Published on 12, July, 2020
Was verbally told at my last assessment that I am autistic and suffer with several traits. Socially difficult, but adept due to a long career in retail face to face sales. That career ended in 2014 after a mental breakdown due to 'work related stress and anxiety'. That lead to a period of depression and an unfair dismissal claim which was successful. I then started my own business, but it simmers due to my inability to push myself to meet new people. I teach young kids about technology and help out around schools with technical problems. The teachers I work with are really grateful for the support I give them and I enjoy it at the end of the day, (less so at the start). I feel like I either need a business partner who will take the lead and simply tell me what to do and when, or I need to think about regular employment again somewhere that I can simply fulfil a job requirement. Finding coming to terms with all of this very difficult and confusing, and wondering what to do with my life now. But I have felt like this most of my life. I waited since 2019 for the assessment.
My obsessions were Star Wars, before Disney milked it and I've always loved cars, stats about car's power and performance and F1, and more recently MPG and tax avoiding cars. I am also interested in most tech (Apple Mac fan, but own an Android), and love networking (computers not socially), photography editing videos and gaming.
I hope that you find the diagnosis helpful in your life.
Getting mine at 60 has been an odd experience and I do find myself constantly thinking about my life through the new confirmation/knowledge of my autism. I actually took not just one, but two, wrong turns whilst driving today because I was so deep in thought.
Overall, though, the diagnosis has been very positive for me. I had a very strange mother and I keep thinking about her. I believe that she was an undiagnosed autistic but also bi-polar (and maybe several other things!).
The diagnosis has actually put my whole family into perspective. I believe that other family members are also on the spectrum.
I just took 'back seat' jobs all my life in spite of being relatively clever because it was the only thing I could do taking into account social phobias etc etc.
I also was quite itinerant in the job market, tending to leave jobs after meltdowns (which I can now see through the autistic lens).
I enjoy photography + do some for microstock and a book cover agency. I'm a bit obsessive about that.