Employment and Autism

I think my side-bar killed the thread! 

Oh you scared me there in case I was wrong! I'd have been so embarrassed. Maybe I can do for you (albeit less charmingly) what Kate just did for me, and say that I think you put words together very nicely indeed - and can see why creative writing would be a strength. 

Talking of dialogue, can I squeeze in a tenuous side-bar of a pet hate (or at least cause of confusion) that sometimes come up in novels. It's moments when, quite validly and refreshingly, the descriptive stuff gives way momentarily to pure dialogue, but...

...then you start to lose track of who (out of say three people) is saying what. Part of me is always thinking, 'Is this a failure on my part? They should be distinctive enough voices individually to guess and I've missed the signal that's clear to most' But sometimes that's not even it, because it's a discussion about what to do next or something - in short statements- but it's completely ambiguous as to who said which thing. Only the author knows (and maybe even forgets later on). It makes me have to re-read the section three times in three combinations so that at least one is correct and I've read the definitive version of the book... without knowing which that is! Anyone else thrown by stuff like that, and OCD enough (I use the term loosely - as I don't have that particular 'co-morbidity' dx'd) to cover all the options when you suspect that 'I guessed right first time because what I say it is, it is' is the general default of the reading population?

It was a very charming reply, for a brief moment I thought that it was for me, you lucky individual.

Thanks Kate, that means a lot. I'm better in writing I think. Verbally, it's a bit more of a runaway train. Or one that struggles to start. Feast or famine. 

On here you’re a wonderfully eloquent communicator. I think you convey very subtle things with clarity - I don’t feel you’re at all ‘inefficient’ with language - not in writing on this forum anyway. Conciseness isn’t everything - if it was there would be no novels - only short stories :) 
We are often so critical of ourselves - that’s as big a problem as any other we might face. 

I can relate. Until a good while ago I used to have 'at least I'm articulate' as my one imagined saving grace. But then it became ever clearer: I'm not articulate, I'm merely wordy - circumlocutionary even to the point where it must seem to others at times like an embarrassing affectation even though I mostly long for the effective conciseness and clarity others seem to have at their fingertips. When a family member (knowing they can be blunter with me than most) says 'Can we get to the point?' I don't mind the humorous pointing out of how tortuously inefficient I'm being with language, but it also makes me even worse somehow - the more I reach for 'getting to the point', the more pronounced the side-winding towards it becomes.

Hmmm, I once applied to the Office for National Statistics for a freedom of information request and yes it was a case of giving us interviews but then no job, perhaps I could write again and ask how many Autistic people end up unemployed despite good qualifications? Next port of call, Thank you for your reply. I really enjoyed reading it.

On the surface of it I come across as very wordy with a large vocabulary, but, what if anything does it communicate? If the understanding is not there or misinterpreted well then that marks me down as a useless communicator and despite an interest in creative writing I am not much good at dialogue owing to bad listening skills, but I am working on them.

Well the last real job I interviewed for I was listed as depressive, the autism was not then diagnosed. I did apply for another job recently where I was to be teaching autistic teenagers, I thought naively that it would be a possible advantage, no feedback and no reply.

People with classic autism or more severe forms of autistic spectrum disorders cannot generally handle jobs which require any significant degree of interaction with others. Autism makes it difficult to communicate effectively or to receive communication effectively.

I think that the issue of autistic people and finding employment is a huge one. Even if autistic people do brilliantly well academically in education they still often struggle when it comes to paid employment.

Do you declare your autism when you apply for work? I would be tempted not to - because there is discrimination and people have ill informed opinions about autism etc.

You got travel expenses . It's decades since a potential employer paid me any travel expenses.

I agree with most of what has been said.  Employers and especially HR people seem to actively filter out ND people.

At the moment I am lucky,. I'm in a temporary job where I can WFH and because of if I actually get along with my colleagues, management and customers.

I've had similar experience Nick.

I honestly feel that a lot of writing is on the wall for the young people in our position today, let alone those of our kind of age. There seems to be an unwritten law attached to work, that states that disadvantaged people of all kinds have almost zero chance of meaningful work unless they devise it themselves in a digital form. I.E create something & be something online. If this were true (and i'm only hypothesising this), then it would hardly be announced officially since they'd not want to create awareness of this state of affairs. The reason i ponder this possibility is that it seems clear, that the good jobs available all entail a method of recruitment that filters the disadvantaged out. If this were so at all, it does leave plenty of jobs not so well appointed with perks & wage one should be aiming at when young. But it seems even they can cherry pick from applicants & young people (for instance ) who had SEN will have declared their schools. As for older people we cannot escape an explicit declaration of matters either, and all it all it just feels like the envelope is narrow. I could be wrong, but it does see that the government expects a lot of people to either sink or swim according to what can be created online these days. In my case ? - i'm certainly convinced that there would be nothing for me unless i took that step. But as i say i could be completely wrong here.