Google employee fired for comment/controversy about women and tech, what role did autism play

[Anonymous]

Food for thought.

Reading this article made me worry for my son and other kids with autism. I could definitely see my son making inappropriate statements or taking anachronistic points of view like this, though I think he'd be saved by being extremely reserved and not feeling the urge to make his views public.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/16/james-damore-google-memo-interview-autism-regrets

[Anonymous]

None. None at all. I know lots of Aspies and they do not flirt with white supremacy and misogyny.

[Anonymous]

Autism might explain why he didn't predict the negative reaction. But it does not excuse his sexist views. If you think your son might have such opinions, you should be exposing him to capable, strong women, in real life and books.

[Anonymous]

I think you'd find that more people than you think are not exactly instep with the current trend of crazy, jumping-off-the-cliff Liberalism. This guy just had an issue with his filter.

[Anonymous]

People with disabilities can still be jerks, still be sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.

It isn’t a pass. It shouldn’t be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People with disabilities can still be jerks, still be sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.

It isn’t a pass. It shouldn’t be.

+1, They pulled a guy from college and quickly had him rise through the ranks. He wasn't prepared for the social/manager part of it and needed someone to mentor him and more time working. That is not a typical attitude in IT.

[Anonymous]

Mom of SN boy, big feminist, really outraged by Damore.

His autism actually does make me more sympathetic. There's actually a dearth of good resources for SN to be educated on sex and social skills when it comes to dating etc. It's not a pass, but I feel more sympathetic.

[Anonymous]

I like to prioritize the voices of folks hurt by people like that guy, so here's a Twitter thread from another autist who has some issues with his analysis: https://twitter.com/jbu3/status/931474901994823682?s=17

[Anonymous]

Another SN mom tired of the assumption that autism should be a get-out-of-jail-free card. No other disability is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom of SN boy, big feminist, really outraged by Damore.

His autism actually does make me more sympathetic. There's actually a dearth of good resources for SN to be educated on sex and social skills when it comes to dating etc. It's not a pass, but I feel more sympathetic.

That would make sense if this were about sex. It isn't. It is about the basic humanity of women and people of color.

[Anonymous]

This is why I talk to my son all the time about keeping some opinions to himself.

That conversation started the time he was 8, very well-read on WWII, and made a series of comments about Hitler at our friends' dinner table. The kind of comment where you can see where he's coming from, you appreciate the intellectual process and it's all factually correct, but you're like: "Come on!".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People with disabilities can still be jerks, still be sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.

It isn’t a pass. It shouldn’t be.

+1, They pulled a guy from college and quickly had him rise through the ranks. He wasn't prepared for the social/manager part of it and needed someone to mentor him and more time working. That is not a typical attitude in IT.

He could have stayed in college. He wasn't drafted into the army.

He's capable of learning from his mistakes and will recover from this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People with disabilities can still be jerks, still be sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.

It isn’t a pass. It shouldn’t be.

+1, They pulled a guy from college and quickly had him rise through the ranks. He wasn't prepared for the social/manager part of it and needed someone to mentor him and more time working. That is not a typical attitude in IT.

He could have stayed in college. He wasn't drafted into the army.

He's capable of learning from his mistakes and will recover from this.

He did, he was working on his PhD, which you don't need in that field. It made sense for him to take the job as much of it at that point is skill. Its not an issue of going to college. Most of those IT jobs are everyone for themselves and very competitive, which means he was amazing at what he does, but he didn't have the social skills or anyone to take the time to teach him about his roles as he progressed in his career. He will recover and someone will hire him. Most people bounce between tech companies every few years. He can easily make that money at another company.

[Anonymous]

People with disabilities have the right to have opinions that many of us don't like. They have the right to share those opinions and they have the "right" to be fired. There are plenty of people out there without autism who agree with him entirely.

I don't agree with what he wrote and I certainly don't like it but I like that he questioned. Aren't we allowed to question and challenge, even if it's not popular?

But, at the same time, I agree with the firing.

[Anonymous]

Have any of your read the actual document that he wrote. It was a fairly well reasoned, nuanced discussion of Google, their diversity policies, the latest in behavioral science research, psychology and such. It wasn't a woman hating, racist, alt-right type screed.

Now, was it wise to bring up these topics while working for google in ultra-liberal, uber-PC California? Of course not.