On Advocacy

Before Covid, I apparently wasn't awful at conducting a job interview. I even had a position 10 minutes from my apartment that I got turned down for in 2017 because the interviewer knew I'd get bored with the job in 5 minutes. I had no problem sitting in a room with someone and answering their questions, so long as I looked somewhere in the vicinity of their face and not directly into their eyes. Now, I've hit the point where I genuinely don't understand what they're looking for or how to speak besides straightforwardly.

The only other major difference I can think of besides the effects of social isolation is that while I would like to reach a higher income level in order to check off a few more goals, I'm not financially desperate anymore. I'm not homeless anymore. I'm not "If I go over my grocery budget by $10 I'm going to overdraft my account" tight on money anymore. In other words, my brain has reached a point where the 'play-acting' that's necessary for a job interview has grown tiresome.

The morning after my diagnosis, instead of waiting for an email from my psychologist to pass along to HR to discuss accommodations, my first thought was how many different articles I'd read about how insanely difficult it is for a woman (or even many children) to get diagnosed with Autism. Instead of asking for an exception for myself, I postulated the concept of making our interview questions more specific, or emailing them out ahead of the interview, per another article I'd read, in the event that we have staff who are struggling in the same way I am, but are too afraid to speak up. I've even mentioned previously that we should create a system where critical updates can be read out loud as well as provided in writing to those who may be auditory learners. In my mind, Autism isn't even the only condition that can affect someone's chances of being able to conduct a successful job interview, even though they may be the ideal candidate for the job; social anxiety, general anxiety, ADHD, the list goes on.

I feel like I've been advocating for the underdog all my life. Even my ex-husband observed that I have a thing for broken people because I like to try to fix them. I'm a problem solver. If I see something that's an obvious solution to me, I don't see the point in not speaking up about it, or even screaming it if it comes to it. I grew up alongside people who admitted they were afraid to raise their hand to ask a question, so I'd raise mine and ask it for them. I even got bullied by a teacher in front of the entire class once for answering a question wrong and wanted to make sure none of my friends ever had to deal with that kind of embarrassment. The more control I have over a situation, the better. The more support and encouragement I have, the better. I honestly feel like I couldn't find a better company to work for, because when decisions are made, even the seemingly smallest of concerns is taken into consideration. My CEO even attended the Pride parade, and made sure there was a company presence at the youth version as well. I was afraid to speak up about things all my life, because even when I did try, no one would listen. Now, I get to speak up for others who may not even know they need it.