Let’s start at the beginning…shall we?
When I was at my day job last week, there was an associate who has down syndrome and has a tendency to wander away from her post. Now, this associate was someone who started her shift late and when she left her post, she would be gone for no more than 20 minutes.
Then, I had another associate who always keeps asking me if anyone complained about him constantly and then of course, another associate who would always want to talk to me when I was trying to get stuff done.
Furthermore, at the beginning of last year, I had someone on the autism spectrum refuse to be a team player and play by his own rules and as a result, he was quickly fired.
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You may wonder why I bring up something like this? Well, in addition to being constantly irritated, I feel that these three specific associates feel that since they have special needs, it gives them the right to do whatever they please. Now, this is not to say that I am NOT bad mouthing anyone. We all want to be included and want to be able to learn and grow at our own pace.
Maybe it could be that people with special needs that are capable of working feel that being part of a team is voluntary and that they can do whatever they want. But, being on a team means that you have to play by the team rules. These three colleagues of mine at my day job try their best and maybe I’m just complaining about it. I get the fact that we are not flawless and that we are a work in progress.
But, if you are going to be in a working environment, some accommodations are given to you right away and there are other requests that you have to earn. Just because you have special needs does not mean that you automatically get what you want or you get your way with something.
For one thing, you don’t choose to go off the line for 20 minutes at a time to either check your phone in the bathroom or check whether or not your lunch is made properly. In the mind of the individual, they probably don’t understand that these kinds of actions have consequences that can result in getting fired from a particular job.
It’s up to the job coaches to make special needed individuals have somewhat of a mindset that is geared towards the job that he or she is working. And if you ask me if I once had this same mindset, yes, I did. Had it not been for my job advisor and others around me, I probably wouldn’t be where I am right now. If you are going to survive at a job, you need to follow the rules to the best of your ability and that includes not getting special treatment on a silver platter.
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Catch you all later!!
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