Productivity is an ableist social construct

Post Reply New Topic

Ok, I'm just gonna come out and say it right away: Productivity is an ableist social construct that hurts all Neurodivergent and Disabled People. Also, it really doesn't matter what political system you're talking about here, either, it could be feudalism, it could be communism, or it could be capitalism. All of these political systems value productivity, at the end of the day, so all of these political systems fetishize workers who keep their societies going, as they see fit. However, because the wants and needs of neurodivergent and disabled people often inherently disrupt the pressures to keep the system going as it has gone on before, sadly, what often happens is that the wants and needs of neurodivergent and disabled people are often disregarded or downplayed, and in many cases it borders into full blown eugenics when we're deemed less worthy of being alive, and in some cases not even being worthy of having a right to life, altogether!! Again, all simply because the wants and needs of disabled and neurodivergent people disrupt the pressures to keep the system going as it has gone on before. Hell, even when we do get our wants and needs met, that still doesn't stop able-bodied, neurotypical and allistic people from often treating us as if we're lesser; of treating us like we're children well into our adulthood, or acting like meeting our wants and needs somehow inherently means we're incapable of living the life that's equal to the one that everyone else has. And yeah, it's the most discouraging thing you can possibly imagine, realizing that ableist society puts up so many more barriers to just meeting all of your wants and needs, even if it's just that you want to be accepted for who you are while living a life that's equal to the one that everyone else lives, and not just being held back, in more ways than one, simply because you're regarded as too crippled to even have had a chance, to begin with...

Here the government is starting to offer euthanasia to army vets or other people with intractable PTSD, mood disorders, or apparently even disabilities. I haven't seen it for myself but I've heard the outcry. I was personally advised not to advertise my status very much to local government because they'll try to squeeze me out of my house if I want any rate adjustments or special services for being on disability pay. It's not a friendly world at all.

The only 'shortcut' I know to employment is having skills that are in demand.  For example:

• Amateur Radio License
• Electrical Engineering Degree
• Forklift & Lift-Truck Certifications
• Radiotelephone License
• Technical Drafting & Writing
• U.S. Navy Service

Plus a few other certifications and machine-shop skills that got me hired into a job that lasted over a quarter-century through three relocations and a major layoff (I was not diagnosed until half-way through my employment).  My 'attitude' was often called into question (i.e., poor communication and socialization), but it was my skillset that carried the day.  I also knew no one at that employer before being hired -- those who had been there longer often called me an 'outsider' and treated me as either an intruder or a stranger, and they were all eventually laid off!

People may say that it is not what you know, but whom you know.  The opposite has always worked for me.

Hmm. This very much depends on how the concept is framed, imo.

Measuring a person's moral worth by how economically productive they are? Absolutely, that's ableist.

But productivity can also be empowering. Basically the only way productivity improves is through innovation, and by far the most dramatic is technological innovation. Assistive technologies can dramatically improve a disabled person's quality of life, but also improve our productivity.

I have the skills to be a web developer or app developer but can't get past the interview process.

When I ask for feedback it's strange reasons like:
-talking in short sentences,
-'looking like I didn't want to be in the interview ',
-not indenting code (which is just how the code looks, and wasn't specified as something the examiners were looking for)

I think the days of just needing skills are gone.

In my interviews it was people with technical skills who thought I was ok and put me forward to the next stage of the interview.

It was when I got to the interview stage with a non-technical person like HR is when I got the rejection letter.

So society isn't working in that logical way anymore.
As in: 'you make yourself valuable and you'll be hired!' which is what it used to be like.

When just about anyone can learn to write an app, there may be many more candidates for an app-writer's position than there are available positions.  I wrote a few apps for my past employer, and I wrote them in QuickBasic (specifically, QB64).  Once compiled, they operated on W10/11 platforms and made setting up and trouble-shooting other processor-based tools and equipment much easier.

But that was just ONE aspect of my job.  Relying on only one skill (that many others also possess) will not put you in demand.  It is the collection of skills -- the skillset -- that makes you marketable as an employee.

I apply for jobs that are in web development only. They have a wide range of technologies that are desired but they're under the same category. So they'll be looking for
Html
CSS
Database
JavaScript

But any web developer will know those.
I had two interviews with companies that are looking to get people back into work. They have agreements with corporations to find people.
I passed the online skill exam with a grade of 100% . For both companies.
One of them said I didn't want to be in the interview and the other made the remarks about indenting and short sentences.

There was a thread here about an autistic man who failed 150 job interviews and ended up starting his own business, so this problem is quite widespread among the autistic community.

I think I might go into another type of work myself now.

We live in nation states which compete in a capitalist global marketplace, Not having productivity targets means we can't participate or compete with other nation states and within one generation we will all be working in Chinese labour camps making components for Huawei phones

Both Darwinian evolution and multipolar traps are ableist. We'd have to break both somehow to solve that one (though - with what's coming technologically in the next decade or so we'll probably all be obsolete).

My disability is in large part about productivity. I have problems with concentration, slowness, poor agility, poor physical strenght and endurance, poor tolerance of unpleasant feelings, obsessions and "manias", excitating and generally "narrow" interests, many fears (such as religious ones), in addition I am definitely not asexual and aromantic. I am very impaired in terms of earning money. I have social pension and care allowance due to my pervasive developmental disorder and mental illness. My "mentality" does not consider this as immoral, but even as something correct and more "human" than not giving "unconditional" money for people like me.

I think that people with more severe (not "mild") ASD or similar disorders are very disabled in the area of "making money" and, generally, working. Lack of productivity and "reliability" is something which makes these people not "high-functioning".

Wut?

No. It's a measure of economic output.

When I couldn't produce much at all, I earned close to zero dollars. Now that I am able to produce skilled work, the faster I do it, the more money I can make - which is often between $50-100/hour depending on the job.

I was once constrained from being able to produce, so, I put in the hard work to improve my health and then learn and build skills so that I can produce and generate an income for myself that will at least sustain me. This is basic economics.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.