Well, it has come that time that we have all been knowing that would happen. Yes, the resurgence of COVID cases in the nation because of many factors. One of them being cough and cold season and another being the simple fact of persons attending gatherings over the holiday season. Nonetheless, as a result my commonwealth government has enhanced restrictions over many events that include gathering en masse such as dining and other things. As part of this effect, I was notified last week that I would be working remotely until at least these restrictions are lifted.
Now for many in the autistic community, working from home provides them the freedom of being themselves in their own habitat and because they oftentimes lack many key qualities of what is needed in order to work such as the social skills, issues in getting to and from work and so forth that we as autistics often struggle with. Therefore, as I said for many, working from home is a good choice for many. But for me, because I have been working at a physical intimate job that I have grown over the years to enjoy and learn to prioritize and be better at over the years, it was my outlet of leaving my home presently two days a week and something I looked forward to because of the current restrictions. However, I have become cognizant that things do indeed change and that we could be forced to do things, like teleworking, as I was told to do so last week.
Granted, it is the holiday season and I do have a few things that I could catch up on that can be completed remotely. But, it is different because I am used to being often in close communication with my supervisor and while they are available through a simple phone call now, it just isn’t the same as being able to have that face to face conversation about business and trying to navigate documents on a consistent basis.
Again, I personally am totally not against teleworking, in fact I feel that it is a great advancement in the world. My mother has been doing it consistently for the government for nine years and it seems to be going well in many circumstances for her. Yes, there’s things you have to think outside the box about that you would normally do in person that has to be done remotely now as a result of COIVD. For someone who job who mostly involves technology, then it is a strong suit for them. Many autistics are very savvy with technology, yet there are many that don’t want anything to do with it. The latter can be because of their skillset and attention span because of the onset of other mental health conditions such as the ADD and ADHD to name a few. They must have their minds or hands specifically manipulating a more of a hands-on approach to things. They would rather be doing something that doesn’t involve sitting in front of a technological device all day, rather they would like to be in a environment that involves a kinesthetic way of learning and thinking, or simply they do not want to advance their knowledge to gain the technological savvy to learn the skillset needed to work remotely.
For many autistics, they do excel well for working at home, but many its pure hell. We can relate to this in the remote learning schema that we are facing presently in the world. It causes a split in the autistic community as to whether or not to send their child to school if possible and the lack of remote learning skills and the ability of individuals to learning in this format. For me, it would be a good thing to do, I would have likely excelled at it. However, for many I know, it would have not been a good front for them to have and would have likely costed them their public education. However, one must also rule out their safety, so there is a catch 22 in this environment too. We must be forever cognizant of the updating technology and be aware of its constant change as this virus makes our dependence for technology evolve on an ever-changing basis.
Dustin's Dynasty 