Grateful for advocates

[Nervous Rex]

Yesterday, the company I work for had an hour-long session on Autism and Neurodiversity, held by an autistic employee. They did an incredible job of explaining autism, common traits, masking, stims, anxiety, sensory sensitivities, etc. The presentation took about 20 minutes and then they spent the next 40 minutes answering questions.

I may have been able to put together a presentation like that, but there's no way I could have answered questions on the fly (I would need to know all the questions days before the presentation so I could prepare answers).

I can communicate technical problems and solutions clearly, but when it comes to the "humanities", I'm not that good - I'm not a good public speaker. There's some ability to make things interesting and compelling that I lack (I know this from reactions to my posts on Facebook - crickets, usually).

So I am incredibly grateful for the people who can advocate and get out and do that work.

My own conversation may be as dull as a tree, but I appreciate anyone who stands up be my Lorax.

 

[tazz]

If you feel like it - I'd be interested to hear more about how they explained autism. No worries if you'd rather not go into it.

And what sort of questions came up after.

 

[Nervous Rex]

If you feel like it - I'd be interested to hear more about how they explained autism. No worries if you'd rather not go into it.

And what sort of questions came up after.

Later today, I will try to summarize what I remember from it.

 

[VictorR]

That's pretty awesome that there was a volunteer, and that the company also gave colleagues like yourself the time to attend. Hopefully it'll contribute to greater understanding, but I also hope that those who really should be in attendance (e.g. managers) are there, as quite often, I've found that many of those who attend such informational events to already be interested, and so at times it can be like "preaching to the choir".

 

[Mr. Stevens]

Yesterday, the company I work for had an hour-long session on Autism and Neurodiversity, held by an autistic employee. They did an incredible job of explaining autism, common traits, masking, stims, anxiety, sensory sensitivities, etc. The presentation took about 20 minutes and then they spent the next 40 minutes answering questions.

I may have been able to put together a presentation like that, but there's no way I could have answered questions on the fly (I would need to know all the questions days before the presentation so I could prepare answers).

I can communicate technical problems and solutions clearly, but when it comes to the "humanities", I'm not that good - I'm not a good public speaker. There's some ability to make things interesting and compelling that I lack (I know this from reactions to my posts on Facebook - crickets, usually).

So I am incredibly grateful for the people who can advocate and get out and do that work.

My own conversation may be as dull as a tree, but I appreciate anyone who stands up be my Lorax.

That's really inspiring. I work with Autistic people, and we don't get much of this in my field. Just a lot of non-Autistic staff who think they understand Autism really well, but are convinced every sensory or illness complaint is fake. Even the ones who know I'm Autistic seem to think I agree with them, not the disabled person.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Certainly, I have stood up in front of a group of students in class, and new employees during their orientation, told them I was autistic, and what that may mean when we are interacting. I have also created a several page Word file on my autism that was attached to a work e-mail. I have suggested to our hospital medical lecture committee (we do monthly lectures that anyone can attend) that a lecture on "Autism in the Workplace: Interacting with Co-Workers on the Autism Spectrum." may be useful. We have some 30,000 employees within the system, so it could be said, it is highly likely there may be several employees with an ASD.

I suppose I could do the lecture myself, but to stand up and lecture to a group of physicians in a large lecture hall, I am thinking I would have to do a bit more research and present evidence. It's a bit different and more "informal" with a non-medical audience.

Standing up and lecturing on a topic you know well is quite easy, and those Q & A sessions are an opportunity to share your experiences and knowledge further. On the other hand, if you don't know the topic well, it definitely shows and you loose all credibility with the audience.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Okay, here's a bit of what they talked about, from my imperfect memory:

* What autism is, and that it's mostly genetic. Dispelling the most common misconceptions of the causes of autism.
* Addressing comments like, "You don't look autistic."
* Every one is different - quoted "If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person."
* Some of the more common social and emotional challenges that come with autism.
* What is stimming. How they stim.
* Sensory issues and how they may be manifested. Showed off their noise-cancelling earbuds.
* How social situations can be draining.
* What is masking. Why it's exhausting.
* Meltdowns and breakdowns. They're not always big spectacles and freak-outs. Sometimes they manifest as non-verbal episodes, zoning out and ignoring all outside stimuli, etc.
* Imposter Syndrome - how much this person feels like they're not doing enough or not performing well enough. (This was enlightening to me because I first sought out counseling for anxiety and told the counselor I thought I had imposter syndrome. He diagnosed me as autistic. This is the first other autistic person I've met who felt like they had imposter syndrome.)

I'm sure I'm forgetting a chunk of it.

Then they answered questions about:
* How to get diagnosed?
* I have this behavior, too. D'you think I might be autistic?
* How can we best support someone on our team who is autistic?
* What can managers best do to support autistic employees?

They had a very thorough and positive "presentation portion", but answering questions on the fly afterward was where they really excelled. I would not have been able to put my words together fast enough.

 

[tazz]

Thanks for taking the time to write that. Much appreciated.