Note For Anyone Writing About Me

Guide to Writing About Me

I am an Autistic person,not a person with autism. I am also not Aspergers. The diagnosis isn't even in the DSM anymore, and yes, I agree with the consolidation of all autistic spectrum stuff under one umbrella. I have other issues with the DSM.

I don't like Autism Speaks. I'm Disabled, not differently abled, and I am an Autistic activist. Self-advocate is true, but incomplete.

Citing My Posts

MLA: Zisk, Alyssa Hillary. "Post Title." Yes, That Too. Day Month Year of post. Web. Day Month Year of retrieval.

APA: Zisk, A. H. (Year Month Day of post.) Post Title. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://yesthattoo.blogspot.com/post-specific-URL.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Accomodations done RIGHT (which should be more common.)

So, right now I want to prove that doing accommodations correctly (and significantly better than was required, considering that I never actually went to disability services) is possible abroad on trips abroad with university. Next time someone tells you it can't be done, well, yes, it can.
So: Disability services had no paperwork from me (I was only diagnosed a month ago...) and I did not tell the professor that I'm autistic (a shellfish allergy kept me off a study abroad program once. No way was I going to tell him I'm autistic until it was much too late to knock me off the tour over it, and hopefully not telling him at all would work. It didn't.)
That means that he didn't have to make ANY accommodations, at all. That's right. Someone had the decency to make accommodations he did not have to make. Why there are people who wont make accommodations is a good question, and I would like to shove this example in all their faces and say ``See this? Yeah, I thought so. IT'S NOT THAT HARD."
So, for the accommodations I got (all offered right off the bat, as soon as I admitted that I am, in fact, autistic. Because he's a good human being and has some idea what is and is not needed.)
1) He handed me ear plugs, and said I could use them whenever.
2) He handed me a mask for dust/smelled, and said I could use it whenever.
3) If I still overload on a plant visit, I can just leave the room where I overloaded. He'll explain to the person leading the tour if need be.
4) If there are two visits in a day, I can skip the second.
5) Everyone has been told that they are to make their notes available to be for the write-ups, since I can't really understand what's being said over the noise of the factory floor, and I've had to excuse myself a couple times.
6) If it looks like I'm on the edge, he checks in to make sure I'm OK. If I say I'm fine, that's the end of it. If I say something is a problem, he finds a way to fix it.
7) He makes sure there are non-carbonated beverages available to me. (I had already been doing that, but it makes it a bit easier since he actually speaks the local languages.)
8) He (jokingly, I think) informed the students who knew about my being autistic that he would throw them in the pool fully clothed if they made a big deal about my accommodations. No one has. (I think most of the group knows by now, but he hasn't been the one to tell anyone. Some of them have seen me writing blog posts and asked directly. I may not bring it up, but if you ask me, I'll tell you.)

And the total cost of these accommodations? 10 rupees for a water bottle, and asking one of the factories for the ear plugs/mask during the tour. (-10 rupees as the difference in cost between the water and the coke that would have been purchased, since he didn't buy the coke. Either way, we're talking under a dollar, and I offered to take care of it.)
So: It's not that hard. It's really not. That was all done in a foreign country with no notice and no documentation. If you can't do that with notice when you are legally required to, there is something wrong.

1 comment:

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