Camels, Needles, and Corporate Chameleons...
Right now, my brain feels a bit like a web browser with three hundred tabs open, music is playing loudly, and I have absolutely no idea which tab it's all coming from. That is autistic burnout for you. When you have spent years trying to navigate the fallout of harassment, your neurological circuitry essentially decides to pack up and go on strike. It is exhausting. I must admit that being forced into this low-battery mode also gives a lot of quiet time to connect some seemingly unrelated dots.
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how power operates in hierarchical spaces within the world of work. We often see people advance who are incredibly adept social chameleons. They can mimic empathy when it serves a transactional purpose, but beneath the surface, there is a profound void. According to Google, psychologists call this the Dark Triad, that potent mix of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. These are the folks who view relationships purely as rungs on a ladder. They thrive in systems built on cronyism and nepotism because their primary skillset is managing upward impressions while remaining entirely indifferent to the collateral damage they cause below.
It brings me back to a very old piece of wisdom. You probably know the passage from Mark where Jesus says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
People have spent centuries trying to soften that quote. They even invented a myth about a small gate in Jerusalem called the "Eye of the Needle", so the story would just be about a camel having to drop its excess baggage to squeeze through. That gate never existed. Jesus meant a literal sewing needle and a literal camel. The imagery was meant to be completely absurd!
It is not just about having money in a bank account. It is about what the relentless pursuit of status, power, and wealth does to human psychology. When you build a fortress to protect your position and view everyone around you as a tool for advancement, you systematically destroy your own capacity for genuine empathy. The social chameleons who navigate corrupt systems are operating in a domain completely antithetical to radical love, vulnerability, and honesty. The camel is not getting through the needle, and the empathy-void ladder climber is walled off from genuine grace.
Which brings me back to neurodiversity in the workplace...
Autistic individuals often struggle in these highly politicised environments precisely because our neurology demands clarity, truth, and equity. We do not do well with the Machiavellian game. We cannot switch our personalities on and off to appease the right people, but that is exactly why neurodivergent voices are so desperately needed in these spaces.
As highlighted in recent research on neurodivergent experiences [1], the true benefit of neurodiversity is not just about having different types of cogs in the corporate machine to increase productivity. It is about the fundamental kindness, the giving nature, and the unwavering dedication to fairness that we bring to the table. We want systems that work safely for everyone. We want to do good work without needing to play four-dimensional chess just to survive the week.
Burnout is a heavy price to pay for simply wanting a safe workspace. But untangling these threads helps make sense of the chaos. The corporate chameleons will keep trying to squeeze their camels through sewing needles, but the rest of us will keep advocating for workplaces built on actual merit, genuine empathy, and the quiet strength of neurodivergent kindness.
[1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/13623613251385029
Written by John Hugill
May 2026