Neurodistinct™

What is the Autism at Work Playbook and where did it come from?

There is a loose collaboration between some of the worlds largest corporations focused on programs for sourcing, interviewing, onboarding, supporting, and retaining autistic workers. This effort is generically referred to as Autism at Work. The Autism at Work Playbook guides you through much of what needs to be considered for a successful program. It also includes the learnings from the programs of the various companies. The Playbook came from the direct effort of these companies:

Having Asperger's and taking words literally I find the title to be misleading. I think of a playbook as exact steps, patterns, or moves which is reinforced by the cover graphic of a football play. Once I got over the title not matching the content and started looking at the work as guided discussion of the many aspect to a comprehensive end to end program, I found it to be a great resource.

The points to consider and advice in the...

I was on a panel discussion titled "Autism & Work, Creating a Neurodiverse Workplace" with 4 of the leading academic scholars from the USA and the heads of SAP's and JPMorgan Chase's Autism at Work programs. This made  a unique panel as it offered academic understanding, corporate experience and the rarely heard perspective of an autistic adult. The video is my opening presentation for the panel discussion.

In this post I talk about my thoughts, impressions, and research from the perspective of a first time conference attendee, not as a speaker. For more details about the panel and our presentation please see my SIOP2019 entry in my Appearances & Media section of the site.

Before I was invited to participate on a panel I wasn't even aware of psychologists specialized in the dynamics and measurements of workers and jobs in the workplace. The conference is quite large with near 5000 attendees and 1000 presentations squeezed...

Neurodiverse Communication Consultant Tim Goldstein presented a short seminar on the tips and secrets he learned from Hollywood's go to vocal guy to the Looker Professional Services West consultant team.

 Lori and I were recently introduced by a mutual friend. Lori teaches people how to network effectively not only at the events you think of, but also in the course of their normal workday activities. She ends up coaching a lot of people out of the tech world. She has found the challenges she has to overcome tends to vary greatly between the business and tech sides of an organization and never understood the whys of the challenges that were common on the tech side.

Our mutual friend Mitch felt my neurodiverse concepts and communication strategies were what Lori was missing and the motivation to connect us. This video is Lori's impression and some learning points from our first conversation together.

Thanks Lori. I so much appreciate your efforts in learning about the tech mind instead of wishing we would just learn to be the "right" way.

Learn more about Lori on her company's site www.zenrabbit.com

I was at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz with my wife this past weekend. We were sitting down eating my all-time favorite junk amusement park food, funnel cake. To the side and a little behind me I started hearing a disturbance. I turned and looked, it was a boy in the 7 - 9 year old range and what I assume to be his mom.

I missed the start which my wife saw from her side of the table. Another boy had come up and the kid I saw was all set to punch him in the face. My wife said the first boy had that distinctive scary 100% focused level of emotion on his face that she knows all too well from my meltdowns over the year. It is a look of every bit of energy being released in total rage.

The other boy left, the first boy began verbal outbursts to his mom that packed all of his intensity into the words. I recognized this as it is a meltdown pattern I have struggled with. I listened in, it was obvious to me he was having with I call the "straw that broke the camel's back" type meltdown....

In my expanding series of 10 Tips infographics this one is intended for the neurotypical (normal non-tech/non-geek people that are the majority of humans) that has to work with the Talented & Challenging Tech Worker (nice way to say geeks like me). I think these tips will give some unique insight into the hugely different way our minds work. The biggest take away is we are literal, logical, and see things only from our perspective. I like to say, It isn't that I don't care about your feelings, but that they don't even enter my thinking.

CLICK HERE to download a letter sized PDF of this tip sheet.

If you find these tips to be helpful, contact Neurodiverse Communication Specialist Tim Goldstein to learn how he can help your organization to understand and learn how to work with this hard to hire but critical segment.

I was lucky enough to meet Julie Hornok ( www.juliehornok.com ) when LinkedIn suggested her as a connection and I clicked the button. I have become a firm believer that fate puts the right people in your path, but you have to take the action to claim fate's prize. I consider knowing Julie one of fate's prizes.

That initial connection led to corresponding and then to Julie interviewing me ( link to my media page of the interview ). I wasn't sure how the connection would work as my specialty is as a Neurodiverse Communication Specialist concentrating on the Autism at Work front. Julie's focus is toward moms that have children with Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD. Julie showed her innovative thinking by explaining her feeling that parents would benefit from hearing my easily digestible explanations of how think about and view things as an adult with Asperger's. We went with it and Julie was right! Parents found the peak into my thought processes and how I express myself in...

Managing the neurodiverse, technical, "A"SD Lister, or autistic employee can be a challenge to any manager. These advanced management tips will drastically improve your results. Even better, the same advanced approaches also improve your management of all employees.

Give a few of these tips a try regardless of the type of employees you manage and be ready to see some amazing results!

CLICK HERE to download a letter sized PDF of this tip sheet.

If you find these tips to be helpful, contact Neurodiverse Communication Specialist Tim Goldstein to learn how he can help your organization Engage the Tech Worker and reduce the turnover in this hard to hire segment.

Thought you might enjoy seeing how my speaking voice has improved since I began training with Roger Love. Here is a sample before I started, one after learning at World Greatest Speaker Training, and finally an excerpt from a class I taught at Cornell University after a couple years of training. Hope you can notice the difference.

This video was done as an intro to a beta program I am working on with Roger to help people with Asperger's, autism, ASD, HFA, neurodiverse, or what ever you want to call it, learn to put the proper emotional sound in their voice for many common situations.

It is nice now having a voice my wife likes and no one mistakes my excited for angry any more.

My intention is to list the books I have gotten a lot out of. I will try to categorize them and write a sentence or two about it. If you click on the title, you will be taken to the books page on Amazon.

General - A great place for everyone to start

Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

By Steve Silberman - The ultimate bible which explains the history and range of this condition we call autism. 

If you are looking to get up to speed on autism, how ASD, Aspergers, HFA, and they are on the spectrum fit together and why it took so many decades to even realize there was a high functioning verbal version. This book covers many examples of high functioning individuals with Aspergers who have changed the course of the world. This book can do the same with you and give you a holistic understanding of autism in adults.

High-Functioning Autism and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Reducing Meltdowns

 By Brenda Smith Myles, PhD...