Those of you who work - what is your job?

Forgive the late reply, not a snub just I started a new contract last week so have been a bit wiped trying to get up to speed! 

Yes indeed there does seem to be as lot of overlap, though you have a lot more deep knowledge of the body, though I am very much going to look up some of the areas you suggest and would love to hear more!

I am currently self employed and not entirely by choice, it became too difficult changing roles and environments. I had many roles, some working in Central and some in Local government. My eduction and work were an absolute nightmare at times somehow I got through it with an MSc. I can empathise with What Pheonix7  said about struggles. I am in my mid 40s I just don't think there was same awarenesses when I was growing up, you would either be removed or treated extremely differently to others. Disclosure would probably mean being looked at differently or having your role responsibilities curtailed, I wouldn't be able to deal with my tasks being limited in anyway. I am trained to work in museums as a curator/collections manager - however my jobs at their closest were only on the perirfery of this I have been a Chairman's assistant to a UK museum. I kind of liked the idea of being an archivist or a librarian in a quiet environment where noone really bothered me. The biggest issues I have faced has been the variations in my inner moods, when problems or new people arise into the equation. The best I can describe this is like feeling flustered, in a fog or having an electric storm in my head. There is no predicting when a bad day may be this is the hardest thing as its overwhelming and unescapable. The workplace is highly competive which doesn't suit me, at the same time I need to operate at the same level or exceed others expecations of me. All my employed roles where before diagnosis so I would dealing with alsorts of internal (and external) adversity which I am only beginning to understand.

Here is a general summary of the types of role in chronological order:

Undergraduate degree

Retail

Wildlife Charity

Creative manufacturing internship

Masters degree

Personal assistant

Museum Chairmans assistant

Museum conservator

Child protection - I would not recommend this field to anyone who is easily distressed

Elderly peoples care 

Local Government 

Legal 

Central Government 

Personal assistant

Copyright (museums)

Assistant to Artist

Self Employed

Charity Trustee

Thanks for your answer Cinnabar_wing 

The (e)motion capture data is an interesting overlap to my studies which if you'll forgive me I'll ramble on a bit to you about as we share the interest.  hehe warning "info dump" about to take place.  :-)

My wife (who is a fine artist by training and practice) went to a cartoon workshop a few years ago - really enlightening from a facial emotion characteristic perspective!

I did a few very primitive flick books when at uni in context of gait analysis myself and routinely have come to use quick structural line drawings to illustrate and provide visual learning aids in my physiotherapy.  So I think we are kindred spirits perhaps?

So even tho' you haven't asked for it i'd like to share some of the places the study has taken me - hehe autism, you've got to love it...

One analysis of "motion capture" I picked up on is in relaton to acupuncture points/meridians or what have been called "muscle trains" in Western terms.   These systems model human movement and structure in a fashion of "tensional integrity" (the term "tensegrity" coined by Buckminster Fuller).    You might find these interesting and/or useful to explore :-) 

I found the Taoist/acupuncture one especially interesting as it models whole body postural sets that embody emotions - it is also encaptured in physical exercises which allow it to be used as a physical/emotional training system.

The scientific fields of emotional and cognitive embodiment might be interesting to you in this context.

You might also be interested in looking up "mirror neurones" as a study - it is, like a lot of theories, contentious however does shed some interesting angles on movement acquisition and purpose (including some analysis of autism in context too).

The study of human anatomy is especially interesting in context.  All that DaVinci stuff!  In the early 17th century the word "pelvis" was adopted in this context.  Meaning "bowl/bucket" the human body's centre of mass is in this - so where the pelvis is in the mechanics of the system and how it is aligned is especially interesting from a weight transfer and functional muscle utilisation perspective.

Gestures are indeed a fascinating area to explore too - i wonder if you have come across "mudra" - these are symbolic Hindu and Buddhist hand gestures used in ceremony, statues and dance?

Anyway,  I wonder if any of what I've shared "rings bells" (hehe hopefully not alarming) with you?

I'd like to chat/collaborate further in this - it is probably my biggest special interest! :-)

Best Wishes

For reference, it depends on what the anim is. For runs etc. just finding a video of someone sporty running, and creating a clip to analyse and step through frame by frame to work out what's happening. Otherwise we might video ourselves and push the poses, weight shifts, arcs if it's something like an idle. I have Richard Williams book, the Animators Survival Kit, and in uni we had a talk by Ed Hooks and have his book Acting for Animators. There are tons of resources on the internet too. Plus mirrors, I don't have alexithymia so I'm okay with pulling faces.

Plus I've worked with motion capture data, which is working with an actors motion. So moment and gestures is something I'm really aware of and find fascinating!

Hi Cinnabar_wing   Study of movement and expressions turned into a career with correlates for masking.  Similar for me.  :-)

I spent a lot of time exploring human movement (including biomechanics) and interactions from a Western"biopsychosocial" perspective and Taoist philosophy and arts mostly providing insight into postural changes associated with emotional sets.  For me this turned into a career in physiotherapy.   More interaction with people fro me - a mixed blessing...

Can I ask where you draw your studies for the models of movement and expression you use in your art please?  I find this especially interesting :-)

I'm a computer games animator. So I've studied movement and expressions for the last 20 years, maybe a reason I've been so good at masking all this time, even from myself. (This is different from feature animation, I do a lot of loops and cycles and movement sets). Though my speciality is creature stuff, as it overlaps my nature interest. I can also cover a tech animator role and I really got into python a few years back. I also work from home so I don't have to deal with other people apart from a few meetings.

I've struggled over the years, but I didn't understand why. I've worked retail, hospitality, support, office, over so many different industries. But would also end up burnt out and agitated. Now I understand what my needs are.

I work in Safety for a transport company. I have the structure and routine that I need, and my own office. I had half the light bulbs removed in my office, the office is situated at the end of the building and is usually quiet. When it does get loud, I shut my door. I often where ear plugs during the day as well. And I have flexibility that I can come in a bit late or leave early if it's a hard day.

My boss and coworkers don't necessarily know about my diagnosis but know at least that I have sensory issues.

They know sometimes i need to be in quiet, sometimes I still even wear a hat at my desk on those days where everything is too bright. They have seen me trying to breath and calm myself in front of my fan when i'm overstimulated or sitting in the bathroom with lights off. I always am holding some kind of toy or fidget thing (AuDHD). I struggle to understand sometimes and am open with that, I'm honest and say I don't understand, as I struggle a bit with language processing. When I'm writing what they are saying I tell them I get my words mixed up and ask them to wait or slow down.

People I work with know that this is how it is. I even have a joke little yellow a-frame sign that says "Caution - overstimulated - do not approach" that I occasionally put on my desk.

I do still get overwhelmed and burn out, but it's much more manageable.

Sometimes, we get lucky, and it all fits together - the right people who let you be without issue, supportive boss, environment you can control to adapt to what you need, and work that you are genuinely interested in and that suits your style.

I've had similar job as this one before that I couldn't stick to, but I didn't know then why I struggled, and I didn't have any accommodations.

I have the style of job that suits me with structure and routine, that I'm genuinely interested in, I have accommodations, and I have colleagues who don't seem to care to be honest. I don't know if they talk about me, but they don't at all give me any kind of hard time or obvious judgement, they work with what I need, without it being a big deal. Of course, there's times where it doesn't all line up, or there's meetings, or unexpected urgencies. Those days I go home exhausted. But they are the minority of days.

However - I'm 40 and this only just happened for in the last 2 years, there was a lot of struggles leading to this point.

I started on 2 research labs. Then in mobile telecoms for over 20 years, with a network operator and 3 major phone manufacturers, related to development, testing, certification and model introductions. I travelled half the work attending various industry meetings inc. 3GPP, ETSI and GCF.

At one point I knew all the air interface protocols and wrote a simple analyser. I am best at communication protocols, but there's not so much need anymore.

I currently scope customer requirements for radio and emc for European and north American regulatory testing (CE & FCC/ISED) for a global test lab.

Business Analyst.

It's the first job I have found that can be truly compatible with my strengths, and any Business Analyst will tell you that it's a varied and flexible role.

My route in was via Business Application support. This was pretty stable but I felt I outgrew the subject matter and saw the same restrictions with reliance on external suppliers for resolutions.

As a Business Analyst, I look to empathise with people (and if I am honest, systems and data, secretly treating them as equal stakeholders) to understand their challenges and barriers, then make the most of what we already have, with mininal time and money cost, while aiming to coach learned colleagues into a place of feeling valid in having suggestions for improvement.

I would suggest that the risk of being seen as 'too' knowledgeable can put people in a place of unsustainable reliance by a business, something I suspect applies to many autistic persons. We can get comfortable, absorb lots of information, act empathetically at our own detriment, and it becomes convenient for others to ask us instead of working things out, or exploring themselves.

Anyway, at 21, I was aiming for any job with 'administrator' in the title. I had to go through the adjustment process between art school and office work. Gradually worked into a safe role between human and tech. Love exploring how a business works via its data too.

DBCD said:

As I am the one in charge though, it falls on me if things don't get done.

Something I learned by having one manager who had a sadistic pleasure in giving me impossible workloads to see if I would break is to allow some things to fail.

When you can see there is not enough resource to achieve the goal then don't try to be Sisyphus pushing that boulder endlessly up the hill ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus ) but make sure your objections have been noted in writing as early as possible, keep the notices of its pending failure going (always in writing) and step back to let it fail without it taking you with it.

By doing this you are insulated from the failure and the responsibility goes to your manager for failing to give you adequate resource in spite of repeated, detailed warnings.

It takes a lot to step back sometimes as we can get so invested in it.

It was with considerable pleasure that I learned of that dodgy manager of mine being sacked after I left the company - he was let go when his manager did exactly the same thing to him.

HiPhased 

Of course, it's great that you have another thought. 

I am my hardest critic, that is true, but I am working it.

Fortunately my therapy room is clutter free, apart from the obvious things that are required. Sometimes I just go in there and lay on the massage table and look at the trees. It's like a little oasis, probably similar to your escape room.

Thanks for offering support, I really appreciate it. I find it a bit difficult to reach out sometimes, but it’s nice to know you’re open to talking.  

It's a fair point, Iain. I have also moved into management over the years but find myself with such a significant amount of developer work still remaining that it;s hard to do both jobs.   Like you the IT side is a special interest that I am lucky to be able to do professionally and successfully.

Because I am incredibly lucky to have the specific role I have right now, I have somehow managed to work around my serious people-skill limitations, despite having risen up the career ladder because of technical skills.  That said, I have an excellent colleague who covers my back a lot.

One serious downside for me is that I often over-work or else get more stressed when I can't manage to put the extra hours in to make things happen.

Right now, I am paralysed a little because both my home life and work life demands have collided and I have a massive work-load at work and not enough people.  The people I do have already learned how to balance work and life and don't have the same problems as me.  As I am the one in charge though, it falls on me if things don't get done.

I was a specialist in IT support, with the first 10 years mostly deskside support then management of various levels with times of being a project manager.

At the beginning it was great where I could work on the technical issues and not have to interact with the users but there was always an element where you had to deal with people, often those who were upset that their computer was stopping them working or had lost their work.

This resulted in me learning to script a lot and mask when I was interacting, then later learning to use meditation to come down from the perpetual state of stress I found myself in. I also picked up assertiveness training and mindfulness training that were hugely helpful.

Moving into management was really tough. You find yourself having to take direction from senior management who want a specific result then you have to get your team to deliver this, often when they don't think it is a good idea or that it won't work.

Where I was able to excel was in training my teams to cope with the stresses of the job, read the customers behaviours and develop ways of organising their workload to stop it overloading them. All this came from ways I had developed to survive without knowing I was autistic.

By making the job a special interest I was able to turn myself into a specialist who could turn around underperforming support teams and had some eye opening experiences there.

In the end it was the constant unreasonable expectations from senior management that made me retire early after 32 years in the field.

The anxiety never went away and it was always uncomfortable dealing with the interpersonal interactions but I always took this as just part of the nature of being in work.

Now I'm retired in my late 50s I'm my own boss as a property developer and can get my hands dirty when I want or can just get my staff to do the work if it is more practical. It is a much better work life balance and my health has improved markedly as a result

I have another thought if it's Ok?  I too have a "treatment room" at home.  It is now generally considered to be "my room" by my family.  It has been a bit of an "escape room" in a few senses too - one I can escape to and also one that when coming out of burnout I have found myself from gradually escaping from too.  It has also become something of  a "I'll put it there until... " room too.  It's hard not to be one's hardest critic sometimes.  If able to reframe circumstances sometimes an alternate perspective can be found.  If you want someone to talk to about experiences of being a therapist I'm here too if you want :-)

HI!

I work full-time in software development.  I am lucky in that I'm good enough to be given a fairly wide berth for what I do.  I do customer support too but that;'s all email and generally not too demanding.  Most of my customers are other developers and fairly tolerant.

I have had some serious burn out with this job over the years but by-and-large it has served me well because I am able to concentrate for fairly long periods with relatively few interruptions or distractions.  Not that interruptions and distractions don't happen at all - they come in fits and starts and sometimes "thundering herds" but I have a broad enough mix of tasks that I can recover by doing some bits of the tasks I like more.  This works for monotropic flow.  I can listen to music at work and this is not a problem in my workplace.

Like some other jobs, it has structure and elements of routine.

Do you think a role like this might suit you, your needs or your style of working?

Best wishes.

Thankyou so much for this information. It's given me something to think about.

I have a treatment room at home which I needed during the course for all my case studies. Now it is just there, empty and redundant. Every time I go in there, my heart sinks and I start to berate myself. I know confidence is an issue also. 

Thank you again for taking the time to respond, it is really appreciated :⁠-⁠)

indeed Lonehare12 

Before moving into therapy professionally my family and friends benefited (?!?! :-)  ) from my skills.  Are you planning to be mobile of have a fixed base to work from?  I personally find the tricky things are generating contacts with potential clients and then the to me weird thing of charging people to help them.  I got around both of those by being employed by the NHS Initially in society healers appear to have been deeply connected to religious organisations - it might be said that this was because of models of spirituality involved in explaining health/ill health.  Personally I think that the religious organisation may have been a work around for getting clients and the necessary social support (food and shelter etc.).  So maybe you are experiencing autisitc inertia or maybe your experiencing the misfit of how society runs these days?  Maybe if there is a "therapists collective" or similar locally there might be others to join with in your new work?

I am a pharmacy dispenser and have been for the last 20 years. It took me absolutely ages to settle into the role. It is quite busy and varied but it also has structure and routine. Maybe this is why I've stayed so long it suits my AUDHD.

I have also just qualified as a Complementary Therapist. I would like to move into this area of work. Unfortunately i've been qualified since April this year and I've still not got started. Autistic inertia maybe.

I have 2 jobs. My primary job currently is working in retail for a pet produce store while my second is a dog groomer (well, technically, I have two dogs grooming jobs - one where I have a boss, and the other is just my own little business with only three clients so I don't really count it).