Aspies For Freedom

This is the third time I tried to write this because in the last two I talked to much. I guess I'll have to ask my two questions in seprete topics.


I'm going to try and get a job at this animal rescue center which is run by a huge (and I mean HUGE) vet clinic. I want to try and volenter there as a way of getting my foot in the door to the vet clinic (they're only a few feet away from eatch other really). Should I tell the people there that I have Asperger's Syndrome? A few months ago there was a teenage boy who had AS and he murdered his classmate. It turns out that he had been being bullied by the boy for quite some time and he had just had enough. My parents took me out of public school and homeschooled me when I started started to complain of being picked on. Anyway, eversince this happened, people now seem to think that ANYONE who has AS automaticaly is a potential killer. Should I still tell the people at the rescue center/vet clinic that I have it. People also don't seem to take it seriously when you tell them yourself. I wanted to have my mom get the job for me and tell them. But I'm thinking maybe it's better that they find out after I'm already working for them. The main reason I think they should know is that I have trouble interacting and socalizing with people and they might find me rude becuase I don't automaticaly make eye contact with a person. I think that's part of the reason people think I have this "connection" with animals. Animals don't like being stared at in the eye and regualar people are all "Oh what beautiful eyes!" I just can't look people in the eye any longer for maybe two secounds and then I look at someting else. So should I tell them or keep it a secret.

I think it would be better to emphasize what skills you have that would be relevant or useful.  If you're good with the animals, then people may not care much about how you interact with people.

don't tell.  If there is a huge misunderstanding while you are working there, it might help to tell them then.  

Ask for an explanation for the customer service duties if you do not understand  such as what to say when someone asks this?   what to do/say if a pet dies etc.  

don't worry about eye contact.  Just make sure to look toward a person when they are talking and stop doing whatever you are doing while they are talking.

KalahariMeerkat, I would not tell them ahead of time. They don't know you yet, and they don't yet know that you are a good person who can do a good job. If you lead with "I have AS" that will be all they know about you. You will be nothing but "The AS person" and, as you said, god knows what kind of goofy ideas they have about AS from the media.

If you get the job and they get to know you're a good worker and a good person, THEN if you tell them you have AS, they will see the AS as just part of who you are.

That will be good for you because you will not have been erroneously pre-judged, and it will be good for them because it will help them un-learn some of their ignorant preconceptions about AS.