This isn’t from a survey I was asked to do, but from a study on autistic adults.
What do you personally like the most about [having autism], and what don’t you like?
Tough question because everything is “autism.” Short answer: Even though most people hate me as is, I do like parts of myself. There isn’t an autistic part and non-autistic part because everything is affected by autism.
Parts of autism I don’t like – everything is so complicated. Nothing is simple. My digestive system is challenging. Finding a job is difficult. Keeping a job is equally difficult. It’s impossible to list everything. I would love a life of simplicity.
Why can’t some people with Asperger’s hold paid jobs?
Ew. I don’t use that word anymore and no longer 100% sure how it’s defined. One definition I saw would say I don’t have that. Why can’t many autistic people hold a job? After they get hired, they will be expected to be normal and play the social game. And we don’t play in that way.
The job environment may be sensory overwhelming, also. Many workplaces don’t work well for autistic people. From the lighting to the noise. Try working well or just focusing when you are constantly overwhelmed.
I was lucky to not have to get too many public facing jobs, but I was still stuck in badly designed offices. And I did lose job for not being social enough and “not assertive.” This is 100% legal in the US (and most countries from what I know.) It didn’t happen to me that often because I didn’t have to keep applying to those types of jobs. This is why a person with a disability will stay in a job for a long time.
Who wants to go through constant discrimination and rejection? What if the person can’t find steady income again? I’m supposed to wait for 5 years and maybe get SSDI? It takes most people 2 years, but with an “invisible disability” people like to drag it on and they don’t care. But yes, if I could not work for 5 years, then I could maybe get something. But who can’t work for multiple years? I wish I could. I just want 2 weeks off….
We communicate and enjoy ourselves by sharing information and knowledge, and not by negotiating social status.
Anonymous autistic person on employment
So sad that they consider this strange and/or not good enough. It doesn’t make them comfortable enough. So, we should starve???
UGH. Why am I asking logical questions when the premise doesn’t make sense? Stop thinking, yo!
Sidenote: The paper said, “autistic people are unable to be exploitative.” LOL. That says everything. I can’t exploit people so I’m bad. ok. I shouldn’t be able to earn money because of this. I agree.
I’m going to go. I will call this the #AutisticSurvey in case there are more questions. And I’ll try to remember to mention it in future posts like I did with the freelance story (2 posts, so far. I think) I’m answering the questions as I read so I don’t know how many there are.
I just realized that I downloaded the PDF, so I don’t have a source for the paper or study. I will update that too. Will search for it. Hopefully tomorrow. It’s 11 PM. Must go to bed.
Eta: Source: Why Autistic Sociality Is Different: Reduced Interest In Competing For Social Status by Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris, Anna M. Schwartz
And there were no more questions in the study, so this won’t be a series…But I’m sure I can find some autistic-related questions in a survey somewhere. But not actively looking right now.