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Eastern Mind
11 November 2009, 08:04 AM
At your workplace there is a co-worker who has a hidden social handicap such as Asperger's syndrome, or relatively severe obsessive compulsive disorder. Originally the person was hired in confidence. Only the manager and the handicapped person knew the situation. Through your keen observation, you also have come to know. You show compassion and understanding, but not all other co-workers do.

But the original manager moves on. The new manager is a bit of a ______.
You feel very strongly that this new manager would not be understanding, and you think that the person with the handicap could easily lose the job now, and it is their sole means of survival. What can you do, if anything?

Aum Namasivaya

DavidC
11 November 2009, 03:18 PM
That is an interesting question but rather out of the control of the person considering it so not necessarily a moral dilemma. Society should have a solution for this, and the best help might be in a social/government organization for helping such people. There is no guarantee society or the co-workers would be understandable about the person. In that case one may want to help the person oneself. One would not be morally culpable if one did not have the means to help the person, but if one did one should try.

Eastern Mind
11 November 2009, 04:32 PM
Vanakkam: This is a generalisation, but in many cases I have observed that a physical handicap is much more understandable by the average Joe than an emotional or mental one. Seeing with the physical eyes is believing, I guess.

Yet, the person suffering from the mental disability is perhaps suffering or limited to a greater extent than the one with the physical one. Always has been a point of observational study for me.

Aum Namasivaya

Abominable Snowman
11 November 2009, 05:09 PM
You feel very strongly that this new manager would not be understanding, and you think that the person with the handicap could easily lose the job now, and it is their sole means of survival. What can you do, if anything?

I would say perhaps talk to the person with the illness and perhaps encourage them to talk with the manager with any problems they have. Does the person involved do they're work as well as they can and are good at their job? If so then the manager must be understanding towards the individual, after all, they're suppose to be professional. I have had similar problems in that I'm bipolar (type II) and this has effected my work sometimes so I usually like to have a personal talk with my superiors and let them know this is what I have and that this could effect my performance from time to time but I always assure them that I will work as hard as I can and that I am taking medication and see a therapist regularly and thus I will work as hard as I can to get the job done. I hope this helpful. I think it would be hard from your standpoint in that your a third party but I think you should probably talk to your co-worker about it. I think these situations are hard because people who don't have a mental illness don't understand how hard it is to balance work and mental health.

atanu
11 November 2009, 10:59 PM
At your workplace there is a co-worker who has a hidden social handicap such as Asperger's syndrome, or relatively severe obsessive compulsive disorder. Originally the person was hired in confidence. Only the manager and the handicapped person knew the situation. Through your keen observation, you also have come to know. You show compassion and understanding, but not all other co-workers do.

But the original manager moves on. The new manager is a bit of a ______.
You feel very strongly that this new manager would not be understanding, and you think that the person with the handicap could easily lose the job now, and it is their sole means of survival. What can you do, if anything?

Aum Namasivaya

Namaste EM,

Recently, a Hindi movie, 'tAre Zameen par' (The stars on the earth) dealt with a nearly similar problem.

Om Namah Shivaya

ScottMalaysia
11 November 2009, 11:48 PM
I'd tell the person not to get on the bad side of the new boss. If he interacts in a professional manner and doesn't say anything inappropriate then there shouldn't be a problem.

I myself have Asperger's Syndrome.

sunyata07
12 November 2009, 08:33 AM
Namaste EM,

Unless the co-worker's condition somehow gets in the way of his professional duties, I don't see how this can be much a problem. I assume in this workplace, the co-worker is entitled to the same worker's rights along with everyone else, so if, through a lack of understanding or compassion, the co-worker were to lose his job the moral dilemma should be posed to society itself, as DavidC pointed out, rather than the observer of these events. The roots of the problem in this dilemma lie in society, not the individual. In this hypothetical situation, you can be as kind, helpful, caring towards others as you can be, but in the end, you cannot be blamed for the lack of empathy on the part of your colleagues and manager.

But it is an interesting question you've asked, because in many ways there are better ethical laws that protect the rights of equality of the physically handicapped rather than the mentally. There is a strong taboo about mental health in our society. It has lessened to some extent over the last century, but there is still a need to call for changes on these outdated biases against people with such conditions.