The Discovery Of "Aspie" Criteria ...

It really just comes down to socialization. If you don't fit the norms of society, you have some sort of disorder. Why would NT's want to give us an advantage by giving us accommodations? Again, this falls into spectrum territory because some need accommodations just to function while others need them in order to keep trying. At what point does one get an unfair advantage? What counts as a fair accommodation? It has to be based on an individuals handicap but then the same would have to be done for NT's. Allow chat time throughout the day? Lying, cheating and stealing?

I was most likely overpaid in my last position but it was warranted due to my output and willingness to work as is. I think others waste time, complain about crap and always want more. Anyway, the problem I have is dealing with the social aspects of the job. In order to accommodate me, I need to be free of social obligations. However, if I am already making more than others, how can they justify making my life easier? While it makes total sense to keep me more productive, it looks like $#%^ on paper. As I found out, it's how things look on paper, not what a person is actually capable of. I think this is why I also struggle with interviews and resumes.

i felt emptied out by my experiences at primary school. i used to daydream a lot just to escape from the emptiness. it was only when i got to secondary school that i was really able to engage with anything and, as i've said before, i think this was because there wasn't the same assumption that i was retarded. but, looking back, i can see how my primary school experience has haunted my life. i guess it's hard for me to understand how no one realised i was autistic. i'm sure it was blatantly obvious when i was very young. and i don't just mean AS, i mean more towards classic autism. anyway, that was the way it was. and this really has made me wonder a lot more about NTs treat those on the spectrum, rather that just assuming it's us all the time.

In school, I just kept my head down, stayed quiet and just did my work. I never had issues and it's sad to hear people get bullied for the same thing. Luckily, I'm not a small guy, never did anything to stand out nor have looks that stand out so that probably helped.

This is why I suspect I don't have Autism because I don't recall any child related issues. It's mainly the teenage years dealing with any sort of responsibility where I saw my flaws. I felt too young to have depression and too old to have crying meltdowns at work. I didn't know what doctors were back then nor did I have a computer to research myself. Maybe it was better that way.

I feel I have been lucky my whole life but that could be the other side of me downplaying the negative aspects. Memory lapses due to depression/bipolar/dissociation? I do feel too old to have anxiety and have realized depression has no age. However, things have been better now that I have been unemployed. I just have to see if I can make it work.

shock_the_monkey wrote:...this really has made me wonder a lot more about NTs treat those on the spectrum, rather that just assuming it's us all the time.

Growing up, I made repeated requests to see a shrink but, since my grades were good and I wasn't a behavior problem, I guess they figured there was nothing much wrong with me. Despite ample evidence to the contrary. I do wonder what my life might have been like if this had been caught early and I had gotten the help I needed, rather than just being ignored and dismissed as "weird".

If you don't mind, what, specifically, are you advocating? Sensitivity classes? Increased awareness of autism (esp. in grade school). Special screening to catch autism early on? Is this a civil rights issue?

While I think all of those are good ideas in theory, I wonder about the feasibility. My mom was an elementary school teacher. I can tell you she practically had a nervous breakdown from trying to meet the teaching standards as they already are. She wound up retiring early and losing her pension because she just couldn't do it anymore. There are many in that boat, I think.

i was out of secondary school before people became aware of AS. so, no doubt a lot has changed since then. as such, it's simply not possible for me to say how things might be further improved. i doubt very much that the autistic traits i had back then would go un-noticed today.

I'm sorry you had such a rough time.

shock_the_monkey wrote:... they couldn't fire me because i told them that they were failing to comply with the certification regulations, as that would just have called attention to the fact. they fired me on the pretext that i had a PD. and that PD was really AS. but had they called it that, it would have fallen under the legal requirement for reasonable adjustments. so, yes, they fired me because i had AS, though they didn't call it that and they couldn't admit that was why i challenged them over their dishonesty, as none of my NT colleagues were going to do it.

I still disagree. They fired you because you challenged them and then they used mental illness as a pretext. It was still just a pretext. They fired you mostly to punish you for saying something they didn't like.

It probably didn't help that you were odd-man-out, and I can believe that you were odd man out because of your Asperger's. That must have made you especially vulnerable and easy to get rid of. And part of the reason you were so driven to be honest was because of your Asperger's. I can believe that. But I think it's a bit of an oversimplification to say that they fired you because of Asperger's, though it probably played a role.

My mom was an elementary school teacher who was expected to pass the son of the superintendent (who was failing his class and should have been held back). If she had refused, she would have been fired. In college, I had a teacher who was fired as an accountant of some big company for being unwilling to cook their books. I have had my hours cut from full time to virtually nothing (in lieu of being fired) for reporting a incident of sexual harassment against a manager. Actually, the restaurant industry has employment at will, so you can virtually be fired for most any reason, and people are. My friend's daughter was recently fired from her job of like 10 years without being given any reason at all. My sister, the lawyer, is constantly in danger of being fired because of the office politics where she works. It's not right, it's not fair, but things like that do happen. They happen on occasion to everyone, Aspie or not.

That said, I'm sorry for what happened to you.

pamelaperejil wrote:I still disagree. They fired you because you challenged them and then they used mental illness as a pretext. It was still just a pretext. They fired you mostly to punish you for saying something they didn't like.

There could be more to it. Where I worked, I was protected from another manager who wanted me to be more "normal". However, my manager understood my way of working and kept me around and even promoted. It wasn't until the understanding managers were gone where I ended up screwed. So, there could be more history here than we realize.

Having said that, I would make the statement to not dwell on AS as the issue but use that as a tool moving forward. While it may be the wrong tool in some circumstances, it is the right tool in others. Sometimes, it's just difficult finding out where you are needed. Maybe it's just here helping others.

my management kept me off work for 4 years. their own occupation health stated that there was no absolute reason that i could not be considered fit for work but it was a management decision. so, you can make up your own mind why they really unfairly dismissed me, however, their stated reason was my mental health and i have asperger's. it's very clear to me that if i had not had asperger's, i'd have gone along with all the corruption and kept my job. so, for me, the causal reason was the asperger's. remember, because i have no feeling of fear, i couldn't relate to the threat of loosing my job. all i could relate to was that it was morally wrong to be deceitful about the certification of a safety critical system. that was circumstantial, not inherent. so, i myself am very clear about the reason why - it was the asperger's.

shock_the_monkey wrote:it's very clear to me that if i had not had asperger's, i'd have gone along with all the corruption and kept my job. so, for me, the causal reason was the asperger's. remember, because i have no feeling of fear, i couldn't relate to the threat of loosing my job. all i could relate to was that it was morally wrong to be deceitful about the certification of a safety critical system. that was circumstantial, not inherent. so, i myself am very clear about the reason why - it was the asperger's.

I would call into question whether that is an autism trait. You are a morally good person but that doesn't mean everybody with Autism is. I mean, it would be cool if that were a trait but I haven't seen anything proving that. I could also state that there are people without Autism that are morally good. You just got caught in a bad situation and possibly, in another position, you may have never known about the safety issue and could still have a job. In this alternate reality, this person could think you are a horrible person for still working for this horrible company even though you are none the wiser.