#mod os

[backgroundhorses]

AAAAA all of you are so talented!! I was wondering if someone could draw Candy Mane? She's a favorite of mine I ove her color palette and well, her mane! lol

worlds best older sister award !!!

[herefortheacenaro]

Worried about the a-spec character you’re writing being problematic or enforcing harmful stereotypes? (First make sure you’re aware of what those could be then follow these simple steps.)

Step 1: Add more.

Step 2: Make them diverse.

Step 3: ????

Step 4: Profit + Varied representation.

[backgroundhorses]

could i request a sea swirl? so glad to find a blog giving the background ponies attention i get so attached to them and rarely find content other than of more well known ones </3

sea swirl !!!!! one of my own favorites :-D

i hope she has fun at the beach 🐬

[backgroundhorses]

not a request i just wanna say mod Os has the coolest ponysona ever

OH THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!

i made it specifically for this blog, but it ended up being closer to being a Real Sona than like any other attempt i've made at a ponysona before so basically it's just my main guy now :-)

[autism-asks]

[1 - boba ask] im a shift lead at a boba store&there's this employee who's been working abt 2months? i dont kno for sure, but i suspect he's autistic (i am). he has a lot of issues where he cant remember how to do things even if he's taught several times, hasnt learned the menu even at the bare minimum&as a result has to stop to ask us questions for every customer, takes a rlly long time to process info, etc. which slows everything down (we are also understaffed + very popular :/)

[2 - boba ask] after almost everyone complaining, as i am his shift lead most often due to our schedules matching up,the manager has told me to evaluate him&decide if i recommend he be fired or not. nobody is mean to him, but we are all frustrated. & im stuck bc i don’t want to fire him for things he can’t help, but at the same time we cant let him stay if he cant do the job. idk if this is out of your comfort zone, but could you give me any advice you have? thanks :(             

Oh my, this is one of the reasons I don’t like running shifts at my store. One thing we do at my store is give new people a printout of all our sandwiches and what’s on them, that way they can take them home and study them.

If you find your employee is asking questions about what’s in things, giving him a printout of what’s in them for him to study at home could help. (Also having it with him could also help him answer the question without having to ask anyone.)  If there’s other frequently asked questions about certain things, giving him a list of those questions and answers could help too.

It may not be company policy to print those out and give them to every employee, but pretty much any food place should have some kind of book (generally a three ringed binder) where all the How to Make X are kept.

Going to your manager and asking if they have anything like that to give to him might work. And if one has to be made, you could suggest saying that having one set up for new employees could help everyone learn the menu quicker.

It’s also possible that he’s just being really overwhelmed by having to learn everything, so sticking him at one station or somehow limiting the amount of things he has to learn could help too.

- Os

Ok, i’ve been a shift manager of a fast food restaurant and worked as a manager of a call center. This is a very difficult situation you are in.

The good news is that there is a way to do your job openly and honestly, to help the employee, and to put the final decision off on your in boss instead of making it yourself.

First, tell your boss that yes, you do have some concerns about whether or not he should be fired because of the difficulties. At the end of the day, if he cannot perform the essential functions of the job, then he is not employable at your business.

Second, tell your boss that you would like to give him a chance to succeed. If your boss knows you are autistic tell him that you see a lot of similar traits in this person and you think you might be able to communicate the store’s needs in a way that the employee will find easier to internalize, and that you can do it without breaking of the ADA rules that prevent you from asking the employee if he has a disability. If your boss does not know you are autistic, just say that you have some ideas about how to help employee that you would like to try before either disciplining them or firing them. Tell the boss that you will do an evaluation / performance review first, that you will tell the employee they are on probation but not fired, and then you will do an evaluation after trying to help them in a more formal way. After the second evaluation you will make your recommendation to boss.

The third step is to talk to the employee. After his shift, during his shift, it doesn’t matter. It does, however have to be private (give accolades in public, discipline in private). Tell the employ that your boss is concerned about the employees performance. Tell the employee that you noticed that they have X, Y, Z difficulties. Tell employee the things that work for you. Then ask if there is anything explicit that you can do to help them. Would it help if they had a printed copy of the menu to take home and learn? Would help if they had specific scripts to use to speak to customers. Are there other tasks that they feel more comfortable doing that need to get done anyhow? This is very important for several reasons. Ask them if there are any other tasks they feel more comfortable doing that also need to be done. This is how you offer an accommodation without asking them if they are disabled. It protects you, it protects your business, and it protects your employee. It also gives them an option to disclose.

Fourth, at the end tell them you have been asked to review their performance. Be honest about that performance and how it affects other employees and customers. Tell them you understand there is a lot to learn, but that is why you are here talking to them. Presumably when you talked about what to do to help them, you came up with some concrete ideas that you liked. Explicitly tell them that you think these ideas, if followed through on, will resolve the issue. If you feel comfortable doing so you can also mention accommodations. Something along the lines of, “And if you choose to request any formal accommodations - for example if you have a disability - then I can find out who you need to talk to and we can work from there.” It is a way to remind them that if they choose to disclose something can be done. Just do not, under any circumstances, ask them if they are disabled.

Fifth tell them that as long as you see progress and improvement, you can report to your boss that the employee came up with a plan and that plan to do better and that plan is working. But also tell them that if there is no improvement after two weeks, you will have to reevaluate and report to your boss.

I know this is a lot to remember, but I hope it helps.

- Sam

[autism-asks]

whenever i see a live bug somewhere (such as on my wall), or if i think about it too much, my body starts to get itchy and there's a part of me that thinks the bug is on me somehow. could it be related to autism?

This is kind of an anxiety reaction I get when I see a spider and it doesn’t get removed from the room. After I’m aware of it’s presence, any stray physical touch becomes the spider on my skin. I have arachnophobia though so it’s definitely clearly an anxiety thing.

If there’s no anxiety related to this, Idk.

- Os

Even without phobias this is a fairly common response for people that just don’t like bugs. It isn’t really related to autism at all, its just brains being brains.

- Sam

[autism-asks]

Can it be an autistic thing that i cant recognise places in the dark even if it’s a place i see every day?

Yes. This would be part of how we focus on details to form an idea of what things are. I also cannot navigate places in the dark if I have only been there when it is light out.

- Os

Same!

- Sam

[autism-asks]

Is it possible to know something *will be* an internal rule? I went to wipe my feet on a mat in a certain pattern and it felt... nice? in that pattern and i thought "this is probably going to be a Thing from now on". And now, lo and behold, if i step on a mat without wiping my feet in that pattern I have to walk back out and do it again

I get this feeling for things to and for me it’s more like the moment the switch is flipped. It’s less this thing will be a rule and more this is how this must be done from now on.

- Os

Yeah, I get this sometimes too. For example, Wife has a thing with odd numbers. For a long time I didn’t share that thing. Then, one day, I was putting ice cubes in my cup and found myself counting out an odd number. I knew from that moment on that it would be an internal rule.

So much so, mind you, that it now permeates other aspects of my life. It isn’t an obsession for me, but Wife wasn’t the only one that was relieved we were able to get married on 11.13.2015 (2017 would have been better, so they could all be prime numbers, but insurance issues and tax issues prevented it).

In any event, I have to have an odd number of ice cubes in my cup, preferably a prime number and I knew exactly when it happened and that it would happen.

- Sam