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What type of accommodations would you need to/for work?

AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen

As per title, for me I think I would like to have more remote working/from home generally and a permanent contract.
I could have a long list, but those two would be top of it.

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Comments

  • IsabellaIsabella Citizen
    edited October 2020

    If it can't be work from home:

    • dim or no lighting
    • tinted windows
    • privacy / walls
    • air purification
    • quiet environment (not overhearing telephones, televisions, etc)
    • ability to sit on the floor or beanbag chair
    • fragrance-free
    • pet-friendly for my dog
    • meetings done online / in written form rather than listening
    • no need for me to use telephone
    • flex schedule or set my own hours
    • casual attire
    • no need for me to demonstrate leadership of others
  • No background music or talking with a loud voice when working.

    People explaining what i need to do in detail.

    People showing me examples of their previous work so i can understand the unspoken details

    Basically specific explanation of the job and a quiet environment.

  • SheldonSheldon Citizen
    edited October 2020

    Where I am now.
    I nice new double story house overlooking a nice new park.
    In a nice new area/suburb.
    In a nice quiet street.
    Near shops aplenty, but not too close.

    I am semi-retired and have a share portfolio, so most of what I do is take caring of my K9 kids.
    I don't think that qualifies as work, though. 🐨

  • IsabellaIsabella Citizen
    edited October 2020

    I have a nice triple story house overlooking the other side of the street ☺, with a view of the city in the distance from my bedroom. There is a huge park and greenspace at the corner of my street, about a one minute walk from me. I'm in a well sought-after neighbourhood of single family homes with top schools and a University within walking distance. My home office consists of pyjamas, a reading room, my comfy couch, and lots of Autism forums. Nearby attractions include a river, shops aplenty including a veterinarian, and bicycle trails to a 200 year old cemetery atop the churchyard of my parish. I am on long-term disability after a long and rewarding professional career which unfortunately included two legitimate nervous breakdowns. I have a nice international portfolio as well, but it's a shame I can't liquidate and I do have a mortgage and debt. I'm eligible to retire in 2022 but I will postpone it because I'll make more on LTD than pension. As a mum and guardian / auntie my money goes toward real people, but also toward my dog, cat, kitten, and fish.

    Why I wrote this, I don't know. Sorry for being off-topic Amity, but I needed to remind myself of the good things in life for which I'm truly thankful.

    When I was working I didn't know I was Autistic or that I had ADHD. I only knew I was stretched far beyond my social and sensory limitations. I look back and realise how many accommodations I should have been able to access, but didn't. I couldn't quit work because I was a single mum and I would have lost custody if I couldn't provide a comparable income to the other party. It was a labour of love but somehow, by the grace of God, I survived to tell the tale.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KJjVMqNIgA&ab_channel=FranciscoCusi

  • @Amity said:
    As per title, for me I think I would like to have more remote working/from home generally and a permanent contract.
    I could have a long list, but those two would be top of it.

    I was supposed to take a sabbatical this year, then Covid happened and turned all my plans upside down.

    So I switched to freelancing again and work part-time from home. I'm not complaining, but one thing I still struggle with is clear boundaries and balancing work and personal life. I also have daily calls with individual members of the team and weekly ones with all of them, which I hate. The guy I work for right now is sharp and competent but he's disorganised and can talk for hours if you let him and it wears me out.

    Off-topic: The biggest compliment I've ever got during an appraisal at work (they require feedback from both higher management and subordinates) was from a guy who wrote "the only leader who cancels meetings" - I hate meetings 😁

  • HylianHylian Citizen, Mentor
    1. No/limited bright lighting.
    2. A relatively quiet working environment.
    3. Detailed explanations of tasks and expectations.
    4. The ability to take short breaks when dealing with sensory overload.

    That's pretty much what I would need to be able to work, at least efficiently.

    Actually, I need all that to just exist efficiently. lol

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen

    I'm gonna struggle when we have to go back to in-person work after lock-down.

    Comfortable clothes for work, that would be nice. Don't know how I'm going to spend a day in heels, I cant see it happening.

  • IsabellaIsabella Citizen
    edited October 2020

    Oh dear! I used to wear heels for work quite often as well. I can't fathom how or why I did it.

    I loved dress-down Fridays.

    Do you know Claire's pantyhose song? This would be me if I ever had to work in an office.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z82FTpUaPw&ab_channel=AndrewRamazanov

    • Claire Fisher - SFU
  • BenderBender Citizen
    edited October 2020

    @Amity said:
    I'm gonna struggle when we have to go back to in-person work after lock-down.

    Comfortable clothes for work, that would be nice. Don't know how I'm going to spend a day in heels, I cant see it happening.

    Do they actually explicitly ask you to do that (wear heels)? It's not allowed here.

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen

    @Isabella said:
    Oh dear! I used to wear heels for work quite often as well. I can't fathom how or why I did it.

    I loved dress-down Fridays.

    Do you know Claire's pantyhose song? This would be me if I ever had to work in an office.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z82FTpUaPw&ab_channel=AndrewRamazanov

    • Claire Fisher - SFU

    Oh lol, I hadnt seen that before😂

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen
    edited October 2020

    @Bender said:

    @Amity said:
    I'm gonna struggle when we have to go back to in-person work after lock-down.

    Comfortable clothes for work, that would be nice. Don't know how I'm going to spend a day in heels, I cant see it happening.

    Do they actually explicitly ask you to do that (wear heels)? It's not allowed here.

    Oh no, we are a progressive European country, they would never put restrictions on women like that (well not if we want to keep the EU funding😁)
    Its more of a cultural thing, if I want to fit in or at least look like I fit in, its got to be heels, good hair, make up and stylish clothes.
    I draw the line with the fake tan and gel/fake nails though, there are quite a few other expected norms I don't do either

  • IsabellaIsabella Citizen
    edited October 2020

    For about ten years of my full-time career I dressed much like Amity. Then they introduced Casual Fridays but we had to pay a small amount as a token, to wear jeans or very casual attire for the day. Then I realised that it was against the law for an employer to mandate what we wore unless it was a uniform, and unless they paid a clothing allowance. I didn't realise that. I had always dressed like the other women to fit in but also because I thought it was required. After that I started dressing very casually and almost Bohemian for the remainder of my time at work. When I left work I got rid of all my work clothes entirely. I still have some nice pieces but nothing that I ever wore to work.

  • BenderBender Citizen
    edited October 2020

    @Amity said:

    @Bender said:

    @Amity said:
    I'm gonna struggle when we have to go back to in-person work after lock-down.

    Comfortable clothes for work, that would be nice. Don't know how I'm going to spend a day in heels, I cant see it happening.

    Do they actually explicitly ask you to do that (wear heels)? It's not allowed here.

    Oh no, we are a progressive European country, they would never put restrictions on women like that (well not if we want to keep the EU funding😁)
    Its more of a cultural thing, if I want to fit in or at least look like I fit in, its got to be heels, good hair, make up and stylish clothes.
    I draw the line with the fake tan and gel/fake nails though, there are quite a few other expected norms I don't do either

    Oh, I see, the unwritten rules - it's worst for women too in that way.

    And good for you, fake tan and nails are tacky as hell 😉 Not very popular here either and neither is heavy make-up (unless it's artistic), thank god!

    American women in particular (at work) have a bit of hard time adapting to this kind of thing, but - interestingly so - try to at least copy the local style pretty fast.

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen

    @Bender said:

    @Amity said:

    @Bender said:

    @Amity said:
    I'm gonna struggle when we have to go back to in-person work after lock-down.

    Comfortable clothes for work, that would be nice. Don't know how I'm going to spend a day in heels, I cant see it happening.

    Do they actually explicitly ask you to do that (wear heels)? It's not allowed here.

    Oh no, we are a progressive European country, they would never put restrictions on women like that (well not if we want to keep the EU funding😁)
    Its more of a cultural thing, if I want to fit in or at least look like I fit in, its got to be heels, good hair, make up and stylish clothes.
    I draw the line with the fake tan and gel/fake nails though, there are quite a few other expected norms I don't do either

    Oh, I see, the unwritten rules - it's worst for women too in that way.

    And good for you, fake tan and nails are tacky as hell 😉 Not very popular here either and neither is heavy make-up (unless it's artistic), thank god!

    American women in particular (at work) have a bit of hard time adapting to this kind of thing, but - interestingly so - try to at least copy the local style pretty fast.

    My skin is quite sensitive, so I don't wear heavy make up, I've noticed they are all wearing this dewy natural type lately, but I have to stick with powder.

    Anyway, somewhat off topic lol.

  • BenderBender Citizen
    edited October 2020

    Yeah, sorry, but dress code and implicit expectations can be an issue for us too.

    In my industry, we don't have that, but there's the whole buddy-buddy thing, we're all friends in here, like a family bla bla bla.

    More like the Manson family and most people have a seeming ease of playing along without looking too fake or actually revealing much about themselves while acting as if they do 😲 Very high-level skill, way above my pay grade.

    The thing is, one could never get or ask for "accommodations" for that kind of stuff, but it matters and it will work against you.

  • I could have and should have had accommodations, whether or not they were sufficient. I also faced the social quagmire that you describe Bender: people pretending to be a team when secretly backstabbing and / or pretending to fit into the group. I was ostracised by quite a few people because I wouldn't eat my lunches in the common area and preferred to eat alone in a large storage closet or later on alone in my office - always with the lights out. I wouldn't even use the communal kitchen. That made me weird from Day 1. Actually they also thought I was weird for not putting lights on throughout my entire workday, and keeping the windows shaded. Then years later they promoted this as an initiative to save the environment, and they would come around to ensure people had their lights off. They gave demerits to people with lighting. No apologies to me for treating me like a freak when I was ahead of the curve with that idea.

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen

    I am glad that I rarely have those meetings or work in an office environment, I wouldn't last.

  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen
    edited October 2020

    I didn't take well for working in an office environment. Which is why I have been working for myself for years.

  • When I worked as a direct support professional, I was unable to perform a few of the physical restraints in the Mandt system. I needed an accommodation to pass that class. The lady teaching it said I was unable to "cross the midline." While not officially diagnosed, I know that, because of things like that, I have a degree of dyspraxia. I enjoy sports and performed a number of them when younger, but I nonetheless have trouble with some types of visual-motor integration, have some gross motor deficits, and don't do well with strictly observational/physical learning. I have some trouble cooking, driving cars, etc. I never learned to ride a bike or swim. When husband shows me new machines to operate, it takes me a number of times to observe and perform myself before I "get it."

  • Just let me do my job My Way 🤓

  • Permanent work from home status. That was the reasonable accommodation I asked for and received from my employer this year. The reasonable accommodation was a request based on the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and was in conjunction with me disclosing my autism to my employer. The reasonable accommodation letter I presented to my employer (via email from home since I'd already been working from home due to Covid) was drafted by my autism therapist.

    I was amused by Isabella describing how she got rid of all of her work clothes after not having to go into that job any longer because once I was granted permanent work at home status I deliberately wore my old work clothes to do hard, dirty physical labor around my homestead. It was devilishly rewarding to soil, snag and tatter button down oxford shirts and then when worn beyond repair to throw them in the trash. Good riddance. I always hated when I had to wear such shirts, especially tucked in.

  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen

    I work from home, I have been self employed for years, mainly becuase I can't work in offices and had bad experiences.

    It was not easy getting a business off the ground and staying focused and motivated, however I wouldn't have it any other way.

  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen
    edited November 2020

    I need my own room, with as few distractions as possible, my monitors and plain wall behind it. I also need to be able get up an pace.

  • @kraftiekortie said:
    Just let me do my job My Way 🤓

    That was my problem when working for others. My standards were higher than theirs and I had different priorities ie. really help the patient, not just follow the rules.

    So I have my own business and work from home. Due to the pandemic I don’t even travel to visit clients. I struggle with executive function issues, but they are my issues and I don’t have to argue with management about what I do.

  • @blazingstar said:

    @kraftiekortie said:
    Just let me do my job My Way 🤓

    That was my problem when working for others. My standards were higher than theirs and I had different priorities ie. really help the patient, not just follow the rules.

    So I have my own business and work from home. Due to the pandemic I don’t even travel to visit clients. I struggle with executive function issues, but they are my issues and I don’t have to argue with management about what I do.

    I've had the same problem - especially when people asked me to patch something up and refused to acknowledge that without fixing the root of the issue, it will keep returning again and again and cause the same problems. Exasperating.

    I'm solely interested in things being done efficiently, I don't care about how.

    I work for myself too now, but still fixing things for others. I'm a masochist it seems 😁

  • magpiemagpie Citizen
    edited December 2020

    Someone to remember to take my kids from school and feed them, when I'm deeply contemplating an abstract problem to solve.
    Interruptions mean I need to start all the thinking again and again.

  • kraftiekortiekraftiekortie Citizen
    edited December 2020

    It’s like Willie Mays (baseball) in the 50s. He went against tradition, and did it his way, for which he was criticized.

    He went on to be a top 5 all-time all-around player. Maybe even the top player—but he never pitched, like Babe Ruth.

  • ^ Did WIllie Mays need accommodations? I don't get it.

  • Very much enjoying the Cake track! Not heard them since uni!

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen

    For me, I believe that reduced social expectations would make a difference in work.

    A basic tolerence for Autistic difference.... an understanding of the difference between being a mean spirited team member and how a person with Autism is naturally.

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