Autistic work-experience lad at work.

[Janoschi]

I just wanted to share this, as I was so impressed with the young man we have on a work experience placement. He's 20 and has travelled 200+ miles alone to spend a week at our film studio, in a city he's never been to before. He has autism.

We didn't know he was autistic until he arrived and I have to be honest, we were a little nervous of how he would cope in a busy, chaotic studio. He's been an absolute pleasure to have on set. He's charmed the clients and crew alike with his enthusiasm and dedication, and we would have him back in a heartbeat.

I gave him a body language lesson during lunch break (our studio specialises in animation), where I took YouTube interviews of actors etc and turned the sound off, then we talked about whether the interviewee was nervous or confident, and what the visual clues were that told us this information. He was quite wide of the mark early on, but was soon applying his knowledge and actually getting a few correct, which was great to see.

Just wanted to share this, as I know it can be a worry for parents of teenage autistic children how they might be accepted in the wider world. We enjoyed his company immensely and I think both sides benefitted hugely from the week.

Just wanted to add a note to this thread I started a while back.

We've now been approached by a local school on the behalf of a pupil they have with Aspergers. She's interested in media and wants to have her work experience at our studio. Needless to say, we've accepted her.

The school is fantastic. They told us all about their pupil, they've sent literature, they've offered a training course (which I'm going to take) and they've asked for a settling in day. All of which I think is brilliant and very responsible to both sides. So well handled and a million miles away from how our first SEN work experience student was received.

Just wanted to share that in the hope that other teachers might read this and be encouraged to be up front about their students needs. It really is most welcome from our side.

Looking forward to meeting the girl in November!

Fallen - I agree about disclosure - I have come across a story in our firm where a colleague who was constantly "in trouble" for interpersonal reasons and general lack of common sense- I can't go into details about how I know she was autistic for obvious reasons, but I honestly believe that people would have made allowances if they had known sooner. As it is most people still don't suspect that she had a disability and it was really heartbreaking for me to hear people criticising her after she had left - I really think they wouldn't have done that if they had known that she had a 'condition' - they aren't monsters - just frustrated by her apparent lack of consideration for others / obstinacy - and the fact that she was clearly very clever, so they assume she is "doing it on purpose"

I do appreciate it could be viewed as private medical info, but in a work environment there is a big issue with safety in many positions, for a start. A lack of common sense (and we experienced this with our lovely lad at the start of this thread) can be really dangerous - we use hardcore chemicals, hot glue guns, scalpels etc. We also work with very fragile, very expensive objects (an animation puppet can and does cost thousands, and 'our' lad broke on on day one). It makes for a lot of stress when everyone is thrown into the deep end and trying to muddle through with no info, and yes, people can be unkind.

I'd view a disclosure of Aspergers etc in a similar way to someone saying they are asthmatic or vegetarian. Something to take into account but no biggy.

I think if an organisation "wants to do the right thing" they will make allowances IF they know there is a reason for the odd behavour - otherwise people won't put up with "odd" behaviour. Companies who would discriminate against someone with a condition would also make it difficult for someone who is different anyway (I think). But it is a mnefield really

Zzzzzz, I do appreciate there's a difference in someone telling me they are veggie and someone telling me they have Aspergers. It's really not what I was getting at. I meant that I as an employer would view it that way - ie, it would just be something I would take into account, not judge.

After all, would you not mention it if you were a wheelchair user then ended up at a work placement on the 5th floor with no lift? It's really about the work experience kid getting the most out of a situation, and for that I really do think you need to be upfront.

It's a total minefield, yes. And I'm not wanting to speak for all. I just wanted to share my own point of view on it, being an employer who has been on the receiving end of both styles, that's all. Thought it might be useful for parents, schools etc to know.

FWIW, I have a stammer, arthritis and am bi-polar. All of these things have been brought up at some point or another along my career path. It's not fab having to mention this stuff but I do think you get a more understanding situation as a result. And educating folk about these things must always be a positive thing?

zzzz, you're quite right about most public sector careers and a lot of the more 'boring' workplaces being horribly discriminatory, in an institutionally biased and obstructive way even if they manage to avoid overt hostility.

But film/TV really isn't the same. One of my in-laws has a high-up position in a technical consultancy company in this industry. Their AS (undiagnosed but severe and really very obvious) barely causes a raised eyebrow because pretty much everyone else is so much more off-the-wall.

MariaMariam - got it in one! :-)

It's called reasonable adjustment and disability discrimination amongst other things.
I have found it quite a useful tool to open many an oyster that refused to consider possibilities, and I'm teaching DS the jargon and the applications too.
Agree with the difference depending on location and job, many an Oxbridge academic fits right in with the rest of the highly focused, fact-obsessed individuals...without a visible label.
Likewise engineers, less so in advertising and estate agents and politicians.

Hmmm. Sexual orientation doesn't really have any effect on ability though, does it? Though I did disclose that I'm gay when I was put in charge of body casting a teenage girl. They wanted a woman to safeguard the girl, and of course I could do this (gay doesn't equal pervert, after all!) but I wanted them to know up front first.

The reason I'm for disclosing is that it's both dangerous and frustrating for employers and fellow colleagues to find things out the hard way, as I did, when really expensive things get trashed. We also had a high profile client on set at the time. But also, very importantly, disclosure means we can give that work experience kid the BEST possible opportunity.

That's fine if everything is ethical and positive, but the consequences of disclosure can be disastrous for some individuals in some situations. So I can also see why others are cautious.
If you knew that your disclosure of being gay might lead to mockery, beatings and constant taunting, or exclusion from certain opportunities then you might reconsider whether you'd go down that route at all.

I know, Zzzz. I know non-disabled people break things too. But I think you have to expect fellow colleagues to have the patience of saints when the work experience kid arrives and proceeds to hammer a wax puppet into a table on Day 1, in front of the client who paid for it. It just came totally out of the blue for us all, as did the discovery that he couldn't follow instruction.

Once we'd twigged, it was fine. We adapted. He was lovely and a hard worker and all was great. I think it threw up for a loop because he came from the Big Animation university, the one Aardman headhunts from. So I think we were expecting a totally different student, one who could deal with pressure and constantly changing on-set demands.

As I said in a previous post, we had a far more chilled shoot the week previously which would've been ideal for him. No stress, loads of time, just a nice shoot.

It wasn't the lad's fault at all, and I think I've been very positive about describing him and his attitude to the situation. He was fabulous. But he came from the supported education side of the University (we found out in hindsight), so his disability was surely something that he'd been upfront about when applying there. I feel it was the University's influence that prevented him from mentioning autism, rather than something he was uncomfortable with discussing himself. We had several in-depth (and very interesting) talks about his life during the week, so he certainly wasn't reticent about it.

Our high profile client was great with him actually. Spent a lot of time chatting to him about things. I didn't mean we had to protect the client from seeing difference, just that we were a studio to which the client had entrusted a lot of money and the impression he got on Day 1 was that frankly we seemed a bit of a mad-house.

It's also worth pointing out that the lad's previous work experience in Australia went very badly wrong. He talked about it a lot, it obviously weighed on his mind. He said he made the studio very angry everyday and he didn't really know why. Must have been horrible for him. I think the Aussie studio should've put two and two together and they do sound awful, but there are often stressful situations at work and people don't always have time to join the dots.

Can I just say it's great having this discussion - thank you all for taking part so far. I'm learning a lot.

I totally agree with you, Zzzzz. Like I said in my OP, I was so so bloody impressed with him. He was just amazing.

Just guess I feel sad that he missed out on things, that's all. We just didn't have enough time to spend with him. On a less pressured shoot, I'd have let him have a bash at animating something in the background, or making a prop. As it was, this was totally out of the question so he had very little hands-on activity. I like my work experience kids to get stuck into things, so I feel a total failure on this one.

How old are yours, Zzzz? I'm sure with a parent such as yourself, they'll pick up exactly the right go-getting attitude.

Janoschi, a failure??? Really??? This sounds like an amazing work experience for any young person, please don't beat yourself up over the fact that with prior knowledge of the asd it could have been even better. And the young man will also have learned the important lesson that whilst disclosing to some individuals means disaster, done appropriately, it can be useful.

As my granny said, 'dont let the best become the enemy of the good'.

It wasn't a carefully adjusted programme, to let him access the same work experience, with the same opportunities as your other students. Well i wouldnt worry. He gets that at uni! It sounds like he had a load of good, bad and mixed experiences, much more like the ad hoc and chaotic weirdness of a real job.

Which he clearly loved and learned loads from, and IMHO was much more likely to helpfully address his individual "learning needs". He's very possibly a technical whizz already, and you added to his 'soft' knowledge, social skills etc.