Employment: From an Autistic Point of View

Over the last 13 years of my son's life I have held many different kinds of jobs. I have worked with nice people and I have worked with BAD people. Through it all, Matt has remained steadily beside me, giving silent support when needed. He really shouldn't have had to deal with any of the stress I was dealt, but he did. It's been an interesting ride to say the least.

It wasn't until a few years ago, that it became apparent to him why I was under so much stress. He was starting to show his empathic abilities, so to speak. I would come home in tears, after a particularly stressful day and there he was. He didn't question me. He questioned my boss, at the time. Eventually. I can say this with a smile now, but at the time, it was mildly embarrassing to have my, then 8 year old, son chewing out my boss for making me sad.

So, picture this. Me, Matt and my not-yet husband were standing in the hallway outside the office with my boss on New Year's Eve. My 8 year old son looks her straight in the eye, stamps his foot and says "Why did you fire my mom?!" Actually, I wasn't fired, but for some reason he thought so. I was always telling him that if I didn't meet the deadline I would get fired... So, my boss, nice lady that she was, said to him "I didn't fire your Mom, honey. I gave her a raise!" So, Matt, being Autistic, says (while stamping his foot again) "Why'd you give her a raise!?" To which my boss replied, "Because she's good at her job honey." At this point, Matt just said, "Oh!" and didn't say anything else. But, he was ready to defend my "honor" so to speak, if for one moment he thought I had been wronged by my boss. All I could do at this point was apologize profusely to my boss, hoping, all the while, that she really wasn't going to fire me for his outburst. Blessfully, she understood his condition and didn't hold it against me. At least, not fully.