E8
Butterfly
Joined: Sep 13, 2011
Age: 39
Posts: 9
|
 Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 4:38 am Post subject: Re: Were you diagnosed as an adult and did it change anythin |
 |
|
| Xyzzy wrote: | | One if the things that I'm well respected for is being honest and authentic in my communications, but it's not a strength or a skill that I've developed. I just don't know any other way to function and I don't understand people who don't communicate that way. Imagine how difficult it is to be surrounded by people who want to know how I "learned" to communicate honestly and openly. |
Hit the nail on the head with this one - I've had a lot of issues with "social politicking" for this reason. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Moonpenny
Raven
Joined: May 06, 2012
Posts: 121
Location: UK
|
| Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 10:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
| NicoleG wrote: | | Moonpenny wrote: | | If I'd only had the diagnosis then, I could have asked for the access requirement that would have given me a fair chance: the opportunity to spend 10 minutes with the interview team, in the room where the interview was to take place, informally and outside the interview. If I'd had a few minutes to get used to the funny buzzing noise the projector was making and the faces and voices and smells and clothes of the interview team, I'd have been able to put all my energy into the interview instead of being distracted by all the unfamiliarity. |
Oh, that sounds like such a wonderful benefit to have. |
In my view it's not a benefit, it's a perfectly reasonable access requirement. I happen to be physically disabled as well, and always have to request level access for my wheelchair; most people would think that a reasonable and obvious request. As someone with autism, requesting disabled access in the form of time is equally reasonable, it's just slightly less obvious. The onus is always on the disabled person to explain their access requirements anyway – no-one else knows what constitutes a barrier for any individual – and explaining that you require time to adjust to the people and environment in a uniquely stressful situation such as a job interview is no different to explaining that you are deaf and require a sign language interpreter. And here in the UK at least, discrimination against people with disabilities is illegal. That doesn't mean some employers aren't still scared by the whole issue of disability, but more and more are prepared at least to give disabled people the opportunity to show that they can do the job by making their recruitment processes fully accessible. And there's no way I'm offering my skills, commitment and enthusiasm to someone who won't.
I know many autistic people are reluctant to see their autism/AS as a disability, they want it viewed as part of human diversity. Well, I feel the same about my physical impairment. But we're not there yet, at least where I live; we're still having to fight for real equality. I believe that it'll come, and there won't be any need for terms like 'access requirements' because access will be taken for granted. In the meantime, I'm going to carry on fighting for my rights – and in order to do that, I have to identify as a disabled person. In my view, it's just where we are in human evolution. |
|
| Back to top |
|
NicoleG
Phoenix
Joined: Dec 26, 2011
Age: 36
Posts: 661
Location: Dallas-Fort Worth
|
| Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 11:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Moonpenny wrote: | | NicoleG wrote: | | Moonpenny wrote: | | If I'd only had the diagnosis then, I could have asked for the access requirement that would have given me a fair chance: the opportunity to spend 10 minutes with the interview team, in the room where the interview was to take place, informally and outside the interview. If I'd had a few minutes to get used to the funny buzzing noise the projector was making and the faces and voices and smells and clothes of the interview team, I'd have been able to put all my energy into the interview instead of being distracted by all the unfamiliarity. |
Oh, that sounds like such a wonderful benefit to have. |
In my view it's not a benefit, it's a perfectly reasonable access requirement. I happen to be physically disabled as well, and always have to request level access for my wheelchair; most people would think that a reasonable and obvious request. As someone with autism, requesting disabled access in the form of time is equally reasonable, it's just slightly less obvious. The onus is always on the disabled person to explain their access requirements anyway – no-one else knows what constitutes a barrier for any individual – and explaining that you require time to adjust to the people and environment in a uniquely stressful situation such as a job interview is no different to explaining that you are deaf and require a sign language interpreter. And here in the UK at least, discrimination against people with disabilities is illegal. That doesn't mean some employers aren't still scared by the whole issue of disability, but more and more are prepared at least to give disabled people the opportunity to show that they can do the job by making their recruitment processes fully accessible. And there's no way I'm offering my skills, commitment and enthusiasm to someone who won't.
I know many autistic people are reluctant to see their autism/AS as a disability, they want it viewed as part of human diversity. Well, I feel the same about my physical impairment. But we're not there yet, at least where I live; we're still having to fight for real equality. I believe that it'll come, and there won't be any need for terms like 'access requirements' because access will be taken for granted. In the meantime, I'm going to carry on fighting for my rights – and in order to do that, I have to identify as a disabled person. In my view, it's just where we are in human evolution. |
The inconsiderate eople here would laugh at the idea of having to give someone "time to adjust" for an employment interview, and there's quite a lot of them. It's sad. I work in an environment where the people are constantly putting down every minority that exists, but because of the economy I worry about losing my job and not finding work. If they were to even get a hint of my differences I know it would become a hostile work environment, but I'd rather bide my time until I can find something else than to cause wave and cause more issues for myself than I'm really willing to deal with right now. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Moonpenny
Raven
Joined: May 06, 2012
Posts: 121
Location: UK
|
| Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 3:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I think if I were already working in that environment, found my job stressful enough already, and knew I had no allies, I might be inclined to take the same course. But I meant disclosure at the point of interview in order to give myself an equal chance of getting a new job. Here we're backed up by the law – are you in the US?
We have the Disability Discrimination Acts, which make it illegal to discriminate against anyone who has 'a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day to day activities'. Asperger Syndrome would fall under this definition. In addition, anyone 'providing goods, facilities or services to the public, whether for a fee or not' is obliged to make 'reasonable adjustments' in order to enable disabled people to use their services, work for them (including continuing to work for them in the case of an acquired impairment or ill health), and be recruited for available work. To me, asking for 10 minutes in a room with an interview panel falls well within the definition of 'reasonable adjustments'. Care would have to be taken to ensure that additional time with an interview panel didn't give the candidate an advantage over others, but that simply means not discussing anything related to the job. If an employer refused to make such a minor adjustment and could not give a good enough reason, the interview candidate could claim they had been discriminated against because of their disability and take the company to court under the Disability Discrimination Act.
I'm under no illusions as to the reason for these Acts (known collectively as the DDA) having been passed. I don't think many politicians are very taken up by the rights of disabled people, really. They do care very much about government budgets though. Widespread discrimination by employers against disabled people over decades has meant they have had to live on state benefits. The bill for supporting all these people, many of whom are perfectly capable of working and want to work, was/is absolutely enormous. So the government decided employers really had to start doing their bit. The DDA were much better than they could have been, however, thanks to some politicians who really did care about people. It's not only employers who are under obligation to their employees: local government services, shops, leisure facilities, schools and colleges, places of worship, etc, all fall under the terms of the DDA. It may all sound very convoluted, but until we get to the stage where there is genuine equality, we need laws like this, and we need to be prepared to use them. No, I wouldn't lay myself open to bullying or stigmatisation in a situation I couldn't easily escape from, but I'd certainly be prepared to ask a potential new employer for equal access to the recruitment process. Frankly I wouldn't want to work for them anyway if they weren't prepared to give me 10 minutes! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
