A paradox from page 157 — Autism from the Inside (Internal View) — from the book Theory of Mind and the Triad of Perspectives on Autism and Asperger Syndrome: A View from the Bridge by Olga Bogdashina:
“…another paradox which is quite common in high-functioning autism: the more successful you are intellectually and academically, the fewer chances you have in employment.”¹
How many people know this? Maybe more would if they also read what follows these words:
“They often face two main problems: to get a job, and (if they get it) to keep it. When they look for a job, they (justifiably?) assess their abilities in accordance with the necessary skills they have to have to do this particular job properly. In practice, however, most jobs have a written job description, which specifies what the successful applicant will do, and also an unwritten job description, which specifies who the successful applicant has to please, and in what order of importance.”
There is no need for me to repeat the priority of who to please over knowing how to do the job. I always had a sense that this hidden description existed, but because society places so much importance on education and experience, it also seemed that there had to be a certain level at which the knowing how to do the job could overpower knowing who to please.
Such things are brought back to remembrance thanks to actions like Wendy Portillo, a kindergarten teacher in Port St. Lucie, Florida, who displayed no qualms about sharing her disdain for 5 year old Asperger student, Alex Barton.
Mrs. Portillo made it abundantly clear that knowing who to please is far more important than receiving a good education. God only knows what Wendy did to please those who made the decision to hire her for a teaching position. It’s obvious she wasn’t hired because of knowing how to be a good teacher.
Getting back to this Asperger paradox between education and employment, I now see I’ve probably totally blown away any last remnant of a chance I had for employment because of being that type of ‘permanent student’ Ms. Bogdashina talks about people on the autism spectrum being due to thriving on intellectual stimulation.
It amazes me that after receiving a degree in Business Administration, I now look back and do not recall any mention about unwritten job descriptions specifying the importance of knowing who to please. This seems like a major omission to leave out of a business curriculum, especially at the college level.
It’s no wonder after receiving my worthless degree for Graphic Design from college (thanks to their program not including computers yet, but were added a year or two later), that I froze when it came to me ’selling’ my portfolio. Had I known that I was going to have to impress people more by my persona than my work, I never would have bothered to waste my time getting an education that was already known to become obsolete in the very near future.
By the time I finished pursuing my degree in Psychology, I already could see where a college education was taking me . . . or more like, where it was never going to take me. The educational institutions are no different than any other business — after they get their money, you’re on your own.
I doubt that the St. Lucie County School District (Morningside Elementary School/Alex Barton) is much different than most other government schools. My and my husband’s personal dealings (along with what some others we know of endured) with the Rondout Valley Central School District in Accord, NY, showed their agenda wasn’t really be about education either. (If you read about Rondout’s Tribes Agreements, remember to consider the source when it comes to statistics, especially when the source knows they don’t have to prove how they arrived at their numbers.²) Those in charge at Rondout (at the Middle and High School level) gave empty promises and repeated deception. They were caught in the act, but that still was not good enough for changes in the right direction to be made. Thankfully my children were trained to think critically enough to not be psychologically damaged by the foolish things certain school employees told them. It also explains why they wanted to get out of the school’s system as soon as they could. As for Rondout’s Elementary School level, I’d stick to evaluating them as being incompetent; plus, they were either ignorant or didn’t care.
So, am I saying that the answer then for high-functioning autistics is to strive for being less successful intellectually and academically in order to increase chances for employment? Even though it’s true that neuro-A-typical people with lower education levels are more likely to be employed, that isn’t the direction to take for making improvements. The most notable method for turning the tables on such despicable behavior as to refuse employment for someone who does the job best and/or refusing to educate an intellectually qualified student is to bring a lot of attention to it on the internet.
Because I know I’ve past the point of hope in regards to employment, I can now continue with my education as I have been doing throughout my life, except without having to be concerned over whether or not it will result in employment. It won’t, but one thing is for certain . . . it’s NOT ever going to be because I’m not educated enough. Intelligence and knowledge have their own rewards that money can never come close to matching!
¹It’s not in statistics yet, but I would bet that the odds for employment are even worse for women with Aspergers. At least men are admired for being brilliant, but when women show superior intellectual abilities, they are avoided rather than embraced (unless of course they have ‘good’ connections).
²[This footnote was added on 12-1-8] The Rondout School District published their tribes report. I can’t imagine how a survey could possibly be written more vague than this one! For example, how do you measure school spirit and/or how can teachers know if and/or how much students treat one another with more respect?!?! My husband’s comment on the report was, “It says a whole lot of nothing.”
