Downside

So, yay for getting my contract extended, but boo for the fact that we're going to be moving to a new building in a couple of weeks.

Said building itself isn't bad--it's in the middle of a nice retail area that might be useful to traipse around on lunch breaks. Problem is, it has shitty parking, which means us contractors have to park three blocks away. Fortunately, I'm going to be carpooling most of the time, but on the days I can't for some reason, I'm basically fucked.

Even worse than that, however, is that I discovered the new pad (not one of the usual company buildings) has this Modern Open Workspace Design (TM). It's set up more or less like a school, with a bunch of open desks scattered around in each "pod" (AKA classroom) space. Each team has a pod, and everyone's all squished together in this pod, with no individual office or even cube spaces. Just tiny desks with a little bit of storage space and a single partition between you and the next schlub.

Ugh.

( Modern design + ADD = Fucked up )

I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to survive this, between the shitty parking situation and trying to get work done when everyone else around me is talking all the damned time.

Technically speaking, I can contact my agency and let them know that I'm at risk for having concentration issues, and I could probably get some sort of accomodation, but really, that's the last thing I want to do. If my disability were something that had nothing to do with how I do my job, I'd be fine with being out about it. This? I can't. I just can't have my boss knowing that I'm deficient that way. Legal or no, it's the sort of thing that colors how people evaluate the work you do, and whether they want to hire you back again. They never put it in so many (actionable) words. They just start taking your mistakes more seriously, and being more nervous about whether you can do the job, and eventually decide that you're more trouble than you're worth.

I think it's great that more workplaces (especially around here) are taking disabilities into consideration when they're designing. I just wish they included things like ADD and ASDs on their list of considerations. This sort of open workspace bullshit is pretty much proof positive that they don't.

Addendum: Re: Social spaces

I consider myself a good, bleeding heart progressive. I genuinely care about people, especially people who have been handed a raw deal in life, and who need the help of others to get by. I have no problem paying taxes, supporting social services, education, etc. At some point, all of us need community support of some sort, and I'm happy to contribute to that.

But the one aspect of progressive social politics I can't stand is the pressure to squish myself in with other people. I don't like feeling pressured to use public transport, live in urban density, volunteer everywhere, etc. Folks who enjoy that sort of thing are welcome to it, and I'm heartily in favor of funding things like that for those who want to, because it's necessary to preserve shared resources. But it's just not my thing.

I will never again live in an apartment if I can possibly avoid it. I don't talk to my neighbors. I never take the bus. I only get on airplanes because there's no other way to get to some places quickly. I do 80% of my grocery shopping from home, and most every other kind of shopping during non-peak hours. I almost never go to movies on opening day. I travel during low season. I work an offset schedule to avoid rush hour. I rarely use the phone unless I have no other option or need immediate contact with someone.

In short: I hate dealing with strangers, and avoid it whenever humanly possible. It's not that I think there's something inherently wrong with other people, or that I'm better than the unwashed masses or whatever. There's no race or class or ego component to this at all. I just don't like being forced into close proximity with people I didn't choose to be around.

The weird part of this, of course, is that I'm actually an incredibly social person when I'm around people of my choice. I love being surrounded by friends, I'm a huge cuddle slut, and I generally like meeting new people if we have something major in common (queerness, geekery, etc.) But being surrounded by straight muggles in a situation I didn't choose? Puts me on the verge of panic.

So... Yeah. Really wish people would be more considerate of folks like me, and not assume that our desire to limit contact with strangers means we're selfish misanthropes or up to no good or whatever. People just plain stress me out, and if I am to function at all, I have to limit that stress whenever possible.