https://www.rootedinrights.org/for-disabled-people-the-path-to-employment-is-still-a-maze/
Employment is a messy, complicated issue when it comes to people with disabilities and special needs, like autistic people. While it sounds like the author has a physical disability, any disability drastically reduces your chances of being hired. Like the article's author, I too spent much of my time pretending I wasn't disabled in hopes of getting and keeping a job. My colleagues rarely, if ever, knew I was autistic, and my bosses only knew it as a matter of legality, rather than actually understanding it.
This caused me a lot of stress, because it really does take a lot of energy to pretend you're somebody else. And it sapped my energy and creativity, which should have been spent on my job. The formalized work environment has never been terribly friendly to me or my disability. Perhaps due to these things, I didn't keep any of my jobs for very long.
Would having predecessors in the work place, other autistic people with their own problems, have made it easier? I'm sure it would have. But it will never be as easy for us as it is for neurotypical people. It's a simple question of numbers. Neurodiverse people are a minority, and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. Having people to talk to and share experiences with is certainly helpful, particularly if the person is within your workplace and already understands many of the details... but that's unlikely overall, sadly.
That's likely why the author says he grapples with feeling like he's the first disabled person to do his job. He's accurate that of course he's not the very first, but he is probably the first person with his particular disability to do those things within a certain mile radius. I had similar issues when I worked in the formal job industry, and like the author, it didn't go terribly well for me.
This difficulty is why autistic people often do better in running our own small businesses or as consultants. We make most of our own rules and work environments this way, and that allows us to spend much less energy "making up" for our disability and more on the job at hand. It also lets us leverage any hobbies or special interests we might have.
Employment is a messy, complicated issue when it comes to people with disabilities and special needs, like autistic people. While it sounds like the author has a physical disability, any disability drastically reduces your chances of being hired. Like the article's author, I too spent much of my time pretending I wasn't disabled in hopes of getting and keeping a job. My colleagues rarely, if ever, knew I was autistic, and my bosses only knew it as a matter of legality, rather than actually understanding it.
This caused me a lot of stress, because it really does take a lot of energy to pretend you're somebody else. And it sapped my energy and creativity, which should have been spent on my job. The formalized work environment has never been terribly friendly to me or my disability. Perhaps due to these things, I didn't keep any of my jobs for very long.
Would having predecessors in the work place, other autistic people with their own problems, have made it easier? I'm sure it would have. But it will never be as easy for us as it is for neurotypical people. It's a simple question of numbers. Neurodiverse people are a minority, and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. Having people to talk to and share experiences with is certainly helpful, particularly if the person is within your workplace and already understands many of the details... but that's unlikely overall, sadly.
That's likely why the author says he grapples with feeling like he's the first disabled person to do his job. He's accurate that of course he's not the very first, but he is probably the first person with his particular disability to do those things within a certain mile radius. I had similar issues when I worked in the formal job industry, and like the author, it didn't go terribly well for me.
This difficulty is why autistic people often do better in running our own small businesses or as consultants. We make most of our own rules and work environments this way, and that allows us to spend much less energy "making up" for our disability and more on the job at hand. It also lets us leverage any hobbies or special interests we might have.
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