November 23 was my last blog post, and I was sure then that I would revive the blog and podcast on a weekly basis. That didn’t happen. As the weeks became a month, my frustration increased but my free time did not. I slept less and less, trying to keep…
Category: Employment
Posts on the employment challenges faced by autistics.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads this blog and follows the podcast. Unfortunately, I’m not feeling great and it is anything but a good holiday in our household. Back pain is winning and I’m not in the mood for any holiday time. I was barely able to walk on Tuesday,…
Podcast Episode 0024; Season 02, Episode 10; November 13, 2018 Daniel Sansing discusses the complications of disclosing an autism diagnosis. When do we tell friends, family, schools, and employers? What are the risks and benefits of disclosing we are autistic? My Ambivalence on Autistic Disclosure My experiences suggest coworkers, supervisors,…
Night after night, I find myself grading papers well into exhaustion. Often, well after midnight. My weekends are spent grading, too. In fact, right now I’m pausing between papers to gather my thoughts before yet more grading. Teaching this semester continues to interfere with everything that isn’t school-related. At times,…
Podcast Episode 0023; Season 02, Episode 09; November 5, 2018 Heather Conroy, the co-founder of Evolve Coaching, discusses coaching autistic individuals as they develop life and employment skills. Visit Evolve on the web at https://www.evolve-coaching.org: Evolve is committed to helping adults with autism and other developmental disabilities and differences show…
Podcast 0020; Season 02, Episode 06; October 16, 2018 Joe Farrell discusses the Joey Travolta Film Camp, Arts for Autism, and Evolve coaching. Joe moved to Pittsburgh in 2008 to pursue his Master’s of Science in Education and Community Agency Counseling degree from Duquesne University and began working with children and young…
I wrote in my last blog post that teaching was taking a toll on my body. Friday night, I ended up in the emergency room after coughing blood for several hours. Blood is usually not a good sign. After x-rays, CT scans, and various tests, it was decided I have…
Neglecting The Autistic Me blog and podcast was not my intention with my return to teaching, but that’s been one of the costs. Trying to triage my schedule and to-do list has required prioritizing teaching duties — particularly grading — that require far more than 40 hours per week. Teaching,…
Podcast 0017; Season 02, Episode 03; September 18, 2018 Autistic visual artist and advocate Bobby Roma discusses the ways in which autistics are devalued by society because our thinking processes seem strange to others. We’re called “immature” and told we lack “depth,” yet sometimes our concrete clarity is exactly what’s needed to…
Approaching middle-age (50 years) as an autistic adult can be a miserable, difficult journey. For me, it has been one perceived failure after another. It can be difficult to see the great things in life when I look only at my career path. Thankfully, I have an incredible wife and…