Research study scenario

[paloftoon]

I completed a research study several months ago or so.
I was asked for permission to use video,as podcasts, publications, etc. to publish things about there interview. They would be able to use the information at any time, and I don't know or remember the content of the interview. They would even include where I work.

I believe every participant was asked this.

I had ended up declining because there were no sponsors who would be interested in providing me payment for such content.

I told my boss about this. I work in a program which hires people on the spectrum. He was concerned about the payment part. It seems reasonable to want this for such potentially private information. As much as I like the idea of helping out the autism community possibly, I don't have a good sense of how it would impact me negatively or positively. I'm not even sure what to ask the researcher.

I feel a sense of uncomfortableness, but there is another part of me that wants to just put myself out there and see what happens too. What do you think?

 

[Gritches]

I'd say it depends on what you're agreeing to.

The way to get ahead is to put yourself out there; you can't get noticed if nobody knows you exist.

That said, although there is no such thing as bad publicity, you can do yourself a disservice if your name and "autism" appear together too much. Future employers may find it and discriminate. Then, on the other hand, if your name isn't attached to it you won't get the desired publicity.

I don't see this as a winning situation; I personally wouldn't agree to it, not for free and not for a paltry sum of money either.

 

[WittyAspie]

That uncomfortableness is a sign you shouldn’t ignore. When things don’t feel right it’s usually because they aren’t right. I would say protecting your private information is the way to go in this case. Once it’s out there you can never reseal it.

 

[paloftoon]

If they could put in the agreement that I was allowed to review what they put out before they put it out, I could definitely feel much more comfortable with this. If some people don't have jobs currently or if they are on SSI for life, I could possibly see people like that being okay with it. Neither is my situation at all. It's very frustrating. I feel like I shouldn't have even brought up the possibility at work now, but oh well. Now, I have that to manage.