Published on 12, July, 2020
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?
I’m a Mental Health Nurse, I work mainly in dementia care. I did my under grad in Psychology though I’m interested in most things brain related. I’d love to get back into studying Psychology to be honest but Nursing pays a wage and the children are far too young for me to even consider trying to study at postgraduate level for the foreseeable future.
Cool! You must have lots of academic knowledge about ASD then :) It's possible to do a part-time postgraduate, perhaps? To work while taking a couple of days off per week to do postgraduate stuff? And it's also a possibility to look forward to when your kids are grown up.
Unfortunately I don’t really have much academic knowledge of ASD. In terms of Psychology we studied a little bit about the link between Autism and Theory of mind in the 2nd year Social Psychology module. Psychology as a discipline is actually a very broad area and the undergraduate modules tend to cover quite general topics which form the foundation stones of knowledge for the more specific topics. I think Autism would be more suited to a PhD theses than to undergraduate study due to the high level of underpinning knowledge that would be required to ‘fully’ understand all the differences in brain function, thinking and behaviour. In terms of Nursing, Autism actually falls under Learning Disability Nursing and not Mental Health, so I’m not trained in the management of ASD. I do however have experience of working with Autistic children through my voluntary work in Scouting. It is possible to do a part time postgraduate course, over 8 years! I might just wait and do it when the children are adults though!
You're welcome and Thank You :-)
No problem! What you are saying sounds like an excellent plan. I'm glad to hear that you have such passion for learning! The person I know who is doing a part-time masters also has children, but her children are in school. It'll probably be easier to find time for yourself during the day when all your children are old enough to be in school.