I am autistic. Library and information science is currently a SpIn of mine, which is great in that it lets me deeply focus and immerse myself in the material of my classes. I love learning about all the intricacies of data organization and indexing, and the social justice and equity aspects as well. It’s fantastic fun. I even enjoy writing about it in the form of the class essay assignments.
What I don’t love is group work. I understand that librarians need to have the skill to work collaboratively with others during research and other activities. Despite my difficulties with understanding the emotional state of others, I’m often pretty good at interactions like these where the goal is clearly defined. But just because I can succeed in that environment doesn’t mean it’s easy.
When the topic is something I am passionate about, it can be very difficult for me to not complete all of the work myself. Other people in the group don’t have the same investment that I do, the same willingness to devote enormous amounts of time to deeply understanding the topic, the problem, the solutions. They don’t want to go in depth on picking just the right images for a presentation or tweaking the wording of a sentence a dozen times or more.
Sometimes, others will recognize my passion and want to put it to good use. “You really like this stuff,” they say, “why don’t you be our group leader?” And invariably I don’t want to, because that is much more of a social role than an information role. I hate the ambiguity involved in having to form an informal consensus to select a leader instead of having one assigned by the professor. But no one else steps up to do it, and eventually my anxiety that things aren’t getting done wins out, and I reluctantly accept.
Because I have difficulty regulating my passion for the material to a level others are comfortable with, and difficulty accepting less than perfection from others in the group, the way my teammates perceive me can often change during the course of a project from “they have it together” to “wow they’re kinda bossy and obsessive, huh?” What starts out with good will and patience becomes strained by the end of the project. Others may see my passion and seek to se it to their advantage, simply allowing me to do the work while they watch and don’t contribute much.
Despite knowing that teamwork and leadership are essential skills to develop, I often find myself wishing I could complete projects on my own. Even large projects where having multiple people helps share the work, it is often less expensive for me to do the information work of 5 people than to do the information work of 1 and the social work of dealing with the other 4. Sometimes the accommodations I’m granted will allow me to adapt a group project to complete it solo, and sometimes they don’t. But to be clear, even if I were to complete the project solo, it’s not easier than the original assignment. It’s more work for me because I’m doing the work of five people. But it may be less expensive for me in terms of energy, because I’m doing a lot more information work and a little less social work. I weigh these types of work differently than neurotypical people do.
So what would my ideal group project look like?
- A clear specification for the work that needs to be completed
- A schedule for delivery of each step of the work, accompanied by regular feedback
- Assigned roles, especially for team lead, rather than having to divvy work and responsibility by consensus
- Equal levels of interest and time commitment across group members
- Adoption of autistic communication patterns as the norm
- All collaboration occurring online and asynchronously in text form (forum, wiki, collaborative document editing etc)
Sadly, even getting that first bullet point is often impossible. The assignment I just finished was changed by the professor four times during the actual assignment work time.
Neurodivergent students deserve better.