
Asperger's and IT: Dark secret or open secret? - aaco
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9072119&pageNumber=1
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yummyfajitas
It's important to note that it's not clear that Asperger's actually exists as
a separate set of people, rather than simply as a group of people who's
personality fits in some distant corner of the normal distribution.

I.e., I'm saying I want to see a continuous stable functional _with a margin_
(1) to distinguish between asperger's and non-aspergers before I take it too
seriously as a "condition". As far as I know, this has never been done.

(Note that I'm not disputing full fledged autism. I'm just uncertain about
aspergers.)

(1) For those unfamiliar with stats, this is what I mean. Let x be an N
dimensional vector, representing the personality/physical features of people
(i.e. x[1] = propensity for antisocial behavior, x[2] = seizure frequency,
x[...] = other diagnostic criteria). Then I'd like to see a continuous
function f(x) such that if f(x)>1, you have aspergers, f(x)<0 you don't, and
_the probability that 0 <f(x)<1 is very small_.

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dangrover
As an aspie myself, I generally try not to let people know about it, but I
debated on something in my resume the last time I was job-searching.

I co-founded a major AS website with 17k+ registered users, but you definitely
don't want to disclose a disability in the hiring process. But a cursory
Google search on me would reveal the same, so I left the mention in.
Additionally, it's well-known in the IT industry.

In retrospect, I should have left it out.

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run4yourlives
>In retrospect, I should have left it out.

No, in retrospect, the company you were interviewing with would not have
enjoyed your services anyway, if your disability was indeed the key factor.
More importantly, you probably wouldn't have liked the environment either.

You've created an immensely popular and beneficial website (no, I don't have
AS), which is something to be proud of. You shouldn't be hiding that from
potential employers, regardless of the fact that some of them may be
unscrupulous.

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goofygrin
Dark secret? No way.

I can't even count on my fingers and toes the number of people I've worked
with that have been either aspies or HFA... every single one of them has been
someone I'd want on my team again. You give them a little direction and they
will just take off.

The hardest part is containing them and stop them. They have a tendency to
keep going when something is obviously not working or to tangent or drift and
not realize it.

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maurycy
One thought.

What I dislike in this text is that it treats people with Asperger syndrome as
people with a problem that needs to be addressed.

What if not Aspies are wrong, but rest of the world?

When I'm in a regular office the first thing that I notice is how unproductive
an average worker is. Massive amounts of time burned in bureaucracy; hours
wasted during the meetings etc., etc.

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elai
You don't have to have to be socially disabled to think bureaucracy, meeetings
& office politics is boring unproductive BS. Why do you think people start
starups :P

It's an interesting egotistical defense I notice most autistics use; saying
that everyone else is WRONG and I am RIGHT; using derogatory terms such as
'neurotypical'; which all stems from their frustration in trying to work in a
social world.

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a-priori
While I can't speak for all people, the aspies I know use "neurotypical" as a
neutral label, not a derogatory one. What would you have them call everyone
else?

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sethg
Since one out of 150 people have some kind of autism-spectrum disorder, then
it should be easy for a reporter to find people with these disorders in a wide
range of occupations. A plumbing-supplies Web site could run an article about
how plumbers with Asperger's use their nonverbal skills to find clogs. UPS
could put something on its intranet about an autistic driver who can plan a
complex route just by glancing at a map.

But "aspie IT worker" reinforces hoary stereotypes, whereas "aspie plumber"
and "aspie truck driver" don't.

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mechanical_fish
Well, I can't really disagree, but I would offer a slightly different
interpretation: The news media, especially print media, is written by and for
white-collar, upper-middle class people. It's not just the _aspie_ truck
drivers, plumbers, carpenters, cops, factory workers, taxi drivers, and
salesclerks that aren't getting any press: _none_ of these blue-collar workers
are getting any press.

One reason that aspie IT workers got enough media attention to become a
stereotype is that white-collar workers actually have to interact with them
from time to time.

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iamelgringo
It's only going to be a matter of time before the American Psychiatric
Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-
TR) starts describing anything and everything. And, if it gets into the DSM,
it's by their definition "aberrant" or a problem.

It's like ADD or ADHD was a couple of years ago, it's the current trend in
news reporting. I'm sure that I have a bit of ADD, but it's rather helped my
career as and ER nurse. You just have to pick the right environment. I'm sure
it will help me in my pursuit of being a founder, too.

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jk4930
We should note that IT itself is a kind of an "Aspergism-Amplifier": When one
has an aspie-bias before, IT might make it stronger. And when one switches
from math or IT to project management and similar social activities, aspergism
steps a bit back (even if the untold rules, rituals, and mean social games can
be a real pain). I experienced that myself several times and know of other
people who told me that, too.

And sometimes I feel that being an aspie is even caused by a dumb social
environment that isolates normal people with interest in math, tech, logic,
a.s.o. as nerds.

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chuchurocka
Douglas Coupland touched on the subject a few years ago in his book "jPod".
After reading that, it really changed the way that I looked at all of the
coders / sys-admins that I know.

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agentbleu
got me

