A note on employment

Because for a lot of us, it's VERY DIFFICULT to get and maintain.

In my experience, there's a phenomenon that happens in the workplace in you're neurodivergent. I will be hired and approach my position with joy. I want to learn, I'm curious, I ask questions, I say hi to people. I try my best to be a positive presence. But for some reason, by about week 3 or 4 in a new role, the subtle exclusion starts happening. I'm told "let's circle back to that" and nothing happens. Emails go unanswered. People avert their eyes from me. People get mad at me for asking clarifying questions, when just a couple weeks ago, they were happy to help. And of course, this curbs my motivation for the role, and I am inevitably accused of "not being a team player."

This doesn't happen at every workplace, but it's occurred often enough that it's definitely a pattern.

I'm not asking anyone to fix it. Right now, the job market is horrendous. Ask anyone who's unemployed. Industry experts and people who 100% know their stuff are having to start online fundraisers to cover basic expenses. I've seen many posts in LinkedIn from people who have been driven into homelessness due to not being able to get a job.

The job market itself is a separate issue from this blog post. I mention it only to proactively address "but everyone's having a hard time right now" protests. When the dominant neurotype is neurotypical, that's what people expect in the workplace. And based on my coworkers' actions toward me, I must be unknowingly violating some unspoken social norm repeatedly.

The problem is . . . I don't know what I'm doing wrong! And the likely answer is that actually, I'm doing NOTHING wrong. I am simply existing in a workplace as myself. But anything that deviates from what's expected, even if it's harmless, tends to be viewed as "bad."

"Go to voc rehab" some people will say. Okay. I challenge you to find a voc rehab counselor who's received ANY training on how the autistic brain works. Because trust me, I've looked.

The point of this blog post is, it's not as easy as "just go get a job" if you're autistic, no matter the state of the job market. Systemic barriers, lack of neurodiversity training, and ingrained stigma regarding any variation from neurotypical behavior are only some of the things that I've had to try and overcome.

And by the way . . . I'm still trying. Because as of this writing, I have been looking for stable employment for over a year and a half.