Why don't we have an advocacy group so we can get jobs?

Why don't we have an advocacy group to help protect us from discrimination? Here is what I want:

Job listings for various positions where I can work alone.

I would like to not be judged on my lack of ability to make eye contact, my overall affect, and my lack of interest in making small talk. It should be illegal to discriminate against me in job interviews for these reasons.

I would like people to be more tolerant, rather than resorting to bullying or trying to change people who are like myself.

The following is an example of how the ADA is currently "protecting" us. (I don't really see myself as having a disability, I consider myself more of a personality minority, but that is another issue altogether.) I copied what follows from here: https://askjan.org/media/personality.html

"An employee with schizoid personality disorder has worked in a call center as a customer service representative for two years. Due to business necessity, the employer restructures the employee's position to include face to face interactions with customers. The employer begins receiving complaints from customers that the employee is acting in a rude and generally unfriendly manner. When the issue is brought up during a performance evaluation, the employee discloses his schizoid personality disorder, and explains that it affects his ability to show appropriate affect. He generally appears unenthused regardless of what is happening. As a result, he may appear to be acting rude or disinterested when interacting with customers in person. The employer reassigns the employee to a position where he can work on the phones exclusively again."

Honestly, I would be happier to avoid the face to face interaction, but the intolerance of the customer was the situation here that I feel really needed the fixing. If this position started as a face to face position, the employee could have been considered unqualified for the position, and the employer would have no obligation to reassign him.

I am not completely anhedonic (my official dx is Asperger's, so I have some obsessional stuff going on that can be leveraged as a strength) but the schizoid traits are really the piece that is negatively impacting my life. I'm (mostly) covert, but my need for abnormally large amounts of alone time is critical to my mental well-being. I believe that I do have enough motivation to form an advocacy group, once I figure out how to go about it.

What sort of advocacy do you need to help you succeed in life?

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this sort of thing rolling?

I was on a posting binge a while back concerning this and the rights of the mentally ill in general.

Are you in AmeriKKKa? Because politicians don't do anything here except vote to give themselves raises.

Besides, mention mental health these days and all anyone thinks of is assault rifles.

The key word is think. Not act.

I agree wholeheartedly but it would probably be easier to get the gov't to set up a 401k for my cat.

We'll have to get in line. Behind the millionaires. Behind minorities. Women. LGBT. The religious right. Plastic bags.

Best thing to do is to get 'em in the wallet. I get $1472.00/mo of gov't money for having OCD.

SPD is not recognized as a disability, I'm told by psychiatrists.

Schizoid = loner.
Loner = mass shooter.

The only way to get your fair share if you're mentally ill is to have a toxic comorbidity of narcissistic PD, histrionic PD and antisocial PD. Then they make you President.

Lonerlady wrote:Why don't we have an advocacy group to help protect us from discrimination

Well first you'd have to get a schizoid actually in to seek professional help without someone prodding them to do it. My psychologist does her best, but it's constantly her trying to understand why I think the way I do. The only way she seemed about to dx me as SPD was due to her nephew as well as symptoms. She never has had any major experience treating schizoids though, since the majority don't go in.

Job listings for various positions where I can work alone.

Pretty sure 90% of the population is right there with you...which is why they are hard to find. I work from home and still have to make skype and phone calls the whole time.

:arrow: I would like to not be judged on my lack of ability to make eye contact, my overall affect, and my lack of interest in making small talk. It should be illegal to discriminate against me in job interviews for these reasons.

I would like people to be more tolerant, rather than resorting to bullying or trying to change people who are like myself.

Even if something gets passed you'll always have those folks who claim it's a fad/not real due to it inconveniencing them. People need to learn to get over themselves not assume things period. Long as it isn't hurting anyone, there shouldn't be a problem.

The following is an example of how the ADA is currently "protecting" us. (I don't really see myself as having a disability, I consider myself more of a personality minority, but that is another issue altogether.) I copied what follows from here: https://askjan.org/media/personality.html

"An employee with schizoid personality disorder has worked in a call center as a customer service representative for two years. Due to business necessity, the employer restructures the employee's position to include face to face interactions with customers. The employer begins receiving complaints from customers that the employee is acting in a rude and generally unfriendly manner. When the issue is brought up during a performance evaluation, the employee discloses his schizoid personality disorder, and explains that it affects his ability to show appropriate affect. He generally appears unenthused regardless of what is happening. As a result, he may appear to be acting rude or disinterested when interacting with customers in person. The employer reassigns the employee to a position where he can work on the phones exclusively again."

Honestly, I would be happier to avoid the face to face interaction, but the intolerance of the customer was the situation here that I feel really needed the fixing. If this position started as a face to face position, the employee could have been considered unqualified for the position, and the employer would have no obligation to reassign him.

Jobs evolve all the time. I can't be too angry at something like that, especially since the employer did fix the situation after being made to understand the issue. Chances are they decided on face to face due to wanting a more "human" experience. It would make it feel like they cared and all that. I've been in enough corporate jobs to see that happen. It does work to a degree, so I can't blame em for trying since they didn't know about the employee and his disorder.

I am not completely anhedonic (my official dx is Asperger's, so I have some obsessional stuff going on that can be leveraged as a strength) but the schizoid traits are really the piece that is negatively impacting my life. I'm (mostly) covert, but my need for abnormally large amounts of alone time is critical to my mental well-being. I believe that I do have enough motivation to form an advocacy group, once I figure out how to go about it.

You are schizoid and with Asperger's? Usually they rule out schizoid if the person has Asperger's syndrome due to them being so similar. May I ask how you tell the difference?

What sort of advocacy do you need to help you succeed in life?

I'm pretty ok personally, but I think it would be fantastic if they offered things like better disability for those suffering.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this sort of thing rolling?

A journey of a thousand miles starts with schizoids actually gaining the motivation to go to a shrink.

Actually the GOP is getting ready to push to gut Social Security and Medicare.

I'd rather have an advocacy group for people who don't want jobs.

SkeletonWarDraftee wrote:I'd rather have an advocacy group for people who don't want jobs.

I could get behind this. I really don't have an issue doing the job, it's the rest of the stuff I struggle with. Networking? Selling myself? Acting like I care about the company? No slouching?

You are schizoid and with Asperger's? Usually they rule out schizoid if the person has Asperger's syndrome due to them being so similar. May I ask how you tell the difference?

When I have been to the ASD groups, a big difference is that I really do not want to fix myself. I'm not trying to get NTs to like me, and then messing it up due to missed social cues. I don't really want to stare at the bridge of someone's nose when I am having difficulty with eye contact. My main issues are the need for abnormally large amounts of time alone, and the social anhedonia. I know am one of the many who do not fit neatly into a diagnostic category, and I have come to accept this. The NIMH knows that things need to change, but clinicians are going to keep using the DSM subdivides until we have something better.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director ... osis.shtml

I know that they were fiddling around with the idea of "multiple complex developmental disorder" at Yale, which was a bit of a mash of ASD, schiz, and affective symptoms.

Really I'd rather just figure out how best to survive than worry about finding a label which isn't going to be a perfect fit.

I'm actually hoping the DSM goes away and all focus is on adopting the ICD11. I believe resources could better be utilized that way.

Anyway, it reminded me of the conversation with my psychiatrist because she mentioned I didn't have any of the disorders listed. I mentioned, I am not looking for a diagnosis, I'd just like to discuss the traits. She didn't even want to do that with me. She then reviewed my file and noticed that the psychologist couldn't make any specific disorder determination (BPD was best guess), I just had a smattering of traits among many disorders. No ######6 duh.

Being polite and assertive and making eye contact when a situation calls for those things isn't that hard, but maintaining a state of engagement for hours in a day is quite difficult and taxing.

Working makes me resentful, aggressive and hostile though. The external structure clashes with my internal structure and feels stifling and violating. Interactions with people can as well if they seem to need more than something basic and impersonal. Pretty much any public service gets translated in my head as exploitation or slavery despite getting paid to be there. Lately I also have increasing feelings of being watched/monitored and followed.

I think some people simply aren't designed to hold jobs. I do think my existence should be funded by the public, or else I should be completely left alone. But as long as someone is forced to be around others sharing their time and energy, their existence is a collective asset, so why should it be independently funded?

I don't think an advocacy group is really needed.

I mean, I work long hours in a job that requires a lot of human interaction.... not very socially, but normal business interaction and I can handle it.

But there are plenty of jobs out there for people who want limited social interaction, and society today is much less social as a whole than it was 20 years ago (thank you, technology!). It's entirely possible to work side by side now with someone who turns to their phone instead of you to chat during breaks.