The Spectrum at work – autism and me part 2

Curious about autism? Are we really all a bit on the spectrum? What does it mean and how does it affect people and their working lives and relationships?

This year I discovered I’m autistic (more on that here). I like to write and to share information,?so here I am explaining more about autism. It might help you understand the autistic humans in your life and workplace better (me included).

?The Autism diagnostic criteria

First, the medical view of autism – it’s limited, but it’s a place to start. The diagnostic criteria are ‘deficit’ focused (they don’t look for positives).

I looked for simple versions of the criteria and found this article based on the DSM-5 from Embrace Autism. The criteria we use in the UK is usually the ICD-10 – but they’re very similar as you’d expect.

To be diagnosed autistic in the US you must match ‘the spectrum’ listed below as follows:

·??????All three of the A) Interpersonal criteria and

·??????Two out of four B) Personal criteria

This means if you find social communication difficult and startle at loud noises, you're not ‘on the spectrum’. You may have a social communication disorder and a sensory processing disorder. You have issues in two of the seven traits.

Below I’ve given the criteria, followed by personal examples in a work context to bring them to life. This isn’t how I worked out I’m autistic, it was through understanding how autistic people think.?I’ll get into how autism shapes my thinking a bit later.

Group A, Interpersonal Criteria

A1 - Differences in social initiation and responses from neurotypicals. (Doesn't start conversations, avoids / is poor at small talk. Takes things very literally).

• Starting / ending conversations: I struggle approaching someone I don't know at an unstructured meeting or event. If I’m there for a specific, known purpose, I’m fine and will talk to most people. I struggle to end conversations naturally.
• Small talk - ok for a short while, but there's so much 'big talk' we could be having, let's get to the interesting stuff!?I probably do enough small talk, but if I don’t, please tell me.
• Literalness – I’m unsure if you're joking, even when I know you probably are. If you're exaggerating for effect, I have to stop myself saying "it's not like that really". I seek clarity a lot, especially with agreed outcomes in meetings.

A2 - Challenges with non-verbal communication—eye contact, body language. Atypical speaking volume, pitch, intonation, rate, rhythm, emphasis. Infrequent or atypical use of gestures.

• Eye contact – I’m mostly fine. If you ask something very personal or detailed and abstract that needs a lot of thought, I can't make eye contact whilst I'm thinking and talking. It’s a myth that all autistic people can’t make eye contact.
• Facial expressions: I often need to monitor and ‘update’ my face, it’s not always on autopilot like yours is. I probably overdo it. If I'm interacting with a group for a while, I reach a?point where I can't tell if my face is working properly (especially if it's very loud and busy). This has more of an impact at social events. Work conferences are usually manageable.
• Gestures: I tend to talk a lot with my hands.

A3 - Atypical social relationships, (Interacts with people for more practical reasons?than social ones). Challenges with social awareness (missing social cues from others). More interested in special interests than people.

I’ve gradually realised the benefit of finding the right people to work with and I’ve become more social. Many autistic people don't think of asking for help or?prefer to solve things by themselves. I’m good at self-help and problem solving and I’ve got better at including others when appropriate. After a lifetime of practise, I’m a lot better at reading social cues.

I have a deep hunger for connection and I'm very attached to 'my people', that includes the team I lead and my peer team.

I suspect that my special interest in psychology and human behaviour helps me to like, socialise and work with people. I will talk at length on this. When it stops being interesting or helpful, please tell me.

Personal Criteria - Group B

B1 - Stimming: Tapping fingers, playing with hair, playing with a necklace, counting things.

I fiddle with my hair and fidget with things. I wave my hands around, rub them and twitch my fingers. I tend to sway or rock when standing. If this gets very distracting, please tell me, otherwise I’d appreciate your patience, especially when in the office. Stimming helps me manage my emotions and the input I can’t control from sound, light and others moving.

B2: Sameness in clothes and foods, and not liking your schedule being changed.

• I'm better if the day is structured. I'm ok with meetings changing.
• I like all my meetings planned in advance and well-spaced out to allow thinking and prep time. I can manage without though – 25+ years of work does help you be prepared!

B3 Special interests: Deep interests that give pleasure from learning and expertise and take up a lot of time.

Some of my work special interests:

• Human behaviour: especially how we can work better together. Coaching, teaching / sharing information. I’ve got very good at coaching thanks to training and practise.
• Writing: I love the theory and practise of communication. I care how well things are written and have very high standards. This can make me impatient with things like policies, which tend to be written in a formal, rather than user-centred way.
• User experience design: How easy it is to interact with everything from the security gates to work apps, hardware, office equipment, meeting rooms, everything. I’m passionate about this (links human behaviour, the environment and includes writing). I’m distracted by poor experience and need to make a conscious effort not to let it spoil my day. Especially as it’s obvious to me how things could improve; it can feel like this is rarely a priority to others. We waste so much time and mental energy for people… ok, deep breath and stop writing now. Do stop me going on about this if it gets too much! On the upside, I’m good for ideas ??

?

B4 Sensory differences (hypo or hyper). Sensitivity to light, aversion to certain textures, sensitivity to smell; and/or less sensitivity to touch, temperature, and pain.

• Sound processing: I find it difficult to separate voices from background noise. I struggle with meetings in open spaces, especially if there are break out groups all talking at once. I’m not great at understanding people with unfamiliar accents.
• Light: I prefer natural daylight.

Generally, I can manage this and other things, but it can tire me out as much as doing the work.

Beyond the diagnostic criteria

There are many other things often reported by autistic people and researchers. These are some of the most relevant to me at work:

Information processing – typically very strong in autistics but can be weak

Autistic brains have too many local connections compared to allistic (non-autistic) ones. And more of our brain is involved in processing everything, e.g., sensory inputs, abstract concepts, and social information. Some people think this is the core of our successes and challenges.

·??????Using my brain: A Business Analyst once said to me “It never fails to amaze me how quickly you can work with new information.” In conjunction with my problem-solving urge this can turbo charge me when needed.

·??????Over-using my brain: I can get fixated on things I see as blockers (see my blog The Art of Letting Go). I need physical activity to shut my brain down and regularly spaced holidays, so I don’t get too intense.

Problems starting and switching tasks

I struggle to start tasks I’m not sure about or that don’t have a routine or will need a lot of thinking about. Once I start, no problem usually! Task switching is REALLY hard. Especially if I’m doing something I like. I manage this with alarms and reminders.

Different things are important / obvious

These are general observations, not true in all cases and there is no moral or value judgment attached. All have upsides and downsides.

Allistic (non-autistic) people tend to emphasise:

1.??????Work and social hierarchies

2.??????How things look

3.??????Winning / delivering – whatever it takes

4.??????Consensus

5.??????The big picture.

Autistic people tend to emphasise:

1.??????What you know / how you behave

2.??????How things are done

3.??????Following the rules (and fixing the rules if they don’t work)

4.??????Correctness

5.??????The detail.

This list, along with some of the things I’ve mentioned above does heavily influence how I act in some situations – both positively and negatively.

Autistic Brain examples

My desire to problem-solve quickly, (especially if it’s for my people), sometimes means I go the direct route to someone who can help instead of going through expected channels.

The last time this happened, with hindsight, there were a lot of triggers. I saw it as a matter of fairness and there were system and process issues that meant I had to move quickly (design issues, time pressure). I was directed to the person who could solve the problem and went straight to them (literalness), rather than through the hierarchy. I forgot the unwritten rule of ‘the right way’; autistic people are not good at unwritten rules.

When my error was pointed out, I was mortified, especially as I’d no intention of bypassing the correct person who I think a lot of and know cares about this stuff too.

Another example: I was blunt about a process change that added time and cognitive load to an important task. I didn’t consider the tone of my comment – or the big picture for the change. When this was pointed out, I felt compelled to explain the impact and how it could be better. Not helpful right at that moment. I apologised and felt terrible. I put at risk a relationship with someone I’ve respected for a long time.

So, if I make mistakes, please tell me and I will apologise and try to modify my behaviour next time. This is something I need to continually work on; it’s not how my brain works naturally. I’m also deeply uncomfortable with disappointing people.

Leading on from that, I can be anxious about maintaining a good reputation. This could be because I’ve pretty much felt like an imposter all my life to a greater or lesser extent, (I can tell I don’t think like others even if you can’t).

All of us have our triggers and weak spots, however our brains work. Knowing them and then compassionately working on them has helped me a lot. I recommend it.

There are many upsides to how my brain works, but I think that’s enough for this article!

The one thing I want you to take away from this:

Autistic people are different in lots of ways (and every autistic person experiences their spectrum differently). Different things are obvious to us. Different things matter. We look and behave differently. That doesn’t make us better or worse, unless you judge us for it.

Often our biggest difficulty is having our behaviours and intentions misunderstood. We don’t think and behave like others and sometimes we’re told we ‘don’t fit the culture’. That’s one of the reasons I appreciate YBS working to welcome different ways of thinking and being. When we’re enabled to thrive, our differences mean we can add value in places others wouldn’t.

I hope you’ve found this interesting. As ever questions and thoughts are welcome below or through your channel of choice. And a very sincere thank you if you commented or spoke to me about my last blog, I appreciate all of you very much.

If you've found this interesting or useful, please consider re-posting to spread the word :)