Published on 12, July, 2020
I'd like to find a job that doesn't make me constantly overstimulated, overwhelmed and fatigued, but is also intellectually challenging. I absolutely love learning. Has anyone found a role that works for them?
Hi, NAS, what a great question! Thanks for posing it.
I work as a teacher, which is apparently an unusual profession for people with Autism. My psychologist has gently and in a completely non-pressuring way suggested to me that I consider changing careers in order to avoid burnout. This, after I’ve disclosed to her that I feel burnout coming soon and that I don’t foresee being able to maintain this career for long.
In the meantime, I have been able to survive full-time teaching by pursuing roles in which I work in quite a specialist capacity and do not have to work as part of a team or a large team. Instead, I seek positions in which I am ideally in a department of one (just me) or two teachers, and where what I do is so specialized that I don’t have a lot of involvement from school administrators.
With that being said, I previously worked in the social work field and much preferred those roles, particularly when I could work one-on-one with clients in quiet settings. Sometimes I think about doing that again starting this fall, but it’s a bit of a balancing act because it pays about 70% of what I make now. If I had a spouse things would be easier because I would have his income as well, but because I’m single this has been a bit of a challenge for me to figure out.
Ultimately I believe my wellness matters more than money, so who knows where I’ll be, perhaps as early as this fall.
Thanks for listening!
Elizabeth
I agree, our health is our wealth as they say. I've also wondered about teaching as a career option; I did a course in teaching adults and enjoyed it. I think I would do best in a small place for autistic people, and it seems that to train in "special" education you have to do general teacher training first, with learners of all neurotypes, staff room politics etc. I wonder whether being autistic (well, I'm waiting for diagnosis) might help when working with autistic people. Mind you, my husband has a diagnosis of autism and I sometimes wonder whether our life together would be easier if I wasn't also potentially autistic. My husband doesn't communicate with me about money and I'm not sure how to encourage him :-(
When I worked in schools and colleges, I actually found staffrooms quite nice, depending on the organisation. Everyone was exhausted and didn't chat much in break times. They saw I was putting in the time and effort with the students (11- 18) and respected me and I respected them.
A staffroom sounds horrendous. I've worked in places before where there were canteens where breaks had to be taken, full of chit chat and I was always getting into trouble for getting back late from breaks because I didn't know how to excuse myself from conversations that I had somehow got involved in. I'm glad that it sounds as though attendance is optional :-) Escaping through those locked doors does sound like a vote for freedom of choice and liberty :-) though not good for safeguarding. I've had a thought that perhaps I could ask to do teacher training just in schools with autism units etc to avoid scary neurotypical classrooms. Have a great day and take very good care of yourself x
Hi, WN 2015:
In a bit of a rush so dictating this on the iPad and not correcting the errors or spelling mistakes. Sorry!
I just wanted to reply to your post and say three things:
Yes, general teaching training is required prior to becoming a certified teacher who works with children with autism, At least here in Canada. I anticipate it’s likely the same in the UK.
Two, yes, being autistic helps with working with children with autism. Prior to knowing I had autism, I worked full-time as a teacher of children aged 6 to 11 with autism in a very intense, locked door, two full-time aids all day situation.
I taught only six children at a time and they were nonverbal and Some of them were violent and most of them if they got out of the locked doors would literally run through the school hallways, usually shrieking with delight. (Which happened rarely and of course was stressful for me and the aids, but I always privately admired the kids’ commitment to their own freedom of choice and liberty.)
Anyway, they were amazing kids and what I found was that I somehow intuitively knew how to help them and what they needed to have calm and gentle fun and a balance of stimulation and quiet, peaceful times throughout the day. By contrast, my non-autistic colleague had an extremely different, chaotic classroom environment across the hall, where the children were constantly having meltdowns, yelling, hitting each other, etc. I felt badly for her.
I don’t share all of that to try to sound arrogant, but just to say that if you are autistic you will probably find you are good at intuitively knowing what the kids need as your support, whether their needs are as elevated as my students’ were, or less extreme.
Third, as for staffroom politics, I simply don’t go into the staffroom, and what I find interesting is that teachers seem to come to me to visit. I always have teachers dropping into my classroom throughout each day or stopping me in the hallways, And interestingly they are usually the coolest, most quirky, most individualistic, most authentic teachers.. I don’t seem to need the staff room at all, and I’ve enjoyed never being a staffroom kind of a teacher. :-)
Yikes, that last paragraph sounded highly judgemental. So I need to totally qualify it by saying there’s nothing wrong with staffrooms, of course. But Hanging out there is probably not going to be the preferred “jam” of an autistic teacher. I actually walk by the open staffroom door and shudder a little bit. :-)