Ari Ne'eman gives input on autistics in workplace

I recently came across an interesting piece about some autistics in the workplace. These always hit home with me because of the tremendous employment problems that I have had as well as the simplistic quick fixes that are given by so many, such as disclosure and Temple Grandin's things about mentors.

I see that neurodiversity's lead spokesperson, Ari Ne'eman has decided to give his $.02 worth when he was interviewed by the author of this article.

Ne'eman states:

Aside from communication barriers, other challenges can impede autistic workers, such as sensory sensitivity to fluorescent lights or inability to understand directions for a job, said Ari Ne’eman, a 21-year-old with autism who grew up in East Brunswick and founded The Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

even more intriguing statement from Ne'eman:

Social pleasantry should be eliminated as criteria for hiring and a good job evaluation, Ne’eman said.

For those who don't know, Ne'eman is a 21 (maybe 22) year old kid who has never had a job of any kind or made a dollar in his life from working-at least he acknowledged this the last time I had contact with him and discussed this issue, though I realize this may have changed. Even if Ne'eman's situation has changed (which I doubt), he still has essentially no actual work experience.

As a person on the spectrum (autism not Asperger's syndrome unlike Ne'eman) who has been fired from nearly 20 jobs, yet who did manage to work sporadically for more years than Ne'eman has been alive, I resent him trying to give input on the autistics in the workplace. Never having worked, he knows nothing of the problems that people with disabilities face in the workplace. He is totally ignorant of anything involving working for a paycheck and making a living.

Apparently from these statements we see that Ne'eman feels that it is okay for an employee to behave on the job in any manner in which they choose if they have autism. Interestingly enough this does not jive at all with his previous statements that insanity defenses should be done away with for people on the spectrum charged with crimes as this will cause them not to have equality with NTs.
Ne'eman wrote:

If Asperger’s is a justifiable excuse for criminal action, what right do we have to demand an equal place in a society of law-abiding human beings? When a college student caught engaging in arson suddenly claims Asperger’s so as to avoid being held accountable for his actions, what does it say about all other law abiding autistics?

Someone working in a customer service or waitressing job should just be able to tell the customer to "fuck off" if they are autistic or Asperger's and feel like doing this. If the employer were to fire them, they would be a bigot, violating this autistic person's civil rights.

Well, as one of my favorite human beings, Clay Adams, would say, wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which one fills up first. Ne'eman and the ND movement are dreaming if they think this is ever going to happen. That society will accommodate people with autism no matter how they behave and how offensive their behavior is.

Even more intriguing than Ne'eman's inconsistent statements saying ASD'ers should be culpable for crimes they have committed is that these statements about social unpleasantries being overlooked are totally inconsistent with previous statements he has made on this same subject in the past, which come from the previous link:

If Asperger’s means an inability to help breaking the law, all of us are incapable of avoiding lawbreaking. As someone who hopes to work in law eventually, I am not too keen on the message this sends to my future prospective employers. “Asperger’s autistics,” says this argument, “are a risk to your workplace environment. They could go off at any moment- it’s just who they are.”

Ne'eman, who has commented that because of Allison Tepper Singer's admittedly dumb remark, that this caused a bunch of parents of autistic children to go out and murder their children and that autism speaks is morally complicit with murder, certainly knows about making a faux pas. Perhaps he is worried that when he actually goes out into the world and tries to support himself that he might get into trouble due to some sort of social skill impairment his Asperger's causes him. Perhaps this is why he is so concerned about employer's judging employees by their social pleasantries.

Of course the ND philosopy on John Best (a possible spectrumite) is not consistent with this. John Best's caustic speech and blog posts towards the ND's he despises so much are not overlooked by Ari Ne'eman and the others. Virtually all of them have banned him from their blogs, constantly vilify him and never overlook his mean behavior. Perhaps the ND's should practice what they preach. If that were the case Best's lack of social pleasantry in his posts would be overlooked and all of the ND bloggers would welcome him with open arms rather than banning him.

But these sort of inconsistencies and crapolla are par for the course for ND. So let's all say it together gadfly readers, WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' NEURODIVERSITY!