I was unemployed by Christmas of 2009, which was very somber, having to move back home to Houston from North Texas. I had gotten too used to a decent salary for once and then found myself out of a job and unable to pay my bills and remained unemployed for 6 months. I didn't want to apply for unemployment but my parents made me do it. Since I had submitted my own resignation (under duress, to be sure, but still true), I had a high burden of proof to try and demonstrate that I'd been coerced into resigning. I argued my case as best I could, but I did not prevail. Lucky for me, I had my immediate family to fall back on to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly. I didn't strictly need those benefits, and hence did not spend a dime of them. But if Texas wasn't so stingy with them, I could've used those funds towards re-training towards a new career, say. My family helped me with my COBRA insurance. But being unemployed for 6 months forced me into a corner and I had to also declare personal bankruptcy. I'm not proud of that, but it had to be done.
Another piece of good luck did finally come my way insofar as I was hired by the local Public Library system at the 6 month mark, just after my bankruptcy was granted by the federal court.
Just prior to this, my mother read in the paper about a local initiative with the University of Texas Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, affiliated with the UT Medical School Branch here in Houston, offering screening for Asperger's syndrome. My mother gingerly suggested I get evaluated for it. I felt I had nothing to lose, and COBRA would cover the lion's share of the cost so I assented. I was interviewed by a clinical psychologist, who also interviewed my mother, and I took a diagnostic questionnaire of roughly 200+ questions. The results came back, I was definitely an Adult with Asperger's syndrome. Thus began a quest to read anything and everything about my condition, and to seek out others in the area who shared my diagnosis. The past several years have been a journey of self-discovery, and cast a bright new light upon my past, bringing into stark relief so much that was previously hidden in shadow. It made my life experiences make so much more sense, in light of the diagnosis.
My pre-diagnosis self-labels, "shy", "introverted", "eccentric", etc., while not wrong, lacked the explanatory power of my formal Asperger's diagnosis. I soon made friends with other adult "Aspies" in the area, many of whom are among my closest friends to this day.
My new job with the local Public Library System turned out to be something of a mixed blessing, as I found myself going from one bullying boss to a yet WORSE bullying boss who I think in hindsight was probably a low-grade psychopath. She took an immediate dislike to me within the first week on the job and began to hound me relentlessly for the smallest of infractions. She ruled her department with by fear and with an iron fist. A few months in, she was fed up with me and I was probably within one week of losing my job yet again. The week did not start off well and by Wednesday I felt I had no choice and had to disclose my Asperger's diagnosis. I presented my paperwork to my bullying supervisor, who thanked me tersely and kicked it upstairs to the library director and to the local government HR administrator.
Thank goodness for the Americans with Disabilities Act because this disclosure definitely saved my job. The local government body HR official basically reigned in my bullying supervisor and made her back off a little. I asked for some reasonable work accommodations, which my supervisor sarcastically refused via email and which I printed out and showed to both the library director and the HR rep, both of whom admitted my supervisor was in the wrong and the requested accommodations were provided the next workday. I also received some negotiation assistance from the local county ARC organization. ARC stands for Association of Retarded Citizens, and these organizations were founded to help individuals with mental disabilities and act as their advocates. They have recently expanded their mission to include individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) such as myself.
As a result of these negotiations (with ARC negotiating on my behalf), it was decided that I would have to take a demotion, from Paraprofessional to Library Clerk II, because my responsibilities would be adjusted to tasks my supervisor felt I could meet to her satisfaction and that were within my abilities. It was humiliating, but it did keep me employed full-time, with benefits, and with the economy still in recovery, it felt like the best deal I could hope for and so I accepted it humbly and thank the ARC rep for doing their best on my behalf.
Fast forward to today, and at least I have a happy ending to report; Eventually my holy terror of a supervisor let her ego get the best of her. She crossed swords with the Library Director directly and got herself fired. The assistant cataloger was promoted in her place and today I have a much more kindly, benevolent supervisor and a good working relationship with her and my colleagues. I'm still terribly underemployed and underpaid for my level of education and actual work experience, but I'm still enormously grateful to have full time employment, benefits, and a pension to boot. I'm doubly blessed because unlike Texas ERS, and Texas TRS (State Employee retirement and State Teacher's retirement), both of which have been in the news lately as having been woefully mis-managed and under-funded, my retirement is through TCDRS, which is still comparatively healthy, but I do keep a watchful eye on the state & local news just the same.
Texas is a right-to-work State, so joining a union is not really feasible, as one does not exist currently that I could conceivably join. Unions for library workers do exist in other states, but nothing for Texas.
I am unabashedly a left-wing Democrat; Becoming aware of my Autism Spectrum Disorder as a mental disability has only strengthened those political convictions. Of course, I've gotten to know many other Adult "Aspies", in person locally and online, and just like in the larger population as a whole, there is a wide diversity of political and religious opinion to be found. I don't have the statistics to hand, but I do recall reading that despite our social awkwardness, many Aspies often have higher-than-average IQs. Autistic people are, in general, more likely to not have a belief in a deity than the average neurologically normal or "neurotypical" person.
I have certainly met religious Aspies, but to be truthful, they sadden me, because I think they're smart enough to know better. I've also met Aspies who are extreme libertarians/anarcho-capitalist, others who are Republicans. These also make me sad, because as disabled people, they're practically cutting their own throats lending support to these conservative political formations and ideologies. What I can say about Aspies generally is they tend to be political idealists, regardless of their particular political leanings. They have a very strong internal sense of justice, of right & wrong. We're also--unfortunately--subject to "black or white" thinking...nuance and recognition of "shades of grey" do not come naturally and must be intellectually constructed, upon reflection and a gradual accumulation of life experiences.
As a political progressive, it embarrasses me to admit it, but my worst employers to date have been governments...whether as a High School teacher in Webster, Texas (near NASA), or in the library field (Texas university systems and local government), while my very best job, where my (undiagnosed) Aspergian gifts & abilities were recognized, accommodated and actually cultivated, was in the private sector, working for a special division of the insurance giant, AIG, Inc. Yes, that AIG, of the big government bailout. One small sidebar to that larger national story that touched me directly. I'd worked for AIG, Inc.'s Travel Insurance Assistance Services (AIAS, then AIG Assist, today TravelGuard AIG) on three separate occasions in between various government jobs. They kept hiring me back because of my solid work and performance history with them. When I was forced to resign from my 2nd librarian job in 2009, I held out hope that maybe I could return to work for AIG another time. Alas, this was not to be. As part of the condition of the bailout, the company had been forced to implement a company-wide hiring freeze. The door back to AIG for me was slammed shut in my face, though it didn't escape my notice that the exec's in NYC still got their bonuses that year, of course. A few years later, AIG did expand operations and a position did come open in their Stephens Point, Wisconsin offices...and while I did consider it for a time, I had to ultimately turn it down and stick it out with the library job here. I did so because 1) they would not help with relocation costs and 2) I have no family or friends in Wisconsin to call on for support and it was so far away from any family & friends that the prospect of moving so far away terrified me. I told them I would consider the position despite these substantial negatives if they could meet me halfway between my best salary with them and my last library job's salary. They could not do so and the offer was rescinded.
It's cold comfort today, but former co-workers who are still friends and still keep in touch via social media and in person tell me the place has gone to hell and is no longer the upbeat, challenging-but-fun, internationally diverse work environment we all knew and loved in the late 1990s and early 2000s. So even if I had been able to go back, I might not have come out any happier in the end. One funny aspect about working in the "belly of the beast" that is the U.S. insurance industry, it definitely made a lot of us, myself included, into single payer true believers as we caught wind of clients get screwed repeatedly on their claims, etc.
I'm a solid lefty Democrat today not only from moral conviction and concern for others, but to look out for my interests as a person with a mental disability (Asperger's syndrome) who has felt (but can't prove in court) ongoing discrimination that I feel strongly has held me back in my chosen field (Librarianship). To my fellow Aspergians who do not align with the Greens or Democrats, you should really take a long hard look in the mirror and study the issues more deeply and look out for who's got your back, because it sure as heck aren't the Republicans. Some of you may have the talent and gumption to go off the grid, hoard gold & guns, grow your own food, etc. and if so, good luck and more power to ya, but most of us can't. Most of us are kind of stuck where we are. I'm 44 and still semi-dependent on my parents. I could conceivably live on my own again, in an apartment, but my standard of living would drop considerably having to shoulder the very high rents and dearth of apartment choices in this suburban bedroom community. It's a compromise I've so far been unwilling to make. My life has been one failed experiment of independent living followed by a retreat back to my folks in Sugar Land, over and over and over again...and frankly I'm just too tired to work up the motivation to risk it yet again.
Only with Democrats do I see a future where anti-discrimination laws can be bolstered, and where increased support for mentally disabled Americans, including those of us on the Autism spectrum is remotely possible. The only sliver of hope I see beyond electing more Democrats is the brute fact that Autism Spectrum Disorders do not recognize class distinctions among human beings. There will continue to be autistic children born to Republican parents, too, and these parents will learn firsthand what our life struggles are like. It seems the only thing capable of moving some Republicans to any kind of empathy, when misfortune touches their lives directly and personally.
Although writing this post was uncomfortable for me personally, I felt it was very necessary to insert into the wider conversation. I've always been an outspoken advocate for disabled people generally in my family, taking relatives to task for grousing about building ramps or other accommodations for the physically disabled. I am now more aware of and seek to speak out on behalf of those like me with so-called "invisible" disabilities of a more neurological nature. All of this is part of who I am and part of why I'm a passionate lefty Democrat.