• Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 79 subscribers
  • Views 1660 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Asperger's challenges at work

Banjo's Backpack

Hi there

I am wondering if anyone else can help or relate to me? I have a degree in Communication and I have a foundation degree in Sport.

I achieved a 2:2 in Communication (and in my opinion, robbed of a 2:1 through reflection of bad advice from the university on my dissertation which was based on my exploration of entrepreneurship). I thought there would be no career in sport so I left to do communication before returning to do sport because after doing some work placement I felt I didn't care enough and university never really helped me feel proficient in any area of my degree. On my return to my sport foundation degree I achieved a 1st.

Upon completing this, finding that I didn't feel proficient in communication or marketing, losing enjoyment in the fitness industry through clients who were there for the social experience or 'to lose body fat' rather than get fit, led me to feel a bit lost. Part of my placement included working with a football team which I enjoyed because it was competitive, and analytical, less social. I want to work with top athletes and I feel proficient enough to do that. Jobs I have had taking fitness classes and gyms just don't fulfill me and I don't enjoy them at all. However, as you can appreciate it, while my goals and my confidence in working with athletes is high, it's a hard industry to crack. I set my goals on working with GPS companies, gearing all my work towards them, and ended up not even getting an interview for them.

Anyway, now I am in the situation were I have a degree in Communication that might look good on paper but it doesn't mean a lot to me because of how poor I felt the course was, plus I didn't enjoy the associated work I felt useless in due to the poor course. While I have a high level of knowledge and a lot of experience in fitness, I have a very high aim for that which is going to be hard to achieve (although not impossible).

I do not want to be unemployed and I really want to work in a job I enjoy and I deserve that. I am still attempting self-employment but again, my ambitions are high, launching a global start up takes a bit of time (I was involved on great accelerators which I loved, but unfortunately it doesn't pay bills and means nothing to me without revenue).

This has led me to explore the option of becoming a mechanic, opening my own garage and setting my own rules with the confidence of being successful through my high interest in cars and trains as a child and fixing things. This was on the back of experiences in full time work that I consisted of a threshold of function. What I mean by that is that to a certain point of the week (I am unsure what that point is), I stop functioning, I don't care and I am in auto-pilot (like a tranced auto-pilot), this doesn't stop until I get an adequate recharge (usually a few days off), which is difficult with work patterns in todays world. I feel I don't get adequate support.

I applied for DLA thinking it might help financially to allow me to support myself as I try to combat this problem and continue working, hopefully enabling me to work as normally as possible (but who knows how long that might take?). Apparently though, I don't qualify and finding support through one-to-one is proving very time consuming and difficult too. I feel isolated and unsupported and like normal work feels a lot more difficult than it actually is, which is perhaps part of why I am so driven to find something I enjoy more than I can work as.

Working recently in a gym has made me reconsider my life and hence re-exploring the mechanic idea. A recent interview in a wealthy pharmaceutical company for a marketing position who offered minimum wage insulted me with my degree and a few years experience to boot and also geared me towards exploring becoming a mechanic, while working as an employee just doesn't seem to work for me, hence by desire to be successfully self-employed. Life can be hard!

Has anyone else felt let down by support or undervalued despite their high level of knowledge and experience? Has anyone had similar experience?

Thanks for reading :) Sorry for rambling.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Banjo's Backpack said:

    The lack of opportunities is the real problem perhaps.

    To paraphrase JFK: "Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for yourself"

    Having autism is a clear problem but you also have to come to terms with adult life which is different to life as a child or as a student. Your future is much more of your own making rather than being what someone will provide for you. I think you have asked for, received and accepted some good advice on this thread and you have a bright future because you aren't going to accept this situation lying down.

  • Recombiantsocks, fair point. Perhaps I need to be more positive, but it's difficult having had set backs and feeling inadequate in the job world despite knowledge and experience. The lack of opportunities is the real problem perhaps.

    Mattbucks, strong points. I understand what you're saying. Perhaps the problem is that I come across that way, especially how I have written a self-entitled tone. For example, I wasn't expecting to be head of marketing, but I was expecting to be moving up at least one step from where I have been. Offering minimum wage doesn't really satisfy me that way, I felt I earned it from having a few years experience on top of my degree and being able to offer proficient help. Maybe I am wrong. I don't feel I deserve something for nothing, I feel I have already worked hard and I always want to move up, even if it's just a little bit. Maybe you're right about my attitude, but I feel it's more my sense of frustration that portrays my attitude that way. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. All I am trying to earn is a career I enjoy, I don't really care about earning a lot of money. I feel by this stage, I should be further in achieving that.

    Aspergerix, apologies, I have been diagnosed since I was 5 years old. I am also not trying to willy nilly tag myself with autism. I am just trying to understand if it's contributing to how I respond to the environment during times of overload. At times in work, I 'feel' autistic. That's not to say that's what it is because I haven't felt the same to this degree in every job I have had, but I am trying to understand it to combat it, so perhaps you're right that it might be something else. I am worried that that might be the case.

    I appreciate your responses and even the constructive criticism. Thank you.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    BP,

    People with autism are very analytical and see the world as a collection of rights and wrongs and your post is more full of wrongs that you have identified than the rights that you could have identified.

    You have successfully completed two courses. You have learnt a lot from those courses.

    You have got jobs and your have been offered a job by a prestigious pharmaceutical company.

    Your clients at the gym are trying to lose weight - this is their first step in becoming fitter.

    you do not want to be unemployed - you have drive and ambition.

    You are physically fit and healthy.

    These are all positive things that you could have identified but your post reads as very critical. Being analytical does not mean that you have to be critical.

    Yes, I feel undervalued sometimes but sometimes you really need to think about what you have got rather than thinking about the things that you haven't got.