Welcome to From the Spectrum Podcast.
This is a podcast about Autism.
It is my goal to explain what is Autism.
I plan to use a mixture of scientific literature, personal experience, and opinion.
With opinion, I will explain why, after the way I do, and give examples.
I will provide links for various references for each episode.
For each episode, we will discuss various aspects of Autism.
The From the Spectrum Podcast will mostly avoid causes of Autism.
And I will try avoiding the increase of diagnoses of late.
This is like playing tug of war with barbed wire.
And I don't think I want to travel down that path.
I would like to begin with a short clip of Sir Simon Baron Cohen featured on Brain Science,
a podcast hosted by Dr. Ginger Campbell, MD.
Brain Science is in the podcasting Hall of Fame and is a worthy podcast to check out.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Autistic people because their genome, their genetic makeup
overlaps with the genetic makeup of people who have been inventing for the last 70 to
100,000 years.
Human progress wouldn't have achieved what it has without Autistic people.
For today's episode, we will cover Autism and Employment.
We will cover good things and possible routes to superpowers.
And we will cover bad things, our super deficits, and struggles.
I am sure you will see each, the good and bad, as we cover plenty of topics and traits.
Please don't try to change an Autistic person because they are different than you or different
than others.
Don't let that offend your beliefs and capacity to apply critical thinking in life.
Remember, don't arrive at something and it makes sense to you and you think that must
be it or that is it.
Autism and Employment is difficult.
It is difficult for many reasons.
What we cover today is not exhaustive.
Just items for my research, my personal life, and my discussion with others.
In this episode, I will share experiences from my life.
Before we begin, I just want to mention, I think society is a trap.
Society is a trap for people around the ages of, let's say, 17, 18 to mid-20s.
They are forced to do something.
Make a decision.
Are you going to go to university here and pursue this occupation?
Or are you going to straight into the workforce?
Now, when you go straight into the workforce, let's say, at best, you work part-time work
during high school and you make something like a couple of thousand dollars a year.
And then you go into full-time work and you get a massive pay increase.
Probably the highest pay increase you will see your entire life.
And pay increases is a trap too.
Pay increases were short-term.
People think they need a pay raise and they receive it.
And then maybe six months later or maybe two years later, they need another pay increase.
It is a vicious cycle because the trap, as I mentioned earlier, the original trap is
people get hitched on money, material things, and they overlook what they can do in life,
their passions, things that they can do and want to do, and they don't pursue them even
if they recognize them.
Change is very complicated and difficult for the human being.
We love what we know.
Remember from previous episodes, anytime we change or learn, there are underlying feelings
of agitation and frustration and we have to be uncomfortable.
We love to return to our comfortable state.
That's what we do.
Stimulus response.
Remember that.
Remember it's easy for us to say, oh, this is just what I am.
This is what I have to do.
In addition, it seems, it seems to me that people in their 20s, their time perception
about how their life ought to be and how it ought to play out is inaccurate.
Time perception in the 20s is strange.
Take your time.
Find something that you love to do, that you can do, and that you will do, and if not,
keep trying.
Okay.
Autism awareness is increasing.
No, that does not explain autistic's current condition and employment, whether that's
a good thing or bad, meaning our employment opportunities increasing for autistic's.
It seems so.
Maybe it is because the amount of autistic's entering the workforce now.
Think the combination of awareness and prevalence.
In my opinion, the role of autistic's in their workforce changing comes from others and employers.
Maybe, maybe understanding our unique superpowers.
Some interesting jobs that I have had is I worked in accounts receivable, and I used
to just enter in bank statements and ACH payments on the 10 key.
I would receive a daily stack of bank records or ACH payments, some sort of transaction
from the banks, and I had stacks of hundreds at a time.
I would just, me and the 10 key, I would just knock all these transactions out on the 10
key, processing them, and I was very fast at it.
It was a clear set of rules and a routine, and rarely were there any changes, there were
rarely any if, then concepts.
Our unique contribution to the company's objectives, abilities like visual thinking and
pattern anticipation and recognition are valuable.
Maybe jobs are working better because people are understanding how, how to utilize these
superpowers, these unique skills.
However, the rate filling these positions and utilizing the roles autistic's can serve
is what's in question.
Remember, humans have difficulty when things offend their beliefs, when things offend their
capacity to think.
As we discuss abilities and inabilities, think about criteria A and B. Maybe have those so-called
symptoms or traits available to review.
Let's start with the beginning, the interview.
Well, even before the interview, the applying process, which is essentially promoting the
self.
In other words, look at me.
We hate.
Look at me.
Okay, the interview, some potential struggles here, because we are late adolescent to younger
adults, well, even through adulthood.
But more so in the younger ages, we have bad social experiences, as do most of us do in
the social world.
But when our lack of social skills and social desires are in play here, it makes this conversation
very awkward and difficult.
We have negative expectations.
Things will happen and be difficult in this social situation.
And we will not capture or highlight our abilities.
We will not convey this accurately.
And really, maybe it is not the fault of others.
We've covered this.
What am I about to say?
If this is not you, you have no idea.
You cannot conceptualize our abilities, our superpowers.
But you can likely understand the super deficits.
The superpowers are hard to understand.
The super deficits you can understand.
In the interview, we may provide this information.
We may just be completely honest and accurate with you, no holding back.
I think it is my opinion I want you to know the good and the bad.
I want you to know everything about me.
What you are getting.
Humans can get hitched on negatives, especially if other candidates hide theirs or don't share
them.
Now you don't have an equal comparison as the employer.
Remember what I said in the previous episode or a previous episode.
Employers asking the candidate why they are a good candidate.
That's an awkward question.
Things like persuasion, marketing, promoting, and even stretching this truth as some people
say, the so-called stretching the truth.
This is lying.
I hate that.
Manipulation and lying is what's happening here.
However, our superpowers, you cannot understand that visualization and systemizing the pattern
thinking ability and all of the brain energy used to run these models in our head.
You, the employer, or other, you will hear it and maybe try to understand it.
Or maybe you won't.
Maybe it will offend your capacity to think and you just shut it down.
But remember two things.
One, likely we didn't explain it well, we don't explain our abilities well.
And two, you've never experienced it so you cannot fully understand what we're even talking
about.
Unless, the slight chance you have some direct or indirect experience with autism.
However, if you've been around autism or you have autism, that's a plus.
That's an easier convenience.
And there's many people that say that autistics can be very friendly and be comfortable around
each other in conversation and in the social world.
Society is experiencing this more and more and by proxy knowledge about autistic superpowers
are expanding.
The autistic traits, the superpowers, honest and dependable, think a lot of B2, insistence
on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines and ritualized patterns.
Autistics have an ability to be reliable and logical.
Rules are rules and rigid thinking is rigid thinking.
Autistics can be more reliable than AI on this programming, AI.
Michael Grandin explains, autistics, thinking in pictures, visual thinking is the same process
AI uses to detect melanoma.
Some of this stuff in the world is simply wrong.
About two months ago, I was washing my hands in a sink that uses sensors to activate the
water.
This sensor and all the sensors in this bathroom, it was a big bathroom at a large sports complex.
All of the sensors were wrong.
It took one hand placed just right in front of the sensor.
And if you move the hand out to the water flow, it would shut off the water even before
the hand would reach the water flow.
I thought, this is such a waste, such a poor design.
They need an autistic to fix the sensor and or an autistic to design the system.
Somebody designed that and made a decision that was good.
That was not good.
I like all others using the sinks that we can was annoyed.
It was such a waste.
And someone decided it was OK.
That is what's fascinating.
Engineering, programming, coding are good for autistics and maintenance and repair positions
or various trades are too.
For criteria B, restricted repetitive behaviors.
We like routines.
Need routines.
But our routines.
So it needs to make sense to us.
If the rules and routines fit, we love it.
Rules that don't make sense.
The rules and routines that are done just because in quotations are no good.
Just because equals no thank you.
That's human thought and human creation.
I think let's do better.
We see bottlenecks and fix them or say what the problems are.
So maybe someone responsible can notice and fix them.
Visualizing, systemizing, pattern thinking types.
Seeing processes.
Those are excellent traits for seeing errors.
If I or we say that doesn't make sense or why is it done like that.
That's the employer or superior's cue.
That's your prompt to say maybe that needs changed.
Let's look at that.
However, lots of times because humans, well, we have to get it approved and run it up the
chain.
There more people must have the capacity to see it, understand what we're saying and seeing
and understand it.
Mostly I just hear waste, waste and more waste.
That is a silo effect.
Silo is just keep building what is already there.
Keep expanding upward.
Building more of what is already there instead of expanding outward.
A good trait with our thinking patterns is it is a path for self sufficiency.
We can provide this to the objectives.
Like earlier with others having to understand it.
The vision.
We can struggle explaining it.
When I worked in an engineering department, I had this several times.
Eventually I could just do it.
I moved up the hierarchy.
Remember the first episode and the employees under me trusted me.
I proved it.
I proved it time after time and they trusted me.
They understood what I saw and that was critical.
Whenever I moved up this hierarchy, it was a very tall corporation.
So it took some time and there was a lot of previous examples of nothing changing because
too many people had to be involved to see it and approve it.
But that doesn't make it make sense.
The higher in the chain of command, the more humans put on themselves.
The more they want to succeed and not fail.
Not look bad.
It's reputation.
I like to feel I am doing something for an overall goal.
Like I am providing something to something.
Maybe this is a supplement for the lack of connections in my life.
Maybe not.
But I do know and this is crucial.
What I am doing must serve something and must make sense.
I am vastly struggling with that right now in my part time job.
Treat traits.
Maybe some super deficits.
Certainly you can see these with and without autism.
But change is tough.
Remember the routines and predictableness.
This is stressful.
Remember one of the jobs of the human cortex is running models of the self and how we will
be entangled with others and the outside world.
All people do this.
How we interact.
How we put ourselves in the environment and become entangled.
In a previous episode we discussed the medial prefrontal cortex and the metabolic demand
of this area of the prefrontal cortex.
This is heavily involved.
In a future episode we will parse out the medial prefrontal cortex in detail.
Areas such as the ACC and the ANSLA are very fascinating.
The social aspect of employment.
This is possibly the most challenging.
And this is true for me.
It is not intentional.
It is not anti-social.
The small talk.
Various problems with that.
Remember with autism.
This is a spectrum.
As is essentially everything in our life.
Everything in our life falls on a spectrum.
Autism or not autism.
Sometimes we want friends and to socialize.
Sometimes we don't.
It's too much.
It's too difficult.
And there are a lot of variables here.
Remember the metabolic bank account discussed in part two of the EI imbalance.
Lots of times we are misunderstood.
So during the interview or even after having the job we are still misunderstood.
No workers and superiors think we are lost.
Unmotivated.
Distant.
Or we can be passed over.
Maybe others think we are wasting time on the wrong thing.
Maybe we are stuck and likely asking for help is not going to happen.
It is a very bad expectation.
Maybe we are not in the group or don't fit in.
Remember humans migrate to similarities.
Similar to the brain development discussion.
Humans do this.
Different people are more challenging to understand.
Naturally, most people don't want that challenge or conflict.
It's natural.
Mixing the fitting in, pressure or inability and the sensory processing.
These are sources for masking and then fatigue, avoidance and burnout.
In my life, mostly my vacation time are just random days.
Just random days I just need to kind of reset.
Re-energize and refill that metabolic bank account.
And this can happen quite frequently.
Probably more so than others.
I know so.
Often we feel stuck.
Bored, underutilized, more of that misunderstanding from coworkers and superiors.
Networking, remember challenges with promoting ourselves or even caring to.
Meaning the persuasion is just not happening.
Marketing, manipulation does not happen.
Besides, networking is strange.
If or when in a leadership role, it's difficult balancing that role of being in between, having
superiors and subordinates.
I have many years of this and it is exhausting.
Maintaining those social challenges and now add multiple roles.
Conflict resolution.
Much of this comes from our rigid thinking.
It's not complicated to do what you are supposed to do.
It's not complicated to stay within yourself.
At least for autistics it isn't, but maybe that's a superpower.
Remember, autism gives us the ability to be comfortable within ourselves.
We are very interoceptive.
Typically we can tell others what or how to do it, but anything after that, why can't
you just do it?
I once heard problems resort back to one of two things.
Direction or discipline.
Direction equals being shown, trained, providing instruction and being able to do it.
The subordinate can do it.
Description equals the person can do it, but made a decision to not do it.
This is accurate.
In employment you have to know how to do something.
Then you do it.
However, humans are subjected to our here and now factors.
There are many variables in play into our decision making.
And humans, I've often thought, we make several hundred decisions every single day.
Any type of conflict from superiors or subordinates is exhausting.
A good and bad trait is perfectionism.
Constantly running models of how things should go, how things did go, versus our expectations,
versus things we should or could have done or said.
This is constant background noise.
Automation and autism are very closely tied and entangled together.
It is a good source of superpowers and a good source of super deficits.
It's very draining that metabolic bank account.
And remember the challenges of just knowing when to talk or join a conversation.
These are constant factors occurring in the background, in our body.
That EI balance implicates this.
The superpower is this allows us to be efficient and protective of ourselves.
The super deficit is the EI balance and that metabolic bank account.
And remember those random days off, those random days away from society and the chaotic
outside world.
Connect this to our propensity for small or no crowds.
The social isolation and avoidance burn out and so forth.
But more importantly, understand the superpowers more so than the challenges and struggles,
those super deficits.
Highlight and capture the things that you can do and will do and love to do.
It is too easy to get hitched on negatives and have that consume our energy.
The nervous system will expand and use the energy regardless of if it's a good thing
or it's a bad thing.
The nervous system does not need context.
Suse strengths and pursue superpowers.
Please see Temple Grandin and Sir Simon Baron Cohen on specific connections with various
autistic thinking types and certain professions.
If you are listening and enjoy the episode and enjoy the podcast, please feel free to
leave a review or rating.
In podcasting, reviews, ratings and downloads are huge and I very much appreciate your feedback.
You can contact me by email at info.fromthespectrum.com.
Thank you for listening to From the Spectrum Podcast.