Autism and jobs

Former music professor (10 years) here. I found out I was Autistic IMMEDIATELY after leaving the university. I don’t know if I have ever had burnout, because I have clinical major depression, so there have been many times where it could have been either/or/both. It’s possible I’ve only had immense periods of depression.

Education is a very difficult field for Autistics in general. The only benefit is that - particularly in high school / collegiate - you can script lectures and interactions. Also, I guess we tend to be drawn to it due to fascination with a particular topic and a drive to teach others about it. However, there can be a huge toll for that amount of socializing and constantly wading through student/coworker drama.

My recommendation is two-fold:

1. Ease into work. Take your time. I highly recommend NOT diving into any full-time work until you feel that the burnout has eased enough that you can handle that many hours away from home. You might even consider starting with a few volunteer hours here and there if you are lucky enough to have someone you can rely on financial for a short time. Diving into full-time work too soon will only serve to prolong the burnout.

2. Consider educational support roles, such as administrative assistant, lunch staff, or custodial. You will still feel engaged with the purpose of assisting students to lead fulfilled lives, but in a slightly less direct way. A role I believe would be perfect for Autistic educators is a school counselor - since that focuses on one-to-one interactions - but I recognize that requires more schooling and is unlikely an option without significant investment on your part.

I hope that helps, if even just a little!

Former music professor (10 years) here. I found out I was Autistic IMMEDIATELY after leaving the university. I don’t know if I have ever had burnout, because I have clinical major depression, so there have been many times where it could have been either/or/both. It’s possible I’ve only had immense periods of depression.

Education is a very difficult field for Autistics in general. The only benefit is that - particularly in high school / collegiate - you can script lectures and interactions. Also, I guess we tend to be drawn to it due to fascination with a particular topic and a drive to teach others about it. However, there can be a huge toll for that amount of socializing and constantly wading through student/coworker drama.

My recommendation is two-fold:

1. Ease into work. Take your time. I highly recommend NOT diving into any full-time work until you feel that the burnout has eased enough that you can handle that many hours away from home. You might even consider starting with a few volunteer hours here and there if you are lucky enough to have someone you can rely on financial for a short time. Diving into full-time work too soon will only serve to prolong the burnout.

2. Consider educational support roles, such as administrative assistant, lunch staff, or custodial. You will still feel engaged with the purpose of assisting students to lead fulfilled lives, but in a slightly less direct way. A role I believe would be perfect for Autistic educators is a school counselor - since that focuses on one-to-one interactions - but I recognize that requires more schooling and is unlikely an option without significant investment on your part.

I hope that helps, if even just a little!

Hello and thank you for sharing your experience and advice. Right now I wanna stay as far away from a school as possible because it's just too loud and unpredictable  however I agree with you when you recommend not to jump back into it too fast too soon. I can already feel the fatigue crawling up when I think too deeply about it so...

Take good care of yourself.