19 years old. I sometimes feel like a bit of a walking contradiction having these two conditions, however I have found the two sometimes cancel elements of each other out. Only diagnosed with ADHD a month or so ago, been diagnosed with ASD since the age of 18.
My lifelong ambition has bene to be in the police. I applied the moment i turned 18, ended up withdrawing from the process because i had another job, but also i feared they were already ruling me out because of my autism and mental health issues...they implied because i was bullied i would get upset if someone "called me a name". Well, it was a bit more than upset - i was so badly bullied I had symptoms of PTSD two years after the bullying, it was brutal.
I had my first proper job in april but got fired pretty much at the end of June. I made them aware of my autism at the start of the job. they asked me for reasonable adjustments; I said I couldn't really explain what they might be as I didn't know how they might manifest, but when they began to say i had "bad body language", such as walking away from people when they talked to me etc, I suggested a reasonable adjustment might be for them to address me by name when talking to me and making it clear when a conversation is finished so I don't wander off midawy through. They refused to do this and combined with my undiagnosed ADHD, with me constatnly forgetting things and making mistakes, they basically said: resign, or get fired next week.
All illegal I know, but at the time I was unsure so just went with it. Since then i've taken up my old part time job of delivering pizza which i did from nov - april last year, and started from july - present this year. I've reapplied for the police and have a medical on the 19th but I'm preparing for the quite high possibility that t hey will fail me on the grounds of being on antidepressants and having a very colourful mental health history. I have and intend to make it clear however, that my mental health issues are almost all down to my autism and the difficulties that brings with social isolation, thus they could be indirectly discriminating against me if they refuse me for this reason, the way i see it being on antidepressants is no different to a diabetic taking insulin so I find the whole thing quite ridiculous.
I'm stuck for jobs other than this. I have no idea what I would do. I've had something of a special interest in town planning and property development and I applied for a degree/.apprenticeship role with a national company but they gave it to someone else. I have no interest in being an estate agent. I did go to univeristy briefly but I think my ADHD would make it difficult as when I was there for a few weeks, i struggled to focus, procrastinated a lot, and never took any information in. Maybe it might change now i'm on medication but that's a hell of a gamble with several thousand pounds of my parent's money. Besides that only buys me a few years to decide what i actually want to do.
I've also looked at the fire service, however they rarely seem to recruit. I applied last year but failed their psychometric tests. As it turns out, these tests are not designed for neurodiverse people (who would have thought it) so its not surprising I "failed".
My current job pays alright (just shy of £10 an hour), but although I find it maybe a little more stimulating than working in a shop (vowed to never do it again in my life, last shop job i had i walked out after a week) but there's no career progression, it's not as if i can even become a manager because i'm only a driver, and I'm highly intelligent. A* and two As in my A-Levels, and everyone who speaks to me (even my old employers who fired me) admitted how intelligent I was.
I'm very good with writing and am also a good orator, but journalism is a dead profession and i tried to get a novel published but so far have failed in my endevaours. I have also tried to start a business. A computer repair one which I have made quite a few hundred pounds on, but google took my listing down after i changed my number and despite repeated requests to get it back, I have not had any success. I am also using my knowledge and experience of neurodiversity to set up a consultancy advising schools and workplaces on how to ensure they look after neurodiverse people, but its early days, and convincing companies they should pay me probably over £100-£200 to come in and talk for an hour about what neurodiversity is and how they can accomodate it, when they are unlikely to even have an autistic employee, is a hard sell. Have actually started by offering it to one or two schools and charities for free but yet to have any response.
Weirdly enough, the only job that has so far sprung to mind is a bouncer/doorman job of all jobs, because I feel it would appeal to my ADHD traits and I'm also physically, very tall and well built, I've even been told by people that I look scary, but I take that as a compliment these days. Parents would probably not approve though! And it's £200 for an SIA and it's not really my dream job.
Taxiing is quite similar to my current job, and can do it well, despite being dyspraxic I'm very good with maps and actually love them (its my special interest), but again, I feel with the academic success I have had i can do much better jobs. I only really want to go to univeristy if an employer is paying me as part of some kind of apprenticeship. My only reason for going was to make some friends. I did, even though none stayed in touch after i left, and i did lose my virginity on my first night so i considered it a success!#
Like I said. I'm extremely intelligent, can spend hours working on projects that interest me (like putting together neurodiversity presentations on creating maps) but if something doesn't hold my attention and usually involves sitting at a desk filling in forms or whatever, I'll be bored stiff. Admittedly this is a part of the police force but with my medication I think I might be better.
