Use this site to access recordings and presentations from National Conferences

Autism Society records most keynote and concurrent sessions at their annual conferences. You can see and hear those recordings by purchasing full online access, or individual recordings.

3650 Work Place Bias - Dealing with Employer/Employee Issues at Work

Saturday, July 12, 2008: 1:00 PM-2:15 PM

Tampa 1 (Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center)

MP3 PDF Slides Recorded Presentation

Registered attendees have free access, please select the button above for the file you would like to access.

Purchase Access

This presentation will be an honest examination of a history of a professional who works with individuals who have Aspergers as adults who assists them in identifying careers, obtaining jobs, and maintaining jobs. Also examined will be this presenters own experiences with having Aspergers and Bi-Polar and running a not-for-profit agency with a Human Resources background from Corporate America. She will bring to this audience examples of the many clients and employers she has worked with, and her personal insight. This presentation will be focused on the issues faced by adults entering and those who have entered and are currently working in today’s workplace. Things that are frequently not explored in today’s employment sector for individuals with Aspergers are how employers view staff who disclose their diagnosis, how they are treated in the workplace by others whether they disclose or not, and what types of accommodations are being made and if they are taken seriously when they are being put into place?

Aspergers is a very misunderstood diagnosis by most of society and in the workplace even more so. When speaking with many employers and even Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, they will admit they do not know how to provide services for those with the condition. They do not know all of the issues that need to be given consideration to or the types of accommodation that might need to be considered. Some believe that all persons with Aspergers are the same and should be treated as such, that they all have the same problems and that it is associated with extreme difficulty relating to others. Still others feel they may be dangerous and because they can not read social cues they may become overly upset or a stalker in the workplace creating an issue such as a sexual harassment case and thus do not want to be bothered with problem.

Individuals with Aspergers are also often the ones who are “left out” politically at work. They are the ones that are not invited to the lunches or the little clicks that form at work (no Suzie it does not go away after you leave the school yard). These are all issues that can continue into the work place leaving the individual with Aspergers wondering again what they have done wrong, or how do they find a way to fit in.

In terms of accommodations in the work place, employers often are perplexed with how to accommodate a person with this diagnosis. Is it a software addition? Is it something you do to reduce the method in which you provide the workload? Is it the way you deliver the training? They are confused with what to do. Even many advocates who work with individuals with Aspergers do not know how to recommend accommodations for this population.

So what are we to do? This presentation offers many practical ideas on how to address these issues through specific experience based on eighteen years in working with persons who have hidden disabilities including Aspergers. How the law looks at essential functions and how Aspergers would be viewed as a functional limitation under the law.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be provided with insight on what employers and employees reactions are in working with and dealing with those who have Aspergers in the workplace.
Participants will learn techniques on how to explain their diagnosis as it applies to the workplace setting and interaction with their peers.
Examples will be provided from real situations that have occured with employers on how accomodations have been made in the workplace to reduce and/or remove fears and barriers.
Participants will be provided insight into the lives of others who deal with entry level to management level positions who have this diagnosis and what they face on a daily basis in the workplace.

Content Area: Transition Planning and Options for Adulthood

Presenter:

Veronica Crawford, MA, -, Senior, Disability, Ana
President - HR Generalist
Life Development Institute

Veronica Crawford holds a MA in Human Resources Development and is a Certified Senior Disability Analyst. She has published a book called "Embracing the Monster" Overcoming the Challenges of Hidden Disabilities. She is a national public speaker since 1989. She is the President for Life Development Institute in Phoenix AZ.

<< Previous Session | Next Session >>