Awesome Coworker

Today, I want to give some well deserved credit and thanks to an awesome coworker of mine. Several of my coworkers know about my autism, and we've come up with some things to help me out at work. She has become one of my biggest supporters and advocates at work. She's one of those people I wish everyone would be. She's not one of those people that knows about it and withdraws or patronizes me about it, like I've had some people do. (You'll see a previous post about one "friend" who discovered I was on the spectrum and gave me such crap about it.) She's also not one of those people who took the information and then ignored it. Some people know I have Asperger's but act like I don't. They want to believe it doesn't affect me because I'm high-functioning. Mind you, I'm not saying I want to be treated completely different. I don't consider myself "disabled". Some situations, though, require some "tweaking". 
Anyway, this coworker is one of those people who "gets it". She understands and helps when she can. For example, when a kid is screaming and it's hurting my ears, I usually want to go up to the child and tell them they need to stop and why. However, by the time I realize I should tell them something, I'm disoriented, in a daze, and can't think straight. Then it becomes extremely hard to do anything, much less tell a child they need to stop screaming because I have sensitive ears. Several times, that's when my coworker has gone up to the screaming child and explained to them why they need to stop screaming. The screaming stops, and I'm like "Thank you!" 
One day, I got up to a Level 4 (out of 5) on my anxiety scale because of the screaming. She was the one to recognize I wasn't doing so good and asked if I needed a break. When I'm rational or even up to a Level 3, I recognize that I need breaks at times. At Levels 4 and 5, I'm so dazed and disoriented that I can't think straight. My mind's not thinking "Go take a break." It's thinking "Make it stop now!" It's like I can't move. So for her to tell me to take a break kind of snapped me back, and I remembered that's what I was supposed to do. Even after I went inside, she came inside to check on me a few minutes later. She kept asking me if I was sure I was ok and telling me to take all the time I needed to calm down. I thought it was one of the nicest things. Just from her doing that and knowing someone cared helped the anxiety go down. 
Many of my coworkers, her included, often check in with me when I get into work. It's more than a regular, "Hi. How are you today." With me, my answer tells them how the day might go, if it'll be a good day or a harder day, or if I'll need a little bit more help that day. 
She's one of the coworkers I talk to the most; about all kinds of stuff. She's one of the few people that's easy to talk to at work. For someone on the spectrum to feel comfortable talking to someone is a pretty big thing. Yeah, I'll talk to people, but it doesn't always mean it's comfortable. It's more of a "I learned this the socially acceptable thing to do so I do it." 
She's also one of those that understands that I have to be told specifically what to do. I can't be expected to know unless it's something we do everyday. General instructions also don't help. If given a statement that is general and has many possibilities, I often get lost and don't know where to start. If it contains many options, it's often overwhelming. However, given just a few things at a time makes it easier to get those things done and not forget anything. 
I'm so blessed to have people like this in my life, especially at work. None of my coworkers in the past have ever been so helpful and supportive. If they've known, they've been those people that ignore it. It's made some jobs harder and interacting with coworkers very awkward. Not here. And I thank God so much for giving me this opportunity and putting me in this environment. I want to thank this coworker so much for what she's done and continues to do. And I don't know if she knows this, but she's taught me a lot about how to deal with these kids just by watching her. So she's helped me in more than one way. And I hope she can become a good friend. 

"I live in the same world you do; I just experience it differently. I am a human being with feelings, just like you; I just express them in my own way." ~Me~

Sensory Issues and Working with Kids

Meant to post this sooner but couldn't get around to it. So the other day at work, I found just how hard it can sometimes be for a person on the autism spectrum to work with kids. Kids are naturally loud, and I understand that. Also, the class I work in during the afternoons is especially loud. We have mostly girls, and they can squeal and talk so loud like nobody's business. Being on the autism spectrum, I am more sensitive to sounds and noise. So, you can imagine how these girls voices can drill into my head sometimes. So far, I have been able to handle the noise level, and it hasn't overwhelmed me. However, the other day was different.

First of all, I went into work with a headache right off. I took some Aleve, and it helped. Unfortunately, it doesn't help the symptoms of Asperger's LOL. By the end of their time at centers, I was in a daze. I eventually stopped hearing individual words and only heard noise. It all sounded like the adults from Charlie Brown cartoons. Sporadically, I would hear squealing and screams from the little girls. A few times, a child would come up to talk to me or tell me something, and it took all my attention and strength to understand what they were saying and respond to them. 
By the time we went outside for water play, I was so overwhelmed and withdrawn. I had to stand away from the others and the noise. I was so overwhelmed that I started tearing up. I was trying not to let it all out and cry, but the tears kept crowding my eyes. I eventually had to go inside to our classroom (where I knew I could be alone) and just cried. I had to let it out because it was just getting worse. Also, I wasn't about to start crying in front of my coworkers and those kids. I cried for a good five minutes. After I calmed down, I went back outside. I felt better but still a little withdrawn. However, at least my anxiety level went down, and I wasn't as overwhelmed. I love that my coworkers know about my condition and understand what goes on sometimes. They didn't mind me taking a break so I could calm down. I love the environment and the people I work with. It's awesome to have supportive and understanding people. 

"I live in the same world you do; I just experience it differently. I am a human being with feelings, just like you; I just express them in my own way." ~Me~