I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
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Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#2Hmm I sometimes wonder if I might not have this thing. I do share quite a lot of characteristics they describe...
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#3As someone who was diagnosed with Aspberger syndrome, reading that article made me want to throw up. There can be significant differences between a number of people with the same diagnosis, and generalizing them all under one mocking nickname of "aspie" is disrespectful. My diagnosis is not obvious to anyone talking to me unless I were to disclose it, and I have done very well in school leadership activities; I particularly enjoyed being involved in a debate club. I don't want Aspberger's to define me, and I wish that CNN would be more supportive of people who are working to overcome their disabilities instead of writing a puff piece about how special and disabled we are.
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#4As someone who was diagnosed with Aspberger syndrome, reading that article made me want to throw up. There can be significant differences between a number of people with the same diagnosis, and generalizing them all under one mocking nickname of "aspie" is disrespectful. My diagnosis is not obvious to anyone talking to me unless I were to disclose it, and I have done very well in school leadership activities; I parti…
I couldn't agree more - as another person with Aspbergers I feel that this article tried to fit us in to the broken genius pattern, rather than recognize that these kind of syndromes manifest themselves differently in every person.
I am in no way special or helped by my syndrome, I am not difficult to work with, I am not in any way disabled, like normal people I have issues with emotional repression and other peoples point of view, but that being said I am human, first and foremost.
No one (outside of medical and psychological circles) except my girlfriend, mum and best friend know I have Aspbergers, my differences are just a part of my personality.
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#5Hmm I sometimes wonder if I might not have this thing. I do share quite a lot of characteristics they describe...
It's not so much as a "thing" as it is "shades of grey". Autism is considered a spectrum disorder with a huge range of capabilities included.
I've got some of the tendencies too. I've overcome all the social aspects, but I still often prefer being alone to think. Being social actually takes work but "being the machine" (as the article calls it) is easy.
EDIT: And of course I'll hire someone with Aspergers ... but maybe not for a sales position where schmoozing customers is a big part of the job. The hiring process is the same regardless as you need to evaluate each candidate's suitability in filling the open position.
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#6As someone who was diagnosed with Aspberger syndrome, reading that article made me want to throw up. There can be significant differences between a number of people with the same diagnosis, and generalizing them all under one mocking nickname of "aspie" is disrespectful. My diagnosis is not obvious to anyone talking to me unless I were to disclose it, and I have done very well in school leadership activities; I parti…
Completely agreed. I found the article mildly infuriating. Aside from the fact that it manifests in many different ways, I wouldn't even think of Aspergers as a disability in the "traditional" sense; people with Aspergers are just different, it's not like they function any less well than people without Aspergers. I don't have Aspergers myself but a good friend of mine does, and the casual stigma and misinformation I've observed drives me crazy.
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#7Hmm I sometimes wonder if I might not have this thing. I do share quite a lot of characteristics they describe...
Asperger isn't a binary diagnosis; it's more of a continuum.
The skills that make you a good programmer place you a little further out on that continuum almost by definition. [1]
Therefore the real question is: Do you feel you would benefit from the treatments that become available to you were you to receive the diagnosis?
[1] The simplest way to (sort of) get that is this quote from Inventing on Principle: "People we consider to be skilled software engineers are just the people really good at 'playing computer.'" (http://vimeo.com/36579366 @ 17m40s)
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#8Don't worry. Asperger's syndrome will be removed from DSM-5 next month. So next month, the person won't have the syndrome anymore...The syndrome won't even exist anymore...
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/12/04/aspergers-syndrome-to-be-...
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#9I find it rather annoying that people like myself get lumped into this as well when such broad definitions are being used.
Do I prefer to be alone/ in a small group most of the time? Hell yes! It's more exclusive and I get more work done. In a social situation, less people means more signal, less noise.
Do I sometimes completely avoid social situations? Of course! But it's solely due to the fact that sometimes, I just can't be arsed to care about dealing with someones trite problems.
When push comes to shove and I need to be social with large groups, there isn't an issue aside from the usual inherent "stage fright", but this is a quality that can affect anyone that doesn't spend the majority of their time as a public speaker.
Some of us exhibit the "qualities" in the article purely by choice, not by challenge. I'm pretty sure at some point in my youth, some poor misguided soul tried to diagnose me with some placement on the spectrum, but I would say that nowadays this incorrect classification is more common than not. Had someone told me every day that I was an autist, maybe I would have ended up exhibiting more of those behaviors simply by association. Maybe we should make a slight effort to stop telling schoolchildren that they're special or different, and more time letting people fend for themselves a bit first.
Re: I hired someone with Asperger's – now what?
#10Hmm I sometimes wonder if I might not have this thing. I do share quite a lot of characteristics they describe...
It's not so much as a "thing" as it is "shades of grey". Autism is considered a spectrum disorder with a huge range of capabilities included. I've got some of the tendencies too. I've overcome all the social aspects, but I still often prefer being alone to think. Being social actually takes work but "being the machine" (as the article calls it) is easy. EDIT: And of course I'll hire someone with Aspergers ... but may…
I think it was precisely because of those "shades of grey" characteristics it was decided Aspergers should be eliminated from the new DSM V.
When it gets released this means no-one will be diagnosed with Aspergers (along with other forms of autism) from then on, it will all fall under the same autism umbrella because of the range of the spectrum.