed on WP.

I must admit that I am not familar with cases of people having panic attacks when offered jobs. YMMV.

Inprocessing and orientation, I may be used to a different concept than you. My last five orientations were sitting around a table filling out paperwork. I realize you're in more of a technology-driven role, so again, YMMV.

I've worked in enough places where there was minimal banter at work and no one wanted to meet after work. Perhaps my experience was unusual.

I found the perfect job for me. I sit in a cubicle, go over case files, take 5 minutes to read a news article or webcomic, pull out another file and repeat. It's routine, socializing isn't manditory in most instances and I have the internet to break up the monotony.......In fact I'm working right now!

And despite procrastinating on message boards my hyperfocus is efficient enough that I pull better numbers than most of the other employees. Had a glowing appraisal today!

That being said, I used to work in retail and manufacturing and always stumbled in the social aspects. A desk job is like the holy grail by comparison.

That´s my dream job as well! I envy you so much!