I shall briefly comment on the above news report.
I used to post on autism on social media, but stopped. General appeals to people who are in no position to help are idle. People feel pressured into expressing sympathy, and sympathy changes nothing, merely reinforces the sense of hopelessness by sharing it. Change has to be focused upon change-agents and change-agencies. Excuse the vague language, but it is less than clear who these are, where they are, and whether they even exist in any number to make a difference – it would appear not.
The comment applies generally, hence my consistent concern to resocialise and resolidify society from the base up, establishing social supports and stabilizers within the entire social fabric – socialisation vs a social isolation that requires external surrogacy.
At the same time, it is always worth underlining the continued scandal of wasted potential and, worse, destroyed dreams, hopes, and happiness that is autistic unemployment and underemployment.
The article posted above states:
'The government recently published a review, external into autism and employment and found only three in 10 people of working age are employed. The report said this meant a large group of people were not able to lead independent and fulfilling lives, and that the economy was missing out on the skills and energy that autistic people could bring, "to the detriment of us all."
That phrasing attempts to appeal to a rational self-interest on the part of society's members - society as a whole is losing out with respect to the wasted talents and abilities of autistic people. It's so much worse than that, though. Behind the national scandal of wasted potential lie countless personal tragedies of lost and buried lives, of people living far short of their hopes, dreams, and, indeed, potentials. If society as a whole is losing out with respect to the talents and abilities of autistic people, autistic people themselves are suffering the greatest loss of all, that of living in accordance with their own authentic being.
It is a double scandal that continues to be overlooked in an age of 24/7 outrage.
I have learned to immediately identify what any organisation has to offer, beyond all the usual promises. As soon as I hear CBT, medication, interview techniques and CVs I know an organisation is offering the cheap and easy, for want of any other resources. Such things may work for many people. Autistic people are not ‘many’ people. but very particular people. It’s the particularities of character and circumstance that count.
My experience of dealing with various authorities and organisations over the years has had me increasingly quoting the only line I remember from reading Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers:
‘Such as were only beautiful gave their beauty, whence, without doubt, comes the proverb, "The most beautiful girl in the world can only give what she has."’ (Chapter 11, In Which the Plot Thickens).
The plot is thickening now, having encountered organisations and authorities that are much less than beautiful. Speaking to autistic people, my experience appears to be all-too common. People generally are pressured into making the best of any ‘help’ that is offered, for no other reason than that it is the only help available, regardless of whether it addresses the problem or not, on pain of being labelled ‘difficult’ and ‘awkward’ (again). Such approaches play the percentages, going with what ‘works’ for ‘most people.’ They play the odds against the ‘odds.’ Such ‘help’ can actually be yet more hindrance for autistic people to deal with, adding burdens of useless instructions and actions that lead nowhere to the already difficult business of managing information without internal editors and filters. You are charged with making the unworkable work. All the onus and responsibility is on you, as is the inevitable failure. It’s small wonder that many of the autistic people I have encountered who have succeeded have done so by way of self-employment, channelling their ‘special interests’ in a socially productive direction.
Many autistic people seek work, but find the world of work to be less than accommodating. You have to adjust, in the same way that everyone else has to adjust.
I have had some ‘interesting’ exchanges on ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the past couple of years. By law, autistic people are entitled to ask for these. People offering advice state this as if this is the end of the matter. They have a touching faith in words written down on paper. They also have a touching faith that the word ‘reasonable’ is so robust as to make a real difference. One woman with an autistic son set me straight immediately – given a choice between those who can do the job without demands and accommodations and one who makes demands that require accommodations, employers will choose the former.
Which should hardly come as a surprise. That has been my experience of employers since ever. In 2007, one former boss explained it to me this way: the people he hires are thrown up against the wall, the ones that can do the job stick, the ones that can’t, fall. The law on ‘reasonable adjustments’ can make no difference here. The facts and figures are there to prove it. And the most beautiful woman in the world can give only what she has.
