
An Office Designed for Workers with Autism - pseudolus
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/21/magazine/autism-office-design.html
======
dsr_
If you've met one person on the spectrum, you've met one person on the
spectrum. The range of non-neurotypicality is extremely broad and highly
individualized.

To give a quick analogy: most people have output filters to prevent them from
saying things that other people will consider to be abrupt, rude, or
irrelevant. Most spectrum people have input filters instead, developed to keep
them from being hurt by the world. When an input-filter person talks to an
output-filter person, the speaker might sound overbearing, arrogant, or
impolite. When an output-filter person talks to an input-filter person, they
might sound smarmy and unwilling to convey essential information.

Or... they might not. Endless variations exist, and some people on the
spectrum have learned to emulate output-filters, make subtler points and ask
clarifying questions. All of this takes a lot of processing time which has to
be done in emulation mode rather than having native subroutines, so when brain
resources are scarce -- say, when under stress -- they get less priority.

And that's just one aspect of the spectrum. The reporter managed to get one
really good quote in:

“People with my type of disorder, it’s not that we don’t have emotion,” Gadson
said. “It’s that we have too much emotion. We can’t push that stuff back.”

If you take away one thing from this article, that's the right one.

~~~
larrik
Jeez, maybe I'M on the spectrum. That describes me a lot.

~~~
camochameleon
It's common for those more 'high-functioning' \- i.e. more able to 'mask' in
society - to not receive a diagnosis until much later in life. Anthony Hopkins
was not diagnosed til late in his life [1].

I mentioned it already elsewhere in this thread, but if you want to explore
things further it may be worth taking the RAADS-R [2]. While the test itself,
and self diagnosis in general, is in no way comprehensive, it may help, and
can be the first step towards a diagnosis.

[1]
[https://eu.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/people/bru...](https://eu.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/people/brucefessierentertainment/2017/01/02/westworld-
star-anthony-hopkins-explores-consciousness/96018744)

[2] [https://aspietests.org/](https://aspietests.org/)

~~~
noir_lord
I took one a while back that was 25 or over need to go see a specialist, I
scored 43.

I never did, I function fine and one advantage to been a programmer is none-
techies expect you to be eccentric.

I don't think I am but it's good top cover.

~~~
noir_lord
> At the Culver City office, overhead lights bothered one or two colleagues so
> much that everyone agreed to work without artificial lights, so that often,
> by the end of the day, they are all working in pitch darkness, rectangles of
> soft, bright light from their computers illuminating their faces.

Oh crap. I chose the quiet office without windows over the noisy office with
windows, then I took all but one of the bulbs out of the overheads and put a
lamp on my desk.

The email thing hit a bit too close to home, I always worry about the tone and
whether I'm been too blunt, my boss has commented (not disparagingly) that I
can be direct, I asked if that meant rude but apparently not, just direct.

~~~
kaybe
Wait, does anyone not worry about the tone if the relationship is not super-
casual?

~~~
Skunkleton
I rarely worry about tone in any established relationship. I don't feel like
that is particularly unusual.

------
wccrawford
Before reading the article, I predicted that it would end up being an office
that was like _most_ people would want, as the workers.

Instead, I find that it's a typical office that made a ton of mistakes and
changed things _just_ enough to get by.

And, much like I predicted, those changes were things that most people would
be happy about.

It's pretty predictable that being told to clean off your desks, and then
coming in the next week to a completely redesigned office would be off-putting
for a lot of people. They don't need to be on the spectrum for that to be a
stressful situation. Maybe many people shrug it off pretty quickly, _but they
shouldn 't have to._ Just freaking tell them what's going on. And since it's
their workspace, maybe even let them in on the redesign during the planning,
too.

I was surprised that offices weren't a thing, and they still tried to do
cubicles. And their employees were forced to do things like put monitors
between each other to stop their perfectly normal behaviors from getting on
each others nerves.

At my previous job, the CEO put in really expensive lights that we didn't ask
for. Because they were expensive, he got upset when we turned them off and
insisted we leave them on. We did, but we didn't like it. We even put up cloth
to block some of the light for those who really hated it. When we got moved to
another part of the building without the special lights, we turned them off
and that was suddenly okay. Ugh.

In short, I think most of the stuff in the article applies to people in
general, and it'd sure be nice if managers would realize that.

~~~
commandlinefan
Yeah I don't know if I have autism or whatever but I do know that I can't
fucking concentrate with a dozen people having loud conversations 5 feet away
from me. I don't think this makes me "weird" \- there's a long history of
letting people who are asked to concentrate like exam-takers, at least, the
courtesy of silence. But if "be nice to autistic" people is what we have to
say in order to get a return to basic human decency, so be it.

~~~
gerbilly
> Yeah I don't know if I have autism or whatever but I do know that I can't
> fucking concentrate with a dozen people having loud conversations 5 feet
> away from me.

It's not autism. Ignoring a stimulus takes effort. It diverts resources that
you could be using for something else.

------
itronitron
I feel like this describes all of the software teams in which I've worked,
although I had better managers than they seem to have at Auticon, which is
ironic given what they are trying to do. Beam strikes me as being a poor
communicator in general, not giving people a heads up on office changes and
going so far as to move someone's desk without telling them about it is just
plain lazy and stupid.

------
fromthestart
>The interview process alone is a sociability test that many people with
autism are destined to fail or inclined to avoid altogether.

Having lived outside of the U.S., I think this is a particularly American
problem. We have strong extroversion/optimism bias here, especially in the
hiring process.

One of the worst aspects about being high functioning is having to choose
between authenticity and acceptance.

------
rdl
I wonder if one could claim autism or ASD as a way to get a decent private
office with a door as an ADA/EOE thing.

(I've done something right in my life that one of our office buildings was
built with not-soundproof-enough walls on the private offices, so the _office
manager_ /ops person (who stereotypically would be the one fighting this for
budget reasons) was the first person to suggest/drive the "we should
completely rebuild our 6-month-old office to have better sound isolation and
even more private offices".)

~~~
hinkley
I have a much easier time convincing people of my ideas on a one on one basis,
and honestly a big part of it is then getting to say what scares them and me
promising to make allowances or at least not to muck it up too badly.

People talk around their real concerns when others are listening. Especially
if there are toxic optimists in the room.

------
liam_mc
More in their line to design offices for loud extroverts and office-pest type
characters... a sturdy door with a lock is usually good enough.

~~~
richardhod
How would you describe an office pest?

~~~
Skunkleton
I have a coworker who has an uncanny ability to appear in my cube right after
I fart. Does that count?

------
PageRank999
These type of articles always make me question myself and whether I'm on the
spectrum, but I look online and only see resources for screening children. Is
there a straightforward way to get screened as an adult?

~~~
camochameleon
The diagnostic process varies greatly from place to place. Even within
countries different regions will handle diagnoses differently, and diagnosis
for adults is typically much more difficult than it is for children. You may
be asked to bring a parent or guardian who can answer questions about your
childhood and development.

A good first step may be the RAADS-R test, which you can take here [1]. While
not comprehensive, your results will be shown alongside those of people on the
spectrum for comparison, and you can get a good idea of where you stand. If
you do pursue a diagnosis, it could help to bring a printed copy of your test.
The site also offers various other tests, including ones for voice and face
interpretation.

[1] [https://aspietests.org/](https://aspietests.org/)

~~~
mont
Is there any reason other than personal knowledge to get diagnosed on the
spectrum? I woulnd't at all the surprised if if I landed somewhere on it, but
even if there was a (drug) treatment I don't think I would want to take it, I
more or less like the way I am.

~~~
camochameleon
As mentioned in the article, many autistic people find it difficult to become
or stay employed, and a formal diagnosis can help in terms of accommodation or
working at a company like Auticon. However, if you find yourself coping fine
with life, work, and relationships, pursuing a diagnosis is totally optional.

~~~
mont
I'm doing well enough in those regards, but even if I wasn't what would a
diagnosis do wrt life and relationships?

~~~
ficklepickle
Self acceptance. I developed quite the case of self loathing from a life on
the spectrum without knowing it. I had a deep unconscious belief that I was
bad, lazy, dumb or just broken.

It's helped me to treat myself and others with a lot more compassion. My
mental health and productivity have both improved dramatically. It has been
truly life changing.

------
skookumchuck
My roommate in college was on the spectrum, and I work with a number of people
who are. Their social missteps don't bother me, as I know they can't help it.

It's like I when had a friend from another country. English was not his strong
point, and I quickly learned to not infer nuance from his word choices.

------
RichardCA
“It was like my brain threw the blue screen of death on me.”

My brain goes into kernel panic and forces me to restart from GRUB using an
earlier build.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIqbMCfR3r0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIqbMCfR3r0)

------
gowld
Favorite bit of wording from the article: " _the number representing_ pi up to
15 digits "

------
tareqak
I'm glad to see companies trying to build businesses around the needs and
abilities of their employees in this way. It starts with accommodating a group
of people, but there might be lessons learned and advancements that benefit
all employees at large.

------
camochameleon
This was a great read. Hopefully this trend can spread to more countries.

------
Animats
Why not? We already have offices designed for smart assholes. Visit a trading
floor.

