Oh the Places we’ll go to Find Work. (Or: The Places we Won’t go For Lack of Money)
Welcome back! This week, I will be talking about my own thoughts on the topic of poisonous workplace environment towards Autistics/Aspies, which I’m sure everyone wants to hear (which is the whole point of writing any blog ever. Everyone knows that). So without further ado, I’ll get to the talking bits.
Come one, come all! Here my opinion on this particular topic today! I promise you won’t get sick of my voice at all!
I’ll admit, I have been relatively lucky when it came to working environments and employers in general. Either I stuck around long enough to eventually win them over, left before the working environment turned sour, or just had really good bosses and coworkers in general (one job my boss was a great guy, but one of my coworkers was...yeah). So I can’t say I know what it’s like to be in a poisonous environment, at least not all throughout my tenure (I have been in a couple of poisonous classroom environments, but that's another topic). That said, the reason that I did not have to many negative work experiences is probably because, as the article says and what I hear and read from other fellow Autistics/Aspies, employment opportunities for us are both few and far between.
It’s pretty much to the point of nearly every Autistic/Aspie experiencing a year or more of unemployment before they get a job, and even than the quality of the work itself and it’s environment may not always be up to snuff. And true, I am writing from the experience of a young university student, where employment, full time or otherwise, are now famously seemingly non-existent to us, I have noticed a pattern between them. When it comes to the employment troubles of typical NT youth, while there are some complaints of work being few and far between, they usually mean good, non-entry level jobs where you don't need either a degree or a certain amount of experience to get in, once their degree is done.
Oh sure, everyone says that getting a post secondary is a rich experience, but what they don’t tell you is that it makes you poor, have a poor diet and aroused at the same time. Okay the other two can happen before and after college but not the first! Okay the first to.
And as for the time of being unemployed, they usually measure such periods in, well, weeks. Months at worst. When it comes to Autistic/Aspie youth though, such unemployment periods, mine included, can be measured in years, one, two or more. And those that do find work will...yeah. And true, places like Mcdonalds or Harveys are always looking for people, but you try getting someone who is A) introverted by nature. B) after facing years of being bullied for something that they cannot help, gaining a feeling of dislike for the human race in general. C) Most likely has some mental health issues (probably thanks to B) or is neurodiverse in more ways than one (ADHD, high anxiety, etc) which will hamper them to a large degree in working in a culture were speed is key and pressure is always present.
In other words, what little jobs that are out there, would not necessarily be ones that we could, or should, do. And in most cases, may actually come out of it in a worse condition than we went in. So what can be done? This is something that will take more than the Autistic/Aspie community to handle, as it affects more than just us. What we can do, for our part, is show potential employers that we can be more than just coding captains, banking barons or menial work masters. We could be doctors, police officers, politicians, and more (If you are a coding captain, you could make an internet showing videos of Autistics/Aspies performing work, more than the stereotypical ones. Just an idea).
You know, just a tiny little suggestion that, if it doesn't work out, I don’t need to be credited for it. But if it does work out and is a big success (especially if it is a big success), than I definitely need to be credited for it.
As for the other part, it’ll take all of society to help change that, to make more well paying, none-menial type jobs available for those in the workforce. Unless automation takes all the jobs away, then it’ll be a whole different ball game (bloody machines, slowly taking our jobs away. I blame the terminator movies for giving the idea to companies like Apple and Amazon).
Well, that does it for this week's post. Next week will be (as I said many times in the previous couple of posts) will be an entirely new topic for us to explore (tired of hearing it yet? No? What about now?). Until next time, this continues to be, the Audacious Aspie.
Source to use:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dark-side-autism-workplace-marcelle-ciampi/