It has been three days since I attended an academic conference. I only attended one of the two days, knowing I was not doing well physically. I’m still “shaky” — the best adjective I can conjure at the moment. It is like my senses are turned up a notch even…
Category: Employment
Posts on the employment challenges faced by autistics.
I was watching a television spot that included the line, “She still has hope an employer will call.” Hope is passive. It should never be the only approach to a problem. Hope is not a strategy. I understand the role of hope and optimism. Every time I send a portfolio…
I had written a long reflection on the job hunt (better an essay someday) as I finished preparing yet another portfolio to send to a state university. I found myself focused on a comment from a search committee member. “You aren’t anything like Christopher in The Curious Incident. Are you…
Early Monday I leave for my first on-campus interview. Others are being scheduled, so the next month might be busy. This is a great thing in the face of weak job market. Multiple interviews are rare when so many institutions have hiring freezes or would prefer adjunct to tenure-track hiring.…
I am on track to receive my Ph.D formally this April or May, depending on university paperwork processing. The dissertation is done, approved by my adviser, and only minor edits remain. The university bureaucracy is certainly navigable, though it is essential to have extra copies of every form on file.…
Hunting for work is never easy, but for individuals with disabilities, the question of “disclosure” arises. Do you tell an employer you are disabled? Do you assume certain group memberships or activities reveal the disability? What if people offering letters of reference mention the disability? Honestly, I don’t have any…
I came to the University of Minnesota because the Department of Rhetoric was not within English and was not a “college composition” department. I wanted to study the relationship between technology and writing. I wasn’t focused on autism or disabilities in general. I wanted to study online writing spaces, work…
I’m definitely leaving any and all cognitive research related to autism behind after 2010. I’m shifting back towards creative writing and, hopefully, new media rhetoric. I’m hoping to find a university where I can work on my poetry, scripts, and novels. Research is interesting, but the public conflict isn’t. (If…
This week there is a major national conference on campus, sponsored by the academic department in which I reside (in theory). However, either I missed the announcements or didn’t understand them earlier this academic year. So, while other graduate students and instructors are meeting administrators from across the nation, I…
Tonight, slightly after midnight, I e-mailed a second draft of my dissertation prospectus to my academic adviser. It was shy of 20K words, about 40 single-spaced pages. It has been a long journey, certainly. The prelims, the oral exam, and now the dissertation. I won’t make my goal of having…