Published on 12, July, 2020
I am new here and don't have any sort of diagnosis despite having life long difficulties with communicating, socialising and obsessional interests.
Despite being a smart person, I cannot solve the puzzle of how it is possible to be employed. When I say employment I don't mean work. I am a great worker. I just seem to have no idea about some mysterious social or political system which underlies the ability to carry out a job for someone else without them getting upset.
I have recently asked an independent advocate to help me bridge the communication gap between myself and my GP so that I may get some sort of referral which will help solve the puzzle.
I have joined this community because I am 90% sure that autism is part of the puzzle, but I cannot be sure. It may be years before I get a referral so I am hoping I can solve the puzzle from within this community.
I am interested to hear about people's experiences in employment, self employment or assisted employment. I consider myself to be in assisted employment.
I have found the book "What Color Is Your Parachute?" (US spelling) very useful - it does focus on finding the job "you really want to do" as this will motivate you in getting it. It does mean some introspection, soul searching and discussing with others, but I think that is useful as it is best to do a job you can enjoy.
It does not distinguish between NT and ND and even with my ASC it did work well for me - if only to tell me the work I gravitated to was the work I did enjoy and would be best at! It has a systematic approach, which works best for me as I prefer not having to much opened ended and unconstrained stuff when deciding things....
I hope it works out for you.
Thank you for the recommendation. It is worth exploring every bit of thinking to find the one person who is willing and able to look past the quirkiness and employ the skills.