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Jessica Lublin is an autistic librarian living and working in Atlanta, GA. She's a proud book nerd and spends her free time reading, writing, baking, or occasionally sewing.
Jessica is currently reading Speak Up! by Rebecca Burgess,
Although the library field professes inclu-sivity of all types of diversity there are often disconnects between our core values and practice, particularly in relation to neurodiversity in our workforce. Indeed, autistic librarians face many challenges in the workplace. While we are all different, there are a number of trends that occur among autistics working in the library field. This article seeks to address some of these trends as well as common challenges faced by autistic librarians. Topics covered include sensory difficulties, social cues, office politics, unwritten rules of the workplace, misunderstandings, discrimination, strengths of autistic librarians, and advice for allistic librarians.
COMMON CHALLENGES AMONG AUTISTIC LIBRARIANS
Some of the most common challenges autistic librarians face in the workplace stem from the difference in neurotype itself. Allistics, otherwise known as non-autistics, communicate much differently than autistics. The divide makes it difficult for autistics to discern body language and social cues that are non-explicit. Similarly, unwritten rules and office politics often go right over our heads. Flexible rules are even more difficult as they apply differently in different situations.
One of the key body language or social cues autistics struggle with is eye contact. We may avert our eyes or stare, but it's not because we're lying or challenging you. Rather, we may be uncomfortable with eye contact, not know the right amount of eye contact, or something else in the room may have caught our eye. This is especially a challenge in meetings with supervisors or administrators who expect us to be paying attention. We are paying attention, but if we're too focused on keeping the right amount of eye contact, then chances are we'll miss part of the conversation.
Some autistics are great at eye contact! We're not all the same and our challenges are in different areas. However, some autistic library professionals who are great at eye contact may actually be masking very well.
Masking is a term describing when an autistic pretends to be allistic. It is an especially common trait in Assigned-Female-At-Birth (AFAB) and non-gender-conforming...