I'm quite curious what kind of work do people here do? I've seen from some comments in other threads that there are social workers and teachers out there. The stereotypical autism job is computer programmer, which I think is really cool and requires lots of talent. There are also students on this forum (I'd be interested to know what you're studying).
Also, what jobs do you think are well-suited for the autistic personality?
BTW I did at one time apply for jobs in IT and did excellently at the various rounds of aptitude tests. But in all of those jobs it turned out I had to then subject myself to a panel interview with at least 6 or 7 on those panels so I backed out due to feeling terrified and getting no sleep in the run up. So in my case there was an initial barrier to the stereotypical autism job whcih I couldn't, at the time, overcome.
Panel interviews sound really stressful! I really hate those too.
I think there are some IT companies that look into hiring autistic talent (like Microsoft and Auticon), and they adjust the interview so it's slightly less stressful.
I think there is more awareness now and consequently more adjustments. But I was starting out in the 80s with no diagnosis.
I always had an idea of how the "right person for the job" might look and perform so eventually I learnt to prepare for interviews by stepping into that persona. This was enough to get into the workplace, but very hard to maintain once I'd got my foot in the door.
But, I didn't gel with the growing team … so where I would have become third in line, it was let go for this and probably other discriminatory reasons.
This is so hard and a major stumbling block. I was always better at working independently too but during change and reorganisation it always seemed to be the people skills and level of integration into the team that mattered. Some training in this area much earlier on in life might have helped, both increasing my skills and altering my expectations.
Yes, plus I also believe there's a need to train or coach the coaches (parents, carers, significant others) and, in cases like ours, tailor it individually and take account of the ways in which autism is affecting major life transitions.
In our case we did start at the earliest age (plus my husband and sister are both trained teachers - nursery, primary and secondary - so very aware of general needs) but the transitions from age 16 onwards were so difficult and ultimately traumatic that it feels as though we're back to square one and reparenting young adults in their early twenties. This was mainly, i think, due to undiagnosed autism which meant there was no awareness and no additional support at a critical time. So we are now talking reparation work after a period in which, although things may have been lining up OK from an NT perspective, inherent autistic needs were overlooked and the whole edifice came tumbling down in the form of severe breakdown, depression and massive social anxiety.
One thing I'm prepared for it for it to take a fairly long time. I can remember my own struggles at the same age all too clearly and, with hindsight and also my later awareness of autism (diagnosed last year at 55) I can see that many of my mistakes and difficulties were due to undiagnosed autism. I consequently only started to thrive in the workplace after literally decades of masking in a role that was a very poor fit for me but which probably seemed, from the outside, to be the "good job" our teachers promised for "working hard".
I can strongly relate to that feeling of being in a hurry. I've always felt that way and it's been a mixed blessing - accelerating my learning and development but at the same time increasing my natural tendency towards anxiety. Again, autism awareness could have helped with that.
Hi Jenny: I am sure you have tried everything, and the next generation is definitely living their "own" lives, but I am a strong believer in teaching … I prefer to use the word "coaching" those in the next generation. Start from an early age … of course, the next generation must be able to grasp the idea of career, and the meaning of career is simply to be able to care for oneself. I, myself, learned this well into my 20s, and I am embarrassed to say that I was around the age of 26 or later. But, I was taught that I had to earn enough money to buy my own soap, toothpaste, tooth brush, etc...etc... This would build up to getting to a point to be able to earn enough to care for myself in the much larger sense. To care for oneself, provides a little bit of independence. This must be taught as soon as possible. I think most of us have the ability to understand, but it must be coached as we grow older. I am a big believer in role-playing. As other's have stated above, I too have the ability to simplify things so that everyone can understand. Unfortunately, I've come to realize that NTs may not want the simplification version because they want the discussion to be continued. Most of us Autistic people are in a hurry, and therefore, the immediate simplification because we don't understand what is being communicated through conversation, or maybe we just aren't interested in the subjects outside of our comprehension. I used to work in a "corporate" setting, and was allowed to work independently. But, I didn't gel with the growing team … so where I would have become third in line, it was let go for this and probably other discriminatory reasons. Anyways, the young need to be coached, and provided opportunities to role play.
It might help in the future but my position is now one of trying to support the next generation in my family, bearing in mind that formal paid work might not be possible, although i hate to say that and wouldn't want to make any assumptions.
In my 1:1s with a support worker, they were talking about accomodations such as noice cancelling headphones or sitting in a corner of an office. And all the time i'm thinking, yes, the easy stuff. And no this wouldn't have helped. What I'd actually need to do is cancel out some trends that I think make working life difficult, such as strip lighting, fans buzzing, noisy open-plan offices, hot desking, constant phones ringing and other interruptions and basically all the factors that generally go in to office life. And to do this I think the main hope would be to go self employed and have a home office because it probably wouldn't be seen as reasonable or affordable to most employers. Plus I feel as though I'm actually allergic to corporate life, although I clearly won't be getting a doctor's note to that effect any time soon.
Now, with all the skills I've gathered over thepast decades, i could probably exert more control and work for myself. But as for the next generation starting out (and maybe quaking in their shoes at the prospect, like I was at that age) i'm not sure how it might look. if someone's almost paralysed at the thought of speaking to someone and feels threatened by basically leavig the house, it seems unlikely that they'll set up their own business or fit easily into one that's already there. :(
It might help in the future but my position is now one of trying to support the next generation in my family, bearing in mind that formal paid work might not be possible, although i hate to say that and wouldn't want to make any assumptions.
In my 1:1s with a support worker, they were talking about accomodations such as noice cancelling headphones or sitting in a corner of an office. And all the time i'm thinking, yes, the easy stuff. And no this wouldn't have helped. What I'd actually need to do is cancel out some trends that I think make working life difficult, such as strip lighting, fans buzzing, noisy open-plan offices, hot desking, constant phones ringing and other interruptions and basically all the factors that generally go in to office life. And to do this I think the main hope would be to go self employed and have a home office because it probably wouldn't be seen as reasonable or affordable to most employers. Plus I feel as though I'm actually allergic to corporate life, although I clearly won't be getting a doctor's note to that effect any time soon.
Now, with all the skills I've gathered over thepast decades, i could probably exert more control and work for myself. But as for the next generation starting out (and maybe quaking in their shoes at the prospect, like I was at that age) i'm not sure how it might look. if someone's almost paralysed at the thought of speaking to someone and feels threatened by basically leavig the house, it seems unlikely that they'll set up their own business or fit easily into one that's already there. :(
But, I didn't gel with the growing team … so where I would have become third in line, it was let go for this and probably other discriminatory reasons.
This is so hard and a major stumbling block. I was always better at working independently too but during change and reorganisation it always seemed to be the people skills and level of integration into the team that mattered. Some training in this area much earlier on in life might have helped, both increasing my skills and altering my expectations.
Yes, plus I also believe there's a need to train or coach the coaches (parents, carers, significant others) and, in cases like ours, tailor it individually and take account of the ways in which autism is affecting major life transitions.
In our case we did start at the earliest age (plus my husband and sister are both trained teachers - nursery, primary and secondary - so very aware of general needs) but the transitions from age 16 onwards were so difficult and ultimately traumatic that it feels as though we're back to square one and reparenting young adults in their early twenties. This was mainly, i think, due to undiagnosed autism which meant there was no awareness and no additional support at a critical time. So we are now talking reparation work after a period in which, although things may have been lining up OK from an NT perspective, inherent autistic needs were overlooked and the whole edifice came tumbling down in the form of severe breakdown, depression and massive social anxiety.
One thing I'm prepared for it for it to take a fairly long time. I can remember my own struggles at the same age all too clearly and, with hindsight and also my later awareness of autism (diagnosed last year at 55) I can see that many of my mistakes and difficulties were due to undiagnosed autism. I consequently only started to thrive in the workplace after literally decades of masking in a role that was a very poor fit for me but which probably seemed, from the outside, to be the "good job" our teachers promised for "working hard".
I can strongly relate to that feeling of being in a hurry. I've always felt that way and it's been a mixed blessing - accelerating my learning and development but at the same time increasing my natural tendency towards anxiety. Again, autism awareness could have helped with that.
Hi Jenny: I am sure you have tried everything, and the next generation is definitely living their "own" lives, but I am a strong believer in teaching … I prefer to use the word "coaching" those in the next generation. Start from an early age … of course, the next generation must be able to grasp the idea of career, and the meaning of career is simply to be able to care for oneself. I, myself, learned this well into my 20s, and I am embarrassed to say that I was around the age of 26 or later. But, I was taught that I had to earn enough money to buy my own soap, toothpaste, tooth brush, etc...etc... This would build up to getting to a point to be able to earn enough to care for myself in the much larger sense. To care for oneself, provides a little bit of independence. This must be taught as soon as possible. I think most of us have the ability to understand, but it must be coached as we grow older. I am a big believer in role-playing. As other's have stated above, I too have the ability to simplify things so that everyone can understand. Unfortunately, I've come to realize that NTs may not want the simplification version because they want the discussion to be continued. Most of us Autistic people are in a hurry, and therefore, the immediate simplification because we don't understand what is being communicated through conversation, or maybe we just aren't interested in the subjects outside of our comprehension. I used to work in a "corporate" setting, and was allowed to work independently. But, I didn't gel with the growing team … so where I would have become third in line, it was let go for this and probably other discriminatory reasons. Anyways, the young need to be coached, and provided opportunities to role play.
