Aspies For Freedom

I'm hesitating, just a bit, to post this because it's my wife who works for them-- but after ten years and getting to know many of the people who work there, I am inclined to say that Whole Foods Markets are (relatively speaking) Aspie friendly.   Here is their website:

http://www.wholefoods.com/

Perhaps I should say that for a LARGE CORPORATION they are much, much better to work for than most.   Here are some reasons:

They actually listen to employees.
They have clear and written rules.
They are flexible.
Many decisions are made locally, by the local team leader.
They promote from within.
They are a company that promotes empathy and understanding.


I am posting this just in case anyone might find it to be helpful.  I don't stand to gain anything.

I wasn't aware of that-- but, keep in mind that I have spent the last six months doing research on "gifted" people and I just now discovered you.  You're not exactly front page news in the New York Times, unfortunately.  My wife is not only a WFM employee, she also has a degree in child development  and used to run group homes for the disabled.   She understands far more about the Autistic Specrum than I do, and has strong opinions about treated Autistic people as people.  Could you give me more information about this CAN project and WFM involvement?  I'd like to share it with her.

gwynfryn wrote:   "Anywhere they don't use your native language is usually better; any misreading of intent is put down to mistranslation, so one doesn't suffer the body language prejudice one gets at home."

This is true, but be careful if you get invoved romantically with someone on this basis!

I think women in particular (most NT ones at least) crave social status and acceptance.  Such a woman might take a while to realise how "odd" her AS partner truly is, but if she finds her AS is a "dead end" in this regard, there will be no end of rage, and a feeling of being cheated, on her part.

Don't ask me how I know this  :oops:

Taxi driving is suitable to some of us. "Hacks" have a good rep for being independent, to say the least. I like the setup in Tucson because you work whenever you wish as long as a taxi is available. I have only gone to the company once in two years and not found a decent taxi to lease. One can lease the taxi for 12, 24 hours or a week at a time.

     You take your breaks as you wish. So you can do homework while waiting for a call or even go to a class or do laundry, as long as you pay your lease at the end of the shift. I usually can make $90-$110 in a twelve hour shift, even with some diversions. I always at least make the lease and my food.

        I have done this on and off since 1971. It is more convenient for me now because there is an MDT (Mobile Data Terminal) in the taxi which tells me when a call is available and other useful information. I only have to talk to a dispatcher when the system breaks down, which eliminates the problem I had, using my voice in competition with other drivers.
The taxis all have GPS, so if there is an emergency, a signal immediately can be sent to police that pinpoints the taxi to within a yard. Our robberies have gone down since we went to GPS in 2003.

      Even with the improvements,  this is not a good gig for those of us who are really socially naive or send that signal to others. It is certainly not an option for female aspies, especially driving at night. I know some very good female taxi drivers but they are very street-wise, something we are not known to be. My street smarts did not come natural.
They consist mainly of common sense: getting money upfront for any fare over ten dollars, not letting people sit where I can't see them etc.

         One interesting thing I have learned about hacking in Tucson is that a lot of the drivers carry concealed guns. But the ones who do are more likely to wind up in trouble than those of us who don't. A gun is not something you want to have unless you know how to use it and are prepared to use it. There is a big difference between target shooting and self defense. Luckilly, I have never had to use a gun and hope I never do.

                                        Jerry Newport

          There are LOTs of jobs that you can get if you can drive. Many are safer than taxis: delivery of pizzas, prescriptions (from Pharmacies) flowers, messages etc. The most risky of that group is pizza delivery which I have done. You should have a cell phone so you can call a customer in a building with security or a hard to find address. It also helps if you have trouble. The other caveat is to never deliver a pizza to a place that asks you to bring change for more than a twenty dollar bill. I told my manager to fire me or find another driver when I was told to do that. He found another driver

       Other car-related gigs are paper delivery and servicing vending machines. I think both would be done best with a pair of people. That way, you aren't working alone which is especially important when you service vending machines.

                                            Jerry

I don't think a job has to be "top-paying" to be worth doing. Any job that is worth doing well and is honest and legal should not be turned down by one able to do it unless he finds something more attractive.

          I know a good number of aspie/auties in my nation who simply won't do work that is "beneath" them. I just don't understand that. Heck, if the only work I could get was cleaning toilets, I would clean them so good that the shine would blind the poor bastards using them, into shitting their pants.

         It isn't the pay or the title of a job that makes you a professional. It is your attitude. And I would rather be an underpaid professional than a freeloader any day of the week.

                                   Jerry Newport

Before the list has a collective meltdown, I want you all to know that I know the difference between people who CAN'T work and those few who WON'T. The "CAN'T" people are not the ones who upset me.

             The "WON'T" people are freeloaders, to put it politely, and deserve no defense. I know such people but none of them are on this list as far as I know. I can't possibly know a person's situation by mere e-mail.

                                          Jerry Newport

I worked as a navigator, 1st in the US navy then on some merchant ships...Lots of loner/aspie types in the merchant marine..Crews are very small for such giant ships....Know one who works 6mos a year then hangs out in a hut in Costa rica, phillipines or Thailand, ( left phi phi island two days before the tsunami hit, several local and expat friends of his were lost) He finds it easier to make friends in these places then in the US...The Navy's kind of crazy for an aspie, I was first regarded as strange; The officers couldn't figure me out and gave up but the other enlisteds grew to accept me, though it took awhile...I was on a carrier with 5000 other guys...I found fan rooms and voids where I could retreat when it got too overwhelming.....I liked the midwatch,( midnight to 8am) when most of the crew was asleep...I'd stand watch in the dark on the bridge with just a few other guys while this giant ship plowed through the waves.....
   Driving jobs are good for aspies; I drove a cab in Portland for 6yrs, a dump truck for 1yr and now drive a city bus, (since 83)...

I found it humorous that lawyer was considered a bad field. I would not want to try being a trial lawyer, but over 95% of lawyering does not involve courts and juries, but contract drafting, negotiation, settlements, and plea bargaining, in which having a natural poker face and lack of care for what others think is beneficial.

If you have any kind of artistic talent, it is a good thing to do (maybe not so much to make money) but artists are often expected to be a little bit eccentric. It works for me.

Maybe I lucked out.   :grin:

I'm a married (23 yrs), stay-at-home (23 yrs), homeschooling (11 yrs) mom, with a degree in English Language and Literature (summa cum laude), who gets to enjoy her familiar surroundings and beautiful family, has the intellectually stimulating opportunity to use her education on a daily basis, the joy of watching her children learn, the relief of being able to avoid office politics, the freedom to be her autistic self without criticism, and the satisfaction of saving a whole lot of money in the process.

I think I have the perfect job for a female Aspie, but that's my opinion, of course.   :grin:  YMMV

I found that Temple Grandin list really annoying, because she generalised too much, saying Aspies would have problems with this, or would have problems with that.  :evil:   We're all individuals and different problems with different things.  

As a student I had jobs like these:

"Cashier -- making change quickly puts too much demand on short-term working memory
Short order cook -- Have to keep track of many orders and cook many different things at the same time
Waitress -- Especially difficult if have to keep track of many different tables

And no, they were bad jobs *not* for the reasons given, I mean purlease, making change, with my mental arithmetic capabilities? but because thet were no brainers, didn't stimulate or challenge me intellectually.

The more I read about Temple Grandin, the more she annoys me because she extrapolates everything, what she experiences, all Aspies experience, what she thinks and believes are universally applicable, they are universal truths!  Not.

The thing is, in terms of work, we all had different manifestations of AS anyway, and then on top of that, over the years as we've gone through the education system and our first jobs, we've acquired skills, and some of those skills acquired may mean we're suited to a job that other Aspies aren't.  Again, we're all individuals, there are no universal truths like that.

Yes, we're all different. I think Temple Grandin is talking about general principles - as with anything else there are certainly exceptions.

Live:

Ballston (Arlington County)
Rosslyn (Arlington County)
my neighborhood Arlandia (border City of Alexandria/Arlington County)

Possibly also: Falls Church, Woodbridge, Manassas  if close to work

* favorable crime, low (most seems private, drunkeness or domestic violence, but also note MS-13, Mara Salvatrucha encroaching in Alexandria, (Gangland, History Channel, You Rat, You Die, although Geraldo Rivera indicates unless you do grafiti or sell drugs, you're probably safe (Hispanic)
* ethnic mix
* favorable cost of rent
* walkable communities

Work:

* DTI Associates - A Kratos Company         Arlington VA        www.dtiassociates.com  www.kratosdefense.com http://www.haverstickconsulting.com
* Claritas                                                Rosslyn VA          www.claritas.com
* American Association of Medical Colleges,  Washington DC    www.aamc.org
* The Library Corporation                          Inwood WV         http://www.tlcdelivers.com

The other three are based on my brother's experience, not mine.  He worked there.

Here they all are, with clickable links.

Work:

* DTI Associates - A Kratos Company         Arlington VA        http://www.dtiassociates.com  http://www.kratosdefense.com http://www.haverstickconsulting.com
* Claritas                                                Rosslyn VA          http://www.claritas.com
* American Association of Medical Colleges,  Washington DC    http://www.aamc.org
* The Library Corporation                          Inwood WV         http://www.tlcdelivers.com