Published on 12, July, 2020
This is not me having a whinge. But does anyone on the forum had or have to deal with the expectation that as they are good at what they do they feel that there is a continued and increasing need to do and provide more and more to suit others.
I sometimes feel that I have just become a high functioning machine rather than human and that the challenging aspects of autism (where I am low functioning) are negated or ignored.
I don't like the terms either, but we seem to be stuck with them. My understanding is that we are 'high-functioning' in comparison to people with autism who also have learning disabilities to a greater or lesser degree: people who need support in all aspects of their daily lives.
But it also, to me, implies a comparison with neurotypicals (i.e. we function well, but not as well as they do).
I think I know what you mean, though. For me, it seems to be the expectation that because I can do many of the important things that NTs can do - hold down a job, drive a car, manage a household budget, operate a computer - I should therefore also be able to understand and respond to things as they do. I should be able to manage certain situations better. But I can't. Part of my current problem, with the bullying at work, is getting my managers - including people who really ought to know better, such a those in the behaviour team - to understand that I can't just let things go over my head, I can't just ignore silly comments, I can't work around people who seem to be going out of their way to make life difficult for me. I had to send the Behaviour Manager a research paper about autism, trauma and PTSD in an effort to help her to understand that 'trauma' to me can be what most people would regard as trivial: that I have a lower threshold for it, and am much more sensitive to it.
I hate this tendency many NTs have to 'normalise' things. Everyone gets bullied. Everyone has tough days. Everyone experiences anxiety. We're in the minority, so we don't have a lot of back-up support, whereas they are in the majority and have each other to confirm that my responses are faulty or inappropriate. I had a colleague the other day tut-tut when a service user covered his ears as an ambulance went screaming past, sirens blaring. 'You'd think he'd have gotten used to it by now,' she said. I had to point out the obvious. He's hypersensitive to loud noises. There is no getting used to it. Another colleague said about another service user, whose daily routine was hugely interrupted, 'He needs to learn that he cannot always do what he wants to do when he expects to do it.' What am I missing here? Who are these people?
If I can't even get understanding, acceptance and appropriate support in an autism facility, what hope is there for any of us?
Sorry... that was a whinge!
I currently work two jobs, been offered a third and my OH now suggested that I take on a forth (a business), I also do all the domestic chores and support my son.
OH does not work... but as I have a skill set I seem to find myself as the high performing monkey when in fact I’m an elephant currently receiving support for anxiety and depression - these latter facts seems to have been ignored
I got used as a performing monkey for years - totally abused to the point my health was collapsing. I pointed out the behaviours that were damaging me but those involved were too selfish and lazy to change because that would show their own incompetence. Instead, things were swept under the carpet because I was unable to just walk away from it all.
Eventually my health failed completely so that all the hard/impossible decisions were taken out of my hands.
Sending hugs back xxx
Missy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Gorgeous ..