Asperger's on the Job: Must-Have Advice for People With Asperger's or High Functioning Autism, and Their Employers, Educators, and Advocates Read Free

maintain social relationships. They have trouble reading and understanding body language, facial expressions, voice tones, or idioms. It is as if they were from an alien culture and were never taught the meaning of subtle gestures and nuances of conversation. They can’t figure out the rules of engagement in a social exchange. It is awkward for them to jump into a conversation and they report that they can’t figure out how to add to the discussion without taking it off the track. Add to the above list of characteristics a long list of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, tic disorders, and learning disabilities, and you are getting closer to what it is to be an Aspergian. They struggle with sleep, eating, digestive, and sensory problems, all of which make melding into the social environment difficult. In addition, many, if not most, Aspergians had been bullied in school and have trauma-related disorders as a result. Most often,they are rejected, or worse, made fun of in the workplace and in school. Loneliness is their constant companion.
Asperger’s has its advantages. [People with this disorder] can hyperfocus on one topic and have a tenacity that is matchless. They can store huge amounts of information, learn languages easily, and are talented scientists, musicians, technicians, and historians. While they are not comfortable with people, they love information. Aspergians are in good company. Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Sir Isaac Newton, just to name a few, are now thought to have had Asperger’s Syndrome. More recently, actor Dan Aykroyd has announced that he has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Once they have learned that they are not inferior, but rather exquisitely different, they begin to appreciate themselves and their considerable talents. The culture at large has not accepted them as yet. Finding a niche in the world is what is needed and those lucky enough to find it excel and contribute significantly. (2009)
    Despite these positive traits, people with AS often have difficulty obtaining and keeping jobs. The main reasons boil down to:
     
Awkward social skills
Difficulty communicating
Environmental sensitivity
Not being able to utilize their natural strengths and inherent interests
     
    In the workplace “their failure to adhere to social rules often results in ridicule, aggression, or exclusion” (Hendrickx 2009) until they are literally driven out—either fired or ostracized until life at work becomes unbearable and they quit. Consequently, many with AS have a patchwork quilt for a resume: an inordinate number of jobs, gaps between jobs, or a long history of self-employment in one or even several fields. Yet, this kind of track record can be a boon for both employer and AS employee, for a varied history usually makes for a wide variety of useful skills. It is important that apotential employer does not assume that this history stems from a lack of desire to work. There may not be a harder-working segment of the human race. The AS person simply may not have had:
         a.  the diagnosis and understanding of AS to know what they needed from an employer, or
         b.  an employer who was willing to listen and to make the easy but crucial adjustments to accommodate them.
    This book will help the person with AS understand and ask for what they need, and it will show the employer how easy it is to give them what they need—which often involves doing less rather than more.
    Over a seven-month period, more than fifty adults with Asperger’s were interviewed for this book hailing from all over America, and other countries such as Japan, Ireland, England, France, and Australia. They were asked to describe their work experiences in their own words: their successes, their failures, and what they felt they needed to succeed in employment. They all had very similar experiences and wishes,