www.aspie.com
  • Meet Liane
  • Blog
  • Presentations
  • Posters
  • In the News
  • Scheduled Events

A Personalized Depression Plan

8/23/2019

3 Comments

 
I've fought with depression for most of my life. I remember writing note in my diary about my sadness, my inability to understand why other people laughed or seemed so happy in regards to everyday things like birthday parties or playing dodge ball on the playground. I was wont to head to the playground alone, long after school was over, to survey the area and recreate the day as I remembered it. I was ever so much happier alone and much more able to think on people and their comments, and their behaviors, when I could manage all that input in my mind, little by little rather than in one big mess of commotion and chaos. I was forlorn. Confused. Struggling to touch the fun I couldn't quite hang on to. Wondering why I seemed separated and apart from the group; a group that actually accepted me for me. Why did people want to play with me, I'd wonder. Why did kids ask me to sit by them at lunch? Of course I know how unusual this is in the autism community. Far too many of my peers didn't have accepting people in their lives. That seems a big enough reason for depression. Why did I have depression when I had so many good things going for me? I didn't use the word "depression" back then. I didn't know it, but I sensed it in every corner. Now, as then, depression remains my nemisis and my Achillies heel.

As a community consultant representing autistics for the American Society of Suicidology, I work to share how difficult, unique and overwhelming depression can be for autistics. Standard treatments and consultations might not (usually don't) work well for us. Practioners are beginning to understand this as they search for better ways to work with us to help us deal with the invisible but oh so real bugs that bite the mind and heart. Yep, bugs. That's my personification for depression- something I'd surely like to send away.

Below is a link for an article on neuroimaging and depression which seeks insight that will supprt personalized treatment plans for autistics who deal with suicidal thoughts and depression. I find the article fascinating and I hope you do, too. It gives me hope that we might finally be on a path for building roads meant for individuals rather than a collective mass.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/brain-scans-could-help-personalize-treatment-people-who-are-depressed-or-suicidal?utm_source=Copy+of+Spectrum+News+%28Daily+Report%29&utm_campaign=232e48996a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_08_22_05_59&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5d6f652fd5-232e48996a-168433661

 

3 Comments

Autistic Friendships

4/15/2019

4 Comments

 
In Pretending to be Normal, I wrote quite a bit about my definition of friendships. Over the years, other people within the community have shared their version of friendship. I find it interesting to note most of us have a similar stance on what it means to be or have, a friend. I've not seen a evaluation for autism that includes views on friendship, but perhaps there should be; it is, afterall, a very important piece of social communication. Here now, an essay on autistic friendship, from my friend Michelle Baughman 
Why Autistic Friendships Should Not Be Measured By Neurotypical Standards.
By Michelle Baughman
Recently I came across an article entitled “How Friendships Improve Your Mental Health” in which the author, Danielle L'Ecuyer, asserts that there are “two types of friends you can have in your life: a friend who is good or healthy for you, and a friend who is toxic and brings nothing but negativity into your life.” She describes the three benchmarks on which to measure the health of your relationships:  Positivity (is there more good than bad); consistency, (are you both making an effort to connect), and vulnerability (is there a balance in how much you are sharing with your friend).  Danielle L'Ecuyer encourages her readers to end any friendships that match her description, based on this criteria, of what an unhealthy or toxic relationship looks like.  I feel that this alarmingly myopic litmus test fails to take into consideration the different neurological needs which effects the differences in how autistic and neurotypical (non-autistic, abbreviated NT) individuals interact. So I felt compelled to write an article in defense of autistic friendships, which on the surface, and according to L'Ecuyer’s criteria, can look like toxic friendships.  The article illuminated for me that the difficulties we autistics have in developing and maintaining friendships with neurotypicals is not necessarily a failing on our part, but rather a misinterpretation on their part. 
It dawned on me that the author’s one-sided point of view is probably characteristic of all neurotypicals; they see and evaluate everything through their own lens--completely unaware that their lens doesn’t show them the entire reality. How can anyone make good decisions based on this incomplete perspective, which provides them with incomplete information?  Entertain this analogy, if you please: Imagine going through life with red shaded sunglasses on. This, of course, would prevent you from seeing anything colored red…so how could you make sound decisions when you are missing valuable information on which those decisions should be based?  For example, a red stop light at an intersection, and the need to decide whether or not to proceed through that intersection?  So please allow me to show you, my dear NT readers, what information your perspective has not been allowing you to see:
Firstly, I disagree with L'Ecuyer’s initial premise that there are only two types of friendships, because from the autistic perspective, there is a third type of friendship that falls in between the two mentioned: This is the type of friend who might otherwise be good and healthy for us because they are not actively or purposefully being toxic.  However, due to being unenlightened about our neurological differences, interacting with such a friend can be detrimental to our wellbeing. For example, a friend who wears too much perfume or scented products, or a friend who is loquacious can unknowingly and unintentionally cause us to experience sensory overload which could lead to Autistic Shut Down. If these friends understood and appreciated the challenges of our hidden disability and could accommodate for them as easily as they do for a friend whose disability is more visible, then these friends would be good or healthy for us. (I actually have such a friend, but alas, she is too verbose to allow me any opportunity to get a word in edgewise in order to be able to enlighten her and advocate for myself! Her loquaciousness overwhelms me so much that I have to limit my contact with her, despite having great affinity for her. I worry that this distance will damage our friendship). 

Situations like this could be resolved by a global undertaking of more and better advocacy around neurodiversity. It is unfortunate that for too many years ignorance, rhetoric and misinformation have been disseminated about autism in the name of “advocacy” by a greedy organization that used scare tactics and guilt as a very effective marketing strategy to solicit donations (of which less than 4% actually went towards helping autistic people) from an uninformed, yet sympathetic public. I feel that a campaign to help the public unlearn all that misinformation is necessary. (It would be wonderful if that aforementioned organization would put as much effort into rectifying the damage as they had expended causing it)! For example, instead of expensive television ads purporting that “autism will destroy your marriage” or “steal your children” they could spend that money on PSAs (Public Service Announcements) that explain about Sensory Overload (what it is, what it feels like from their autistic loved one’s perspective, how it negatively impacts their autistic loved one’s health and wellbeing, and how to be respectful of it).

Now let’s take a look at L'Ecuyer’s first bench mark, “positivity: is there more good than bad” from an autistic perspective:  Due to our sensory sensitivities and other neurological vulnerabilities we autistics often end up having more negative experiences when we interact with groups of NTs simply because they don’t understand or appreciate our differences and because the environment supports their neurology, not ours. So from the autistic’s perspective, interactions can often seem negative when we come away from social encounters feeling exhausted and drained. We refer to this as “peopling” and we know that it is draining, so we try to manage our personal bioenergetics resources (or “spoons”) accordingly so that we can manage to socialize on our own terms.  Now let’s look at this same scenario from the NT’s perspective:  When we are out socializing with our NT friends in their typical social environments which include parties, bars/clubs, concerts, noisy, crowded restaurants or coffee shops, etc., we can begin to go into Autistic Shut Down because of sensory overload. The NTs who are uninitiated about our unique neurological needs can perceive us as disengaged, bored, or “moody” and feel that we are not showing that we care about them because we are not seeming to pay them as much attention or displaying as much energy and enthusiasm as they are expecting.
 
Now, consider the fact that NTs talk at a much faster rate, employing a more sophisticated form of communication that includes body language, facial expressions, colloquialisms, and fluctuations of the voice.  All of these things can elude autistics which causes us to miss much of the conversation. (According to statistics, 70% of all communication is nonverbal, which means that we autistics are only engaging in about 30% of what NTs are saying). Socializing in groups of NTs as opposed to one on one situations increases the percentage of missed communication because there is more stimulation for our nervous systems to integrate, and there is only a finite amount we can take before we reach our saturation point (Autistic Shutdown).
 
Also, due to the differences in our processing speed and NTs talking speed, we need more time to formulate our responses. However, the more fluent speaking speed of the other NTs vying for input do not afford us any opportunity to interject into the conversation. Thus, they overwhelm us by dominating the dialogue while we struggle to find our segue into the discussion…risking appearing rude by interrupting, or looking awkward or stupid by saying something that is out of sync or irrelevant because the topic has moved on in the time that it took us to assess the dialogue, formulate our response, and look for our opening. This situation causes us a great deal of anxiety, which also contributes to sensory overload because autistics have very acute interoception (the sense that allows one to feel what is going on inside one’s body).  The effect of this onslaught of overwhelming sensory stimulation on the autistic brain is comparable to an overloaded computer that lags and then crashes while trying to stream a video.  Thus, we end up appearing aloof, or unintelligent or bored or distracted…the antithesis of the charming conversational partners NTs expect. (This is the “kiss of death” in dating scenarios)! All of these things could cause NTs to come away from our interactions feeling negatively towards us.
 
Likewise, we autistics could come away from the encounter feeling negatively because the cost (feeling drained because of the overstimulation and energy expenditure) outweighed the gain (the amount of attention we received because we were overshowed by all the faster talking NTs). However, these things don’t mean that the friendships are unhealthy, it just means that we have different needs.  Given time, continued contact, and a willingness for understanding on both sides, all these uncomfortable culture clashes between NT and neurodiverse ways of interacting can be ironed out and beautiful, rewarding friendships can be formed.
 
Considering L'Ecuyer second criterion, “consistency: are you both making an effort to connect,” from a neurodivergent perspective also seems like an unfair benchmark for NTs to measure autistic friendships by for several reasons.  For one, our vulnerability to Autistic Shutdown, which causes us to withdraw and avoid connection for periods of time in order to allow our brains to rest and process all the overstimulation. People in the autistic community refer to this phenomenon as a “Social Hangover.” Of course we are not making as much effort to connect when we are experiencing this, but that does not mean that the friendship is not valued or that we are deliberately being inconsiderate or taking our friends for granted.  It just means that we are exercising self-care! The amount of drain and exhaustion and autistic feels after an evening of regular socializing is comparable to what an NT feels when they experience jet lag from traveling the wrong way through different time zones. 

L'Ecuyer suggests dropping the friendship “if you feel hurt due to a friend canceling plans on you or never initiating to connect with you on a regular basis,” which is a likely possibility when one is friends with an autistic person because our energy levels and wellbeing fluctuate unpredictably, causing us to have to cancel plans at last minute.  This strikes me as a very ablest point of view, and I wonder if she would make the same thoughtless, blanket statement if the friend were undergoing chemotherapy or had some other visible disability?  There are simply other factors that merit consideration that L'Ecuyer’s myopic litmus test overlooks! 

Also, many of our autistic challenges have to do with social learning, so we may not actually know how to connect.  After all, if we don’t do it just right, we will be rejected because NTs have an almost elitist preoccupied with “being cool.”  So we are waiting for our NT friends to initiate, and we learn how to do it by watching and imitating them!  

An autistic’s social anxiety may also be a factor that could inhibit them from reaching out and initiating connection. Despite how long I have known someone, I still feel that initial social anxiety, and I expend a lot of mental energy overcoming it and strategizing what I should say and how to say it when I want to reach out.  I even experience it with regards to my own family members!  Sometimes the energy expended trying to overcome this results in not having enough energy to actually follow through!  This is what we in the autistic community refer to as “autistic inertia.” 

Poor executive functioning and prosopagnosia could also be factors that inhibit an autistic person from initiating contact. These things are all realities that we contend with that NTs are completely unaware of; if they don’t experience it, they don’t consider that it actually exists.   

The third criterion L'Ecuyer cites as a measure of the health of a friendship, “vulnerability: how much you are sharing with your friend” also overlooks differences in interaction styles between our respective neurologies:  While most NTs tend to readily share their energy, enthusiasm, and excitement with almost anyone in the vicinity and share personal information easily, most autistics prefer communicating one to one and need to be made to feel that the relationship is sufficient before sharing personal information with others, thus they tend to share such information only with those whom they feel they know very well.  This means that it will take an autistic individual more time for the friendship to develop before they reach the stage where they are comfortable sharing interpersonal information. Also, because NTs often don’t give autistics a chance to speak in conversations (because of the differences in processing speed vs talking speed mentioned earlier) this makes the autistics appear “hard to draw out,” or withholding, which could leave NTs feeling that they are doing more sharing than us.  But if they simply slowed down and let us have a chance to speak, allowed us the time we need in order to follow our train of thought, and if they just interacted with us one on one instead of in groups, the amount of interpersonal sharing in the relationship would become more balanced. Interacting with us in quieter settings with less sensory stimulation (for example, taking a hike or visiting an arboretum or a museum together) would also be conducive to developing connection because the less sensory input our brains have to process means the more energy and attention we have to focus on you.

If all our neurotypical friends followed the short-sighted advice in L'Ecuyer article without understanding things from our perspective we would soon find ourselves without any friends!  This would put autistics in danger of social isolation and missing out on all the wonderful health benefits friendships have to offer that L'Ecuyer lists in her article:
         “Friends benefit your health by increasing your sense of belonging and purpose in life, boost your happiness and reduce your stress, improve your self-confidence and self-worth, and can help you cope with traumas such as a job loss, a separation, critical illness or the death of a loved one. Friends can also encourage you to change or avoid unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as drinking, smoking, or a lack of physical activity, and will encourage you to grow and reach your full potential…Adults with a strong social circle have a reduced risk of many critical health issues, such as depression, high blood pressure, and an unhealthy body mass index (BMI).”
​

Autistics should not be excluded from being able to enjoy all of these health benefits.  We are all human beings, and as such, we all need connection in order to be healthy.  
4 Comments

Autism and Suicide Crisis Support

1/31/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture

Crisis Supports for the Autism Community
by Lisa Morgan, M.Ed. 

Picture
Picture
Autistic populations typically present atypical behaviors when faced with a crisis. The behaviors may be attributed to a host of assumptions that leave the struggling person anywhere from ignored, to misunderstood, to in a life-threatening crisis mode. The suicide ideation rates are extremely high among autistics and the actual numbers of autistic persons who were lost to suicide is at best, a guess given so many people remain undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. We can only change this horrible reality if autistic people join forces with those who are in the best position either professionally or as invested crisis volunteers, to help us send our collective insight and advice forward. 
​
Lisa Morgan, M.Ed. in collaboration with the American Association of Autism and Suicide Committee and Common Ground, prepared this essential information on crisis supports. I urge everyone to share the materials with your schools, physicians, counselors, politicians, community leaders, family and friends. 


And please remember... if you find yourself in crisis, reach out.  Feel free to print this material and bring it with you to your nearest crisis center, or use it to help you navigate an emergency phone call to a crisis center. There is no shame in asking for help. 

1 Comment

Safety First, Last and Always

6/24/2018

6 Comments

 
Picture
"You're an accident waiting to happen." I'd call this statement a Dadism, but truth is, my Dad's frequent reminder doesn't only apply to his only child. While correlational statistical studies on assaults, falls, accidents and females with neuro challenges are a struggle to find, anecdotal reports are everywhere. My self-reporting includes everything from rape, to assault, to walking into walls, to falls (yes, falls plural) down stairs. My internist and neuropsychologist work with me to find supports designed to keep me safe and many are working. Vestibular and proprioceptive therapy with the help of a physical therapist, are helping my mind and body coordinate information. Common sense thinking like holding on to stairs rails, is helping me navigate areas including subway systems, buildings and my own home. Reading crime and statistic reports along with police and neighborhood safety groups, provide loads of good information on general safety protocols and local first responder initiatives when I'm traveling. Thinking, planning, researching, reaching out to others, working on my own neuro-connections, are all great ways to increase my odds of staying safe. But sometimes, the world interferes with things we cannot always prepare for or overcome in the moment. 
I urge everyone to take a look at the technology created to make lives safer when emergency situations arise. There are a multitude of things we can do as a group and individual to increase our safety. Technology is making leaps and bounds to help us (caution- some technology can be invasive, do your research before installing or using any technology). I found this review of personal safety gadgets useful and hope you do, too. If you have ideas you'd like to share about safety protocols or know-how, please do share. 
Stay safe.  :-)

6 Comments

Guest Blog by Michelle M. Baughman

1/22/2018

7 Comments

 
Michelle provides valuable insight into the world of female adult autism, particularly as it effects employment. Michelle is exceptionally bright and talented. Her words should resonate with many adults on the spectrum. They certainly do with me!
How Being A Female With Asperger Syndrome/ASD Effects Me Vocationally

As I am a late-in-life diagnosed adult on the autism spectrum I spent most of my life not understanding why I had such difficulty gaining and maintaining employment.  Now with my diagnosis and subsequent self-education about Autism Spectrum Disorders, I understand how the autism played its part in this kind of “glass ceiling” that I kept bumping up against. But the other half of the scenario is the ablest attitudes and prejudices of non-autistic people—this unwritten assumption that everyone MUST fit the mold, and if they do not, then they deserve to be harassed and excluded.
 
Throughout my life, I have quit or lost jobs due to characteristics of my Asperger Syndrome/ASD that employers and/or co-workers took issue with and attributed these things to nefarious motivations:   I have been criticized for “not being a team player” because I come to work to work, not to socialize and because I need quiet and solitude to get my work done.  I have been accused of “being negative” because I am always pointing out ways to make improvements (something that I actually thought was being helpful and would be appreciated because it demonstrated that I have my employer’s best interest in heart).  I have been called “insensitive, tactless, or blunt” because I misunderstand social dynamics or didn’t comprehend their vague, indirect hints, and because I speak plainly and from a logical, solutions-oriented perspective rather than from an emotional one.  I have been accused of “being argumentative” because I ask too many questions and because I need to understand the “why” behind things in order for the policies or procedures to make logical sense to me.  I have been told that I am “being difficult” or I have gotten written up for not following directions because I was confused or derailed by semantics.  I have been deemed “incompetent” because I have a different learning style and/or learning curve.  Employers have concluded that I am “not committed” or that “I don’t like my job” because I had to take too many sick days because I suffered from migraines (which I learned post-diagnosis are a function of my sensory issues overwhelming me).  Pre-diagnosis, I wasn’t even aware of “sensory issues” so I had no clue what caused my migraines or how I could manage my sensory environment in order to minimize their occurrence.  I think this knowledge, alone, has made a tremendous difference in my life, and I am convinced that I would have had been more successful vocationally had I only had known this information sooner.
 
I am very sensitive to smells, loud noises, bright or flashing/flickering lights, or increases/decreases in temperature. My sensitivity can cause migraine headaches, nausea, irritability, and impairs my performance.  Because I know I'm sensitive to these things, I try to avoid them wherever possible.  An example of work environment smells that cause me great distress include coworkers who heavily wear perfume and/or make up, or who drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, or are dog owners and who come to work with these smells on their breath, body, or clothing.   If I am required to work closely with such a person (for example training or taking direction from them) I tend to lean away from them to avoid the smell.  The co-worker tends to take offense because my body language is telling them that I think they smell bad or that I don’t want to be with them, thus my opportunity to connect interpersonally is hindered.  Also, the smell and the resulting migraine headache or nausea that it causes me tends to distract me from even being able to focus on what I'm supposed to be learning or doing, thus my work performance suffers. 
 
If I end up working in an environment where the climate cannot be controlled, and it's too warm or too cold for me, this also impairs my concentration and I can become very irritable and I might end up snapping at people when they interrupt me or break my concentrations that I am struggling so hard to maintain (which, of course, further alienates me). The same scenario can happen in an office with fluorescent lights that need to be changed and the lights are blinking or humming, or in a place where the noise level is just intolerable for me.  It's important to note that what is or is not tolerable for me is very different than what is or is not tolerable for the average person.  And this threshold can vary based on my level of stress or the quality of my sleep, nutrition, or wellness. For example, if I am coming down with the latest cold germs that are circulating around the office, even “regular office socializing” can be too much noise for me, and people end up thinking that I am a stick in the mud when I hush them or won’t engage in their conversations.  
 
Most people cannot relate to what I'm going through.  They seem to think that I'm being deliberately rude or difficult if I haven’t disclosed my diagnosis, or they think that I am making excuses, or seeking attention or special treatment when I do disclose my diagnosis.  None of this bodes well for my interpersonal relationships with my co-workers and supervisors.  I have overheard co-workers talk about me to new staff and refer to me as “she runs hot and cold,” which I have learned means that they perceive my mood or friendliness to be inconsistent.  So it seems that once people have formed an opinion about me they influence new staff’s opinions of me in this way, so I don’t ever get a fair chance outgrow an unfavorable impression.  Then, it isn’t long before I am called into my supervisor’s office and told that it just isn’t working out and given the “it’s just not a good fit” speech.
 
Of course, all of this is very frustrating for me because it feels like I am being gas-lighted because I am so misunderstood, and this causes me a great deal of anxiety.  Every job I have had, I started out with the greatest of enthusiasm and the desire and intention to do well, but soon this social miscommunication or cultural clash comes into play and then the people I work with get irritated with me.  Often times this irritation turns into passive-aggressive hostility towards me.  I understand that this hostility is a type of peer pressure that is intended to change my behavior; but what is not clear to me is exactly when and what I have done wrong, or how I ought to have behaved.  So I am at a complete loss to know how to please people.  If I ask them (even when I have disclosed my diagnosis) I am met with attitude and comments like, “Oh, come on, you know what you did!” So this just increases my anxiety, which in turn, increases the likelihood that I will make even more social faux pas because everything I do requires specific attention and focus…nothing comes naturally to me…and the more anxiety I have, the more it interferes with my ability to focus!  So I end up in a rapid downward spiral that I don’t know how to pull out of.  I end up getting fired or I quit. And then I end up being heartbroken and depressed for several months and too discouraged and demoralized to even consider applying for another job.
 
My Asperger Syndrome/ASD has even hindered my job search process because of my literal thinking:  Until very recently, I didn’t understand that the ad is just a “wish list” of what the employer would like potential candidates to poses, so if I did not have every single one of the qualifications and job responsibilities listed then I would not apply because I thought that I was not qualified for the job.  I am sure I would have been more successful vocationally if I had only known this simple fact sooner!  And to think of all the frustration and low self-worth I could have been spared if I had only known this years ago!  I’ve developed a cognitive distortion that I am worthless (despite the fact that I have four college degrees and made Dean’s List almost every semester) because I would search thousands of jobs and very seldom find any that I thought I was qualified for. Volunteer organizations would gladly talk me on board because they are happy to train a person if they are missing a few skills.  So all these years I gave my labor away for free instead of spending that time earning a pay check because I believed that no one would bother to pay me for my labor.
 
I am fortunate that my husband has been able to provide for our family so that I didn’t need to work to survive.  I believe that if that had been the case, I would probably be mentally ill.  My hubby and I had long ago discovered that there seems to be an inverse relationship between my quality of mental well-being and my employment status.  So we agreed that I should stay home and focus on my well-being by indulging my creative interests or volunteering so that I am in the best shape possible to and raise our children.  (This decision has often met with scorn from our parents and family members who accuse me of being a “play-girl” or “selfish” and accuse my husband of being my “sugar daddy”)!
 
 
Post diagnosis I have made the following observations:
 
Despite their claim to not discriminate (as employers declare in their application paperwork), many employers actually do discriminate.  One way in which hiring practices are discriminatory against a person with ASD is in the resume screening process because negative assumptions are made about a candidate’s work ethic if there are gaps in employment, or if the candidate has several jobs that were only held for short periods of time.  I know this because as a member of the PTO, I was selected to serve on my town’s public school system’s search committee for a new Middle School Vice Principal where I was privy to the selection process. So I now understand why I seldom even get called to interview despite how many jobs I apply for.  I had been told “it’s a numbers game” but in fact it is truly a brick wall because I have held many jobs for very short stints of time and I have big gaps in employment.
 
If I do happen to get lucky and get called to interview, I seldom get called back for a second interview or offered a job.  I believe this is because the very nature of the job interview process is very biased against anyone with an Autism Spectrum Disorder or an anxiety disorder because of the need to maintain eye contact, the need to be succinct, and the need to social multi-task and not get derailed by semantics.  Also, due to my deficient short term memory and my weakness in processing auditory information I usually end up forgetting one or more parts of an interview question (when I am in the kind of interview commonly given when one applies to public schools in my area), where the candidate is not allowed to take notes.  This results in a poorer interview performance and a lower rubric score, which decreases my candidacy for the position.
 
I have discovered that disclosing my diagnosis results in the presumption of incompetence and the under-estimating of my abilities which results in a lack of opportunities by potential employers or volunteer organizations.  I am a lot more capable than people are willing to give me credit for once they become aware of my diagnosis, and this has had a detrimental impact on opportunities for me.  I believe that the is due to the fact that the general public is still too ignorant about the entire autism spectrum, so when they hear the word “autism” they automatically think of the misinformation and rhetoric that Autism Speaks has been publicizing since 2005.  So in effect, I am “handicapped” by the rhetoric and stigma because it interferes with my ability to find work or volunteer positions at an appropriately challenging level for my abilities, so I am confined to underemployment if I am fortunate enough to find employment at all.
 
The argument could be made that even the way employment positing’s are written with all the odd jargon is discriminatory against people with ASD because of our language impairment. 
 

7 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    August 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    June 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Anxiety
    Asperger Syndrome
    Autism
    Crime
    Cultural Anthropology
    Depression
    Equine Therapy
    Friendship
    Hobbies
    Meltdowns
    Relationships
    Safety
    Sensory
    Social Media
    Special Interests
    Statistics
    Suicide
    Violence
    Volunteering

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Artistic-touches, ChaTo (Carlos Castillo)