If you are working, what careers are you in?

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

That’s awesome that you are a police officer, San. It brightened my day to think that there’s a police officer out there with autism. :-) Thanks for taking care of the community.

Elisabeth

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. :-)

Elizabeth

Science , computers, research, medicine. But lots of university qualifications needed. I suspect not easy for you now. We are not good at social reading between the lines, but do well with fixing people with science

I'm an office supervisor for a company that supplies food to mainly the hospitality sector so it is really quiet up the moment, still open as we also deliver to nursing homes / prisons / armed forces / canteens i.e schools. 

I am however doing a degree in Math/Stats but I'm unsure where that will take me

Wow that's amazing! A couple of weeks ago I was talking with a young perspn thinking about a career in the police and I was thinking how the police say that they want to reflect the community that they serve, so neurodiverse police must be a good thing and hopefully your employers will be keen to support you.

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 :-(

That's excellent news! I'm also a trained proofreader, I really enjoyed my training and the task of proofreading. I have a few days of self-isolation starting today so I hope I'll be able to get some volunteer proofreading done to get some experience and eventually paid work.

I quite like being a home help. I've previously worked as an administrative assistant though never lasted long in a job. I'm a trained translator and proofreader but I'm finding it hard to break into the industry. I currently get my intellectual challenge through blogging, research for my creative writing etc.

I used to be a technician who made glasses (optical glasses). I loved that job but hard to come by now as a lot of companies have moved their glazing abroad. 

I'm now a healthcare support worker in a hospital and going through my nurse training. 

I have had so many jobs in the past. I seem to stay in the job for a couple of years before moving on to something totally different.

Currently I am a police officer. I struggled for over 2 years in the job for loads of different reasons that all affected my asd. At the time I didn’t know I had asd (very recently diagnosed).  I had a major burnout and was off work for sometime. Now currently trying to work out my own limitations and what I am capable of doing work wise with the help of my work.

Sometimes you just need to try different things, even though it might be outside your comfort zone the only way you will know is to try. It also helps if you have the support of colleagues and bosses 

I'm an avon rep and I love it coz I get to organise it myself and do it how I want to.

Proofreading and editing. In my 50s I've found something I'm good at! I like it because it's a very quiet job, no noise or phones ringing and I can do it from home. I like perfecting people's writing, cutting out errors, and reading. Perfect for me.

The big problem is the job market is so complex these days.     Years ago, kids wanted to be a policeman, engine driver, shop keeper etc.    Now, there are so many job titles so when you ask most teenagers what career they want, most kids will answer "Don't know."

Also, how would you react if you wanted to be an astronaut and someone said the best you'll ever achieve is a cleaning job?

I totally agree, H.! Also I just saw your friend request and YES! Can’t wait to message directly.  Yay!

The 1:1 work is where I thrive in social work too. My difficulties are around meetings with multiple professionals. If every contact in my life could be 1:1 then I would feel so much happier! 

Plastic said:

but it takes a very honest person to do some deep self-analysis to be honest with your strengths and weaknesses - many people delude themselves with 'dream' careers.

True.  Apart from a run of the mill careers adviser found in schools etc who maybe don't have the time to carry out the in depth analysis, aptitude tests etc to stop someone becoming a "square peg in a round hole" in their choice of career, are you aware where people on the autistic spectrum can get such a tailered advice?  If there was such a service it would be a boon for job seekers on the spectrum, enabling them to get jobs in which they thrive.

Plastic, I had a feeling you did something like that, having read your previous posts.  Awesome.

Elizabeth

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

Used to work in the care sector, was in auxiliary nurse in the NHS for a while. Enjoyed it but the role didn't take me anywhere. I was very good at the practical stuff but shied away from getting qualified because I was paranoid about messing up someones drugs (and I didn't want to study for another 2-3 years).

I was heading for a career to be a psychologist (!), sadly I didn't handle the study too well. I did reasonably well academically, but found it difficult to focus and I burnt out after major projects. After a job interview went bad (the experience was truly awful) I steered away from a PHD and took an office based role.

Been there for years now in a variety of roles. Tried promotion but I struggle with group discussions, the fluid nature of some of the role and the relationship building (I'm very task orientated and I work better solo. People tend to over-complicate what I see as relatively simple asks).

My latest is data crunching, analysis of MI and coaching of staff. When I'm given the space to work it's fantastic - it's difficult sometimes because of meetings about meetings, crazy turnarounds, circular discussions, vague asks and senior staff micromanaging and not knowing when to push off. Having said that, I've been secure in employment and well supported since my diagnosis,

If I had the option to do it again? If I'd been a little more grounded at the time, and if I knew what I knew now, I would have pursued a career as a journalist/freelance writer or gone into some kind of social research. The latter I think would have really worked for me.