Published on 12, July, 2020
Having read comments here over the last couple of days I'm increasingly wondering whether this community/forum is a good fit for me. Whereas I'm not a severe autistic needing 24x7x365 care I also can't identify with the high powered careers and lives many of you seem to have.
To some degree that may be due to having a comorbid schizophrenia/schizo-affective dx.It's a compatibility issue not one where any of you have done anything wrong. I've never had a paid job.I lead a rather basic lifestyle to minimise stress . Stress being my 'green kryptonite'. Even then it's only with quite a lot of support That's because in my case adaptive functioning is significantly < than would reasonably be expected given my level of intelligence. I've not read much at all about others here being in the same boat, which leads me to believe I'm something of an 'outlier'.
I really like the things this chap has to say about the societies we've been brought up in: https://autcollab.org/2020/09/02/pathologisation-of-life-and-neurodiversity-in-w-e-i-r-d-monocultures/
It's hard to work out how to filter out what is not important to look at for a proper evaluation, even if it's just to find a direction for growth.
But doubtful anyone here has a high powered career. I've been fired so many times for my autistic traits and also have found I've been on the brink of homelessness too many times. I honestly have no idea how to sustain a future, just keep putting one foot in front of the next and have found grounding principles (sometimes mottos) to allow for certain variables or changes in life.
I agree JuniperFromGallifrey- finding good, paid employment for people with autism is a huge challenge and even excellent academic qualifications many autistic people struggle to have very successful careers. Some do of course - but it’s definitely not as common in the autistic community. Most of us have problems in this respect in various ways. We are often working in jobs that are ‘below’ our intellectual ability, or not in paid work at all in many cases. So please don’t feel that not being ‘successful’ (in the conventional career sense) means you don’t belong here - that is very much not the case! Much the opposite in fact!