Asperger's on the Job: Must-Have Advice for People With Asperger's or High Functioning Autism, and Their Employers, Educators, and Advocates by Rudy Simone Page B
Authors: Rudy Simone
Tags: Asperger&rsquo
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expect others to understand where you are coming from: a desire to improve, a quest for perfection. Understand that your boss wants the same thing and may have his own communication issues. Try to work together to come up with a solution.
Giving praise goes both ways. It is important to show appreciation for others’ work and to be generous in your own spirit if you would like to have the same shown to you.
To employers and advocates:
Give praise freely and frequently. These are markers that let an AS person know they are on the right road going in the right direction.
The AS do-it-yourself ingenuity means that he/she has put some real effort into doing their job. If it has not been done to the boss’s satisfaction, censure must be done privately and respectfully, not in front of customers or co-workers:
“The managerial staff were rude, ignorant, and insensitive. And in some cases, downright spiteful. The way you are called into a room with two or more managerial staff when they wish to speak to you about concerns; it always feels like an interrogation, and I believe it is.”
- SEAN
People with Asperger’s are great emulators and learn social behavior by copying. If you are positive and tactful with us, over time we learn to be more diplomatic with others.
How do you respond to praise?
How does it feel to give it?
What sorts of reactions do you get from people when you are positive as opposed to critical?
CHAPTER 15
Working with Natural Strengths and Interests
W ork with a person’s interests to utilize their strengths. This will ensure that you reap the most benefit from your AS employee and he/she will achieve the greatest job satisfaction. Don’t push someone into a role they are unsuited for. Sounds logical, doesn’t it?
The things people with Asperger’s don’t do naturally well (e.g., socialize) usually fall into a realm that doesn’t directly affect the job they are doing. To the contrary—sometimes their social weaknesses are career strengths. They don’t like to chitchat on the job, so that means they will have more time for work. They like to focus, so they won’t be flipping through magazines under their desk. If their job is research, no one will do it better, as people with AS are information addicts.
In addition to research, an AS person might excel at organizing, problem-solving, writing, composing,repairing, designing, engineering, inventing, mathematics, and just about any other solitary activity in which they can control all the elements. Even more mundane activities like mowing lawns may appeal, or painting houses, because there is control, a definable outcome, and little interaction with people, as well as freedom to listen to music, news, or audio-books. Putting them in a position to deal with others is more problematic because people are uncontrollable and unpredictable. Some may be excellent teachers, but an AS person would likely not enjoy teaching high school, but rather, college, university, or younger elementary school children.
“One of the most important things is early diagnosis. I didn’t realize I had AS until I was nearly 30, and I wound up going into jobs I wasn’t suited for.”
- BEN
It is worthwhile to work with natural Aspergian tendencies and channel them into appropriate activities rather than forcing a person to do things that will just demoralize them. Challenge is good, but as the old adage goes, you can’t push a square peg into a round hole. As we will discuss in the chapter on Education , it may be beneficial to suggest or encourage additional classes if your employee’s natural skills tend toward a certain area but they lack the practical knowledge or necessary piece of paper to put those skills into practice. Many with ASDs have savant talents or “obsessive” interests that could be put to good use in appropriate vocational contexts (Müller, Schuler, Burton, & Yates 2009).
Job-sharing or job-pairing can enable workers to
Giving praise goes both ways. It is important to show appreciation for others’ work and to be generous in your own spirit if you would like to have the same shown to you.
To employers and advocates:
Give praise freely and frequently. These are markers that let an AS person know they are on the right road going in the right direction.
The AS do-it-yourself ingenuity means that he/she has put some real effort into doing their job. If it has not been done to the boss’s satisfaction, censure must be done privately and respectfully, not in front of customers or co-workers:
“The managerial staff were rude, ignorant, and insensitive. And in some cases, downright spiteful. The way you are called into a room with two or more managerial staff when they wish to speak to you about concerns; it always feels like an interrogation, and I believe it is.”
- SEAN
People with Asperger’s are great emulators and learn social behavior by copying. If you are positive and tactful with us, over time we learn to be more diplomatic with others.
How do you respond to praise?
How does it feel to give it?
What sorts of reactions do you get from people when you are positive as opposed to critical?
CHAPTER 15
Working with Natural Strengths and Interests
W ork with a person’s interests to utilize their strengths. This will ensure that you reap the most benefit from your AS employee and he/she will achieve the greatest job satisfaction. Don’t push someone into a role they are unsuited for. Sounds logical, doesn’t it?
The things people with Asperger’s don’t do naturally well (e.g., socialize) usually fall into a realm that doesn’t directly affect the job they are doing. To the contrary—sometimes their social weaknesses are career strengths. They don’t like to chitchat on the job, so that means they will have more time for work. They like to focus, so they won’t be flipping through magazines under their desk. If their job is research, no one will do it better, as people with AS are information addicts.
In addition to research, an AS person might excel at organizing, problem-solving, writing, composing,repairing, designing, engineering, inventing, mathematics, and just about any other solitary activity in which they can control all the elements. Even more mundane activities like mowing lawns may appeal, or painting houses, because there is control, a definable outcome, and little interaction with people, as well as freedom to listen to music, news, or audio-books. Putting them in a position to deal with others is more problematic because people are uncontrollable and unpredictable. Some may be excellent teachers, but an AS person would likely not enjoy teaching high school, but rather, college, university, or younger elementary school children.
“One of the most important things is early diagnosis. I didn’t realize I had AS until I was nearly 30, and I wound up going into jobs I wasn’t suited for.”
- BEN
It is worthwhile to work with natural Aspergian tendencies and channel them into appropriate activities rather than forcing a person to do things that will just demoralize them. Challenge is good, but as the old adage goes, you can’t push a square peg into a round hole. As we will discuss in the chapter on Education , it may be beneficial to suggest or encourage additional classes if your employee’s natural skills tend toward a certain area but they lack the practical knowledge or necessary piece of paper to put those skills into practice. Many with ASDs have savant talents or “obsessive” interests that could be put to good use in appropriate vocational contexts (Müller, Schuler, Burton, & Yates 2009).
Job-sharing or job-pairing can enable workers to
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