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Did you ask everyone you worked with if they were autistic, or is this based on gut feeling?

watwut 9y ago
They did not displayed syptomps. They were able to to correctly guess other peoples emotions or imagine themselves in their situation. They did not had single minded obsession nor routines that must happen. You could negotiate with them easily. They were, otherwise said, normal. Of course I might have missed some very mild case or something. And of course opposite, determining whether someone who kind of have some symptoms would be harder for non profesional. There were some where I suspect that and it did impacted work. Nevertheless, majority of people were normal, well adjusted with ordinary social lives and ordinary undrstanding of humans. That includes assholes I met - when your jerkiness is limited to those under you and you are charismatic treasure to bosses, you not autistic.
- jdietrich 9y ago
  >They did not displayed syptomps. They were able to to correctly guess other peoples emotions or imagine themselves in their situation. They did not had single minded obsession nor routines that must happen. You could negotiate with them easily. They were, otherwise said, normal. High-functioning people with ASD invest enormous cognitive resources in passing for "normal". They memorise facial expressions and learn to decode them like hieroglyphics. They reverse-engineer social behaviour, learning to imitate normal behaviour and interpret the behaviour of others. They hide their stereotypies and preoccupations behind an affected facade. The fact that someone looks "normal" doesn't mean that they don't have ASD, it may mean that they're managing their condition effectively in a hostile environment.
- bobthechef 9y ago
  I think the correct way to understand autistic people vis-a-vis the industry is not by placing such people up on a pedestal as "special", but that tech is an environment where people with social deficits (whether related to autism or simply a lack of social skills) are more likely to survive career-wise precisely because they skills they lack are not needed and are not a selection criteria that words against their survival.
  - watwut 9y ago
    I agree with that. I also think it would not hurt much to educate others how to communicate functionally with someone like that, so that it does not end as ugly as it sometimes is (it can turn to bullying in tech too, especially in those highly competitive cut through environnement). I would say that autistic are in disadvantage also in tech, just less so. Because those social skills are needed for anything except most junior positions and situations with managent capable to crete few positions with absolutely clear requirements and no need to cooperate closely. However, I strongly dislike when autistic person is framed as average or typical programmer.Note how often is discussion framed in exactly those terms. Or when social skills are framed as somehow in opposition to ability to learn algorithms, design or "computer". You can indeed be interested in both people and programming and even have other constantly changing side interests. And nine of it implies you are bound to be weaker programmer.

They did not displayed syptomps. They were able to to correctly guess other peoples emotions or imagine themselves in their situation. They did not had single minded obsession nor routines that must happen. You could negotiate with them easily. They were, otherwise said, normal. Of course I might have missed some very mild case or something. And of course opposite, determining whether someone who kind of have some symptoms would be harder for non profesional. There were some where I suspect that and it did impacted work. Nevertheless, majority of people were normal, well adjusted with ordinary social lives and ordinary undrstanding of humans. That includes assholes I met - when your jerkiness is limited to those under you and you are charismatic treasure to bosses, you not autistic.

jdietrich 9y ago
>They did not displayed syptomps. They were able to to correctly guess other peoples emotions or imagine themselves in their situation. They did not had single minded obsession nor routines that must happen. You could negotiate with them easily. They were, otherwise said, normal. High-functioning people with ASD invest enormous cognitive resources in passing for "normal". They memorise facial expressions and learn to decode them like hieroglyphics. They reverse-engineer social behaviour, learning to imitate normal behaviour and interpret the behaviour of others. They hide their stereotypies and preoccupations behind an affected facade. The fact that someone looks "normal" doesn't mean that they don't have ASD, it may mean that they're managing their condition effectively in a hostile environment.
bobthechef 9y ago
I think the correct way to understand autistic people vis-a-vis the industry is not by placing such people up on a pedestal as "special", but that tech is an environment where people with social deficits (whether related to autism or simply a lack of social skills) are more likely to survive career-wise precisely because they skills they lack are not needed and are not a selection criteria that words against their survival.
- watwut 9y ago
  I agree with that. I also think it would not hurt much to educate others how to communicate functionally with someone like that, so that it does not end as ugly as it sometimes is (it can turn to bullying in tech too, especially in those highly competitive cut through environnement). I would say that autistic are in disadvantage also in tech, just less so. Because those social skills are needed for anything except most junior positions and situations with managent capable to crete few positions with absolutely clear requirements and no need to cooperate closely. However, I strongly dislike when autistic person is framed as average or typical programmer.Note how often is discussion framed in exactly those terms. Or when social skills are framed as somehow in opposition to ability to learn algorithms, design or "computer". You can indeed be interested in both people and programming and even have other constantly changing side interests. And nine of it implies you are bound to be weaker programmer.