Difficulty, humility and preparation

            The difficulty of working with populations you are not member of is prevalent for me as I currently work with kids with autism. I think the difficulty arises in times where they may say offensive things that I have to ignore. For example, one of the kids I work with has pathological demand avoidance and oppositional defiant disorder along with autism. This kid has said racist things, defied orders, and more when working with. This caused me to become frustrated and made me not want to work with him anymore even causing me to request my manager to take him off my caseload. After speaking with my manager, she disused with me to not take things personally and to address those “teaching moments” when they arrive as the kids don’t understand what’s right and wrong. I had to take a step back and swallow some pride and ego and understand that this is not corporate/government finance to where people you communicate with have codes of speech and expectations of professionalism. I had to understand my position and who I’m working with so now, I look at it with an open mind and a willingness to take those rough days as part of my job. Also, learning how to roll with the punches as they come.

Response to accusations

            I have not experienced anyone of that group telling me I have no knowledge of the population outright. The closes thing I had was the discussion with my manager when we discussed my lack of desire to work with the kid. She had to let me know that the kid is neurodivergent and she had to teach me about the conditions he has. 

Where are my biases?

            My biases tend to show up in my expectation of behavior. Because of my finance background, I am used to more structural environment with people operating with clear social/professional boundaries. When encountering behaviors that feel disrespectful or defiant, I tend to interpret it through my finance lens. I tend to internalize it instead of seeing that it’s a neurological/developmental challenge for the kids. I might’ve developed blind spots with populations whose lived experiences are very different from mine. Before working with this population, I did not understand how difficult it is for the kids, the family and the schools to get along and function. Lastly, I may have developed blind spots for people who experienced chronic instability, trauma or limited access to structure. I find myself struggling to understand why people cannot develop plans and follow through for example, the parents learning how to extinct a behavior instead of giving into tantrums or people who lack discipline to follow through on making a better life for themselves whether mentally or physically. Identifying these biases allowed me to be more intentional about slowing down reactions, asking questions, and seeing people with humility instead of certainty.