Autistic Self Advocacy Network Webinar with Autism NOW June 5, 2012

7/31/2019 Autistic Self Advocacy Network Webinar with Autism NOW June 5, 2012

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Take an Autie to Work Day:

How Today's Autistic Workers

Negotiate the World of Employment


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A Word About You

Throughout this presentation, I will use the

word you as a stand-in for the autistic

person, although I know not everyone

viewing this webinar will be on the spectrum.


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The Basics

Most autistic people would like to earn a living.

Most autistic people (who are not permanently

and totally disabled for other reasons) couldearn

a living, or at least work part time, with theproper accommodations and supports.

Most of us dont get them.

Lets talk about why, and what we could do aboutit.


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Most autistic people would like to earn

a living.

But

we cant just take any old job and made it

work

We like other people with disabilities need

accommodations .


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Dont do thisunless you really, really

have to, and I really, really hope you

dont. I have spent most of my life underemployed

I have tried desperately to hide my true self for

fear of being found out, and doing work far belowmy skill and educational level.

Eventually, they have found me out i.e. theyfigured out Im not neurotypical, even if they

didnt understand exactly what was going on. Thats never been good, especially when I havent

had the means to explain to people up front whyIm the way I am.


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However

It may be true that when you dont have much

in the way of work experience, you will try

your hand at jobs that dont necessarily sound

like a perfect fit, in order to find out what willand wont work for you. This is not a bad

thing unless it goes on forever.


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The Right Job

is the right job for you as an individual. There isno such thing as the universally perfect autistic

job, nor are there any types of jobs thatabsolutely no autistic person could ever do!

For exampleworking retail might sound like adisastrous situation for an autistic person. Butmaybe not.

Maybe its a situation where you have a certain

deep body of knowledge (about bicycles orvintage guitars, for example) and can put that towork in a retail setting.


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Where vs. What

Who you work for, and what the workenvironment is like, might be more important toyou than what you do for a living.

Some autistics do really well working at home.Im one of them. I have worked in medicaltranscription and text editing on and off for over20 years (and my work disasters have mostly

been when I havent been working at home). Mypresent employers have never seen me, nor Ithem; I was hired remotely and work remotely.


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But on the other hand

if you like to be stimulated with new things

and people, having to spend 40 hours a week

forever doing rote tasks will probably make

you pretty miserable.

Be honest with yourself about what your

priorities are!


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In any case

You may or may not want to disclose up frontto a potential employer that you are on thespectrum.

Some autistic people do not appear to haveASD and dont need much in the way ofaccommodations; they find that theaccommodations they need are already builtinto the job. Thats absolutely fine.

But dont avoid disclosing out of fear, either.


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Which brings us to

Most autistic people (who are not

permanently and totally disabled for other

reasons) couldearn a living, or at least work

part time, given the proper accommodationsand supports.

So what might those accommodations and

supports be, and how do we get them?


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Two Separate Issues

What are the accommodations and supports

we need to successfully do the job we want?

How do we get people to give them to us?


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Many people get stuck on the second

issue.

This is perfectly understandable. Right now wehave an labor situation in the U.S. (and manyother countries also) that is very hostile toworkers. Its easy to get into the mindset of,

Well, people just arent going to accommodateme, because most employers have a huge pool ofnondisabled applicants to choose from, and sincethey dont have to tell me why Im not being

hired, or not being promoted, or fired, they canjust avoid me entirely and never have to say why.So Im just going to have to try to hide mydisability and hope for the best.


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Its perfectly understandable to think

that. But its also wrong.

And heres why:Unless you are one of those autistics who can

pass in most situations for NAS (non-autism-

spectrum), the subject of accommodations is

going to come up. And you have just as much

right to them as anyone else.

Remember: The rest of the world already getsaccommodations. Yours are just different!


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What Accommodations Might Look

Like (Depending On Who You Are) A private work space where nobody will be constantly

exposed to you stimming, scratching, or whatever otherautistic behaviors you have

Failing that, a private space where you can go and havesome time to stim in private and have some peace andquiet and cool your jets

Not having to answer phones or make phone calls (if youhave a problem with phones, which could be a permanentaversion or something that comes and goes)

Getting to try out a work situation in an internship,apprenticeship, or trial work day, to see how it will suit youand them


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Understanding and open-minded coworkers and

supervisors who dont take it personally if theysee you being autistic (opting out of water-cooler chitchat, having staring spells, rocking,pacing, twisting, etc.) as long as youre getting

your work done and not actively preventinganyone else from getting theirs done

Getting to learn new things, if you get boreddoing the same things over and over again

Getting to do the same things over and overagain, if learning how to do new things freaks youout so much you cease to function


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Getting as many things in writing as possible

and getting access to closed captioning (if youhave auditory processing issues)

Being allowed to answer in writing whenever

possible (if you have issues with speech) Getting diagrams and pictures and

demonstrations whenever possible (if you

have issues with receptive language)


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Getting to listen to your music while working ifthat helps you, or having no music on at all in theroom if its too much of a distraction possiblyeven wearing earplugs if the noise is really

bothersome and you can perform your job whilewearing them

Having people be more obvious with you thanthey would be with NAS coworkers and

employees about exactly what they want andneed from you (instead of expecting you to figureit out by osmosis)


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Supports

Supports differ from accommodations in thatthey are more about what happens before youlook for work, and what happens when you

leave work. You might need help with figuringout what kind of work youd like to pursue.You might need help with vocationalrehabilitation, educational access, finding a

stable living situation, being subsidized insome way while youre looking for work, orother things.


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Early DXes vs. Late Dxes

In some ways, early DXes (people who were diagnosedin childhood or adolescence) have an advantage overlate DXes (those of us who were diagnosed inadulthood; I did not get a diagnosis until age 44). If

thats you, you can enter the workforce for the firsttime knowing exactly who you are and what kinds ofsupports you need in order to be successful. You wontwaste nearly as many years wondering why it is thatpeople keep having problems with you, no matter how

hard you try to get along. Youre also more likely to bein the system in the first place, so you know exactlywhat resources are available to you. We late DXes havehad to learn a lot of this the very, very hard way!


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The Voc Rehab Option

Vocational rehabilitation offices canpotentially be good places for autistic workersto begin their job searches

They need to know what barriers you, as aperson with a disability, has to findingtraditional employment before they help you.Some counselors have much more experienceand understanding of these issues thanothers..


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Me and the Anti-CV

A CV (curriculum vitae) is similar to a resume but goesinto more detail about a persons experiences on thejob (or at school). In Latin, it loosely translates as thecourse of my life. Typically, when creating a CV, your

job is to explain to people why youd be a goodemployee, what your accomplishments are, and so on.I took this concept and created what I call an anti-CV,which is a backwards-chronological-order detail of theproblems Ive had on every single job that were the

direct result of my disability and lack ofaccommodations for it (including problems that arosefrom going undiagnosed for decades).


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I did this so I could thoroughly explain to

people I was requesting services from (voc

rehab, Social Security, Independent Living

Resources, etc.) what my barriers toemployment were. I went into great detail

about it, and it took 11 pages! And recently, it

did get me accepted into voc rehab.


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An anti-CV is something Id recommend

especially for late DXes who have already tried

many, many jobs without a fit, and really need

help on where to go next. But it could beuseful to anyone whos ever had problems on

a job relating to difficulties with access.


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For example

This is an excerpt from my own anti-CV.

During the first four months of 2002, I worked at, doing proofreading of financial

documents. I was working overnights here, andalso had to do at least 10 hours a week ofmandatory overtime most weeks. I wasabsolutely exhausted, and highly distractible. I

got written up constantly for taking too long inthe bathroom and for staring into space --although once again, I got plenty of work done.


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(continued)

Here, though, I had to work at these long tableswith dozens of other chattering proofreaders,and I told them I would continue to make errors

until I got a desk in a quiet place and one where Icould at least occasionally stand and work. Atthis time, my working diagnosis was attentiondeficit disorder rather than Aspergers, so legally

they had to accommodate me, but it took themmonths before they ever did anything, and bythen, I had secured employment at .


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Another sample:

The fact that my [current] employers cannot see me

means that Ive had the option of not disclosing theAspergers, and Ive opted, so far, not to disclose. Theydont see:

How many times I go to the bathroom (sometimes justto go, as a tension reliever)

How often or where I scratch myself

My staring spells

That I frequently choke on my own saliva or spill ordrop things or trip over my own feet

How much I squirm in my chair

The weird noises I (involuntarily) make

The things I say to myself or to the cat.


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(continued)

They have limited exposure to my odd voice and vocal tics. They cannot see the twitches and fasciculations and

pinched nerves I get in various parts of my body whichwind up taking over my brain when I have them.

They dont know that I have scoliosis and a flat back andwalk kind of funny.

And no coworkers in the vicinity means little chance I willsay something bluntly honest, or laugh at something thatisnt funny, or not laugh at something everyone else thinks

IS funny, or talk about things they have no interest in, orotherwise give them strong cues that I am not one of them.


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The More Details You Can Give, the

Better.

Dont be afraid to be a little gross anddisgusting if thats where your issues take you.Talking about digestive problems and other

things happening in your body as a result ofyour condition is perfectly fair game.

Dont be afraid of boring people with toomany details. They might get the idea after afew pages and stop, but if they do that, youranti-CV has done its job!


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Disclosure

When should you tell a prospective employer

about being on the spectrum? If youre

getting placed through voc rehab, obviously

they will know about your disability going in.But if youre conducting a job search on your

own, youll have to make a decision about

what to tell them and when, and theres noclear-cut, across-the-board answer for all

autistics.


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Your Options

Tell them never, if you think you can get away

with never telling and youd rather not.

Tell them when you send in your resume/CV

and application.

Tell them when youre setting up the

interview.

Tell them during the interview.

Tell them after youve already gotten an offer.


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Practice Your Interview

You can do this either with another person or

without. But video or audio taping a practice

interview, while wearing your interview

clothes, will at least give you informationabout what mannerisms youre likely to

display on an interview; whether or not you

are willing and able to suppress them, you canat least be aware and ready with an

explanation if you think its appropriate.


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Holding Them to the ADA

So you got the job congratulations! By now,

youll have requested whatever

accommodations youll need to do the job.

But it doesnt necessarily mean theyll get onit right away just because you ask. They might

very well drag their feet on getting you a

secluded workspace, for example, and try toget you to accept a less-than-ideal setup for

now. What to do?


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Put It In Writing

If I had to request accommodations on my own,what Id do is write everything out that I wantedand then hand deliver it to whoever is in chargeof providing accommodations. Ask yoursupervisor who that person is. Unless its a verysmall company or you know that people thereanswer emails quickly, I wouldnt rely on email to

get your message out; most people are snowedunder with work-related email. And of course,keep copies of everything, preferably dated ones.


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Sic Your Doctor on Them (if you have

to)

Dont be afraid to call in the cavalry when itcomes to getting accommodations, if youremployers are putting up roadblocks. It will

probably be cheaper and faster to get yourtherapist, psychiatrist, or other healthprofessional who understands your conditionto run interference for you, than it will be to

hire a lawyer to do it. Theyve already gotyour records; writing you notes is part of theirjob.


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Squillions of Books About Finding Your

Bli$$

There is no shortage of books out there aboutfinding your ideal career. What Color is YourParachute?has been revised every year since

its debut in 1970, and is still a perfectly fineresource. Barbara Shers books are all terrific.And there are many others. But whateverbook (or Web site) you read about has to be

looked at through autistic eyes; you have totake things into consideration that NASreaders dont.


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Can I Do It?

Maybe a certain job or career sounds like it wouldbe a good fit, but what youd have to do to get itdoesnt sound like something you could handlefrom the social or sensory standpoint. On theother hand, its easy to fall into the trap ofthinking youre incompetent and cant handlethings you very well could handle given half a

chance (and some well-placed help). Dont letother people tell you what you can or canthandle; decide for yourself.


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Ride-Alongs

Yes, Im talking about take an autie to work dayfor real! If a particular job sounds interesting butyoud like to know what its really like, asksomeone who has it to take you to work with

them, so you can see what its really like. (Or youcan have someone else ask, thats perfectly fine.)If possible, you might even want to get more thanone person in the same line of work for a ride-

along if the work sounds interesting; the samejob can be very different in differentenvironments. Try out as many different ones asyou think you can handle.


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And finally

.its okay to get it wrong, at least the first fewtimes. Very few people (AS or NAS) find a job forlife on their first try. If you really need moneyright now, you might have to grab something

thats more like a survival job, and thats fine.Just know that its temporary, and if you have to,set a quit date, if that will help you get throughit. And just know, there is a place for you out

there, that will appreciate you for who you areand what you have to offer, as long as you dontgive up!


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Andee Joyce

ASAN Chapter Lead, Portland, OR

[email protected]


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Website:

www.autismnow.org

Information & Referral Call Center:

1-855-828-8476

Next Webinar:Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 2:00-3:00 PM, EDT

How to Date Like a Pro!

PowerPoint/Recording:Email Jennifer ([email protected]) to request

materials!
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Autistic Self Advocacy Network Webinar with Autism NOW June 5, 2012

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