This article picks apart a bunch of biases by the researchers of a given paper. The object of study was the differences in behavior between a group of autistic people and a group of non-autistic people when choosing between prioritizing value for oneself or value for the community.
I recommend reading the paper itself too. If that is, understandably, too much for you, I suggest you go for the introduction, the conclusion, and the segments mentioned in the article.
Reading articles like these really makes me believe I am autistic. Fortunately I have a doctor appointment soon to see about a proper diagnosis.
I was terminated a year ago from my last job for speaking out against the abusive behaviour of management as well as all the hate and bigotry from the tradespeople working on the workshop floor. That didn’t go over well so I went to corporate and was assisting them with an investigation into the abuse at my company. Unfortunately that investigation had to be halted as my company fired me conveniently after I made a call to the employee hotline about all the abusive behaviour. I was advised to call the hotline by corporate so they weren’t too happy with my company. So unhappy that they refused to represent them at the labour board regarding my wrongful termination case.
I think what was interesting about the whole experience was that many of my coworkers could not comprehend that I did all this to help my fellow coworkers. I wanted change so we could all be treated with dignity. Even now with the lawyer involved, they think I’m in it for the payout. I do not care about the money. I want change. I want accountability. Fortunately I have a couple people in my life that understand that and are encouraging me to follow what I think is right. Everyone else thinks I’m an idiot and there are no words to describe how confusing that truly is.
I think what was interesting about the whole experience was that many of my coworkers could not comprehend that I did all this to help my fellow coworkers. I wanted change so we could all be treated with dignity. Even now with the lawyer involved, they think I’m in it for the payout.
This sounds like an ideal scenario for the possibility that one of the people whose abuse you were putting in check decided to badmouth you behind your back, in order to pit your coworkers against you and prevent collaboration, especially if you didn’t talk to them, one to one, about what you were doing and why. This is extremely common in office politics and people with more difficulty to navigate its social jungle are at higher risk of being victimized in this way.
The supervisor in question definitely trash talked all of his “subordinates” but I don’t think it was particularly effective in this instance. He is past retirement age and his interpersonal skills are completely lacking which made him universally hated among workers and management. But he always said yes to management. So that makes him a useful idiot.
If I worked in the office, I could definitely see this tactic being more effective. It was very common to see trade supervisors battling it out with other trade supervisors. The workers were all united through misery.
The majority of the trades people I worked with were hyper focused on their masculinity by focusing their lives around marriage, children, cars, property and expensive things to express themselves. All those things require money. The people I worked with always needed money.
So when all the answers to your problems is more money, how do you understand and treat someone whose motivations are not driven by money? How do you react when someone challenges authority and is still not motivated by money? Even when I plainly tell them why I am acting the way I am, they truly have a difficult time understanding me because money is so important to them.
They also believe that change is impossible so I’m an idiot for trying. Personally, there’s nothing more motivating to me than being told I can’t do something.
