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Do you work?

Daydreamer

I've heard before that a lot of people with autism don't work. Some do part time or volunteer but working full time 5 days a week can be overwhelming.

I don't work. It's annoying because I really want to and a friend has managed to get me in somewhere and I did a days work there, totally nailed it and then after work I had a massive meltdown, and then another the same night and was hit by fatigue the next day that left me bed ridden.

But I would still like to work full time as it would be a way of keeping busy and escaping my anxiety but the pressure it puts on me is difficult to avoid. I'm still thinking about how to get around that.

They reckon ideal jobs for people with autism is in libraries and working with computers. The job I tried was working with children.

Parents

  • I worked for 34 years in IT support and project management, the last 10 which were in management.

    It was constant stress and social interaction which pushed me to my limits all the time, but I learned techniques to de-stress that got me through it.

    I retired last yeat in my 50s to start a small business in Brazil renovating abandoned apartments and returning half of the ones I do as social housing. I already had connections in Brazil as my wife is from here and I had been doing property development as a hobby for a few years before leaving the UK.

    If you want to work then the chances are very high that stress will be an issue so in order to survive I believe you have to learn ways to be able to stop, take control of mind and walk it back from the cliff edge of meltdown. Practice makes it much easier, but doesn't really stop the stress though.

    The best solution is to find a job in a subject you love which should make it so much easier to go to each day.

  • in reply to Iain

    Wow your work in Brazil sounds amazing! That's really cool that you retired early to do that. I'm glad it's working for you both! :) 

    My grandparents own a wine farm in Italy, sometimes I've thought about going back there and joining that but I really want to make it on my own. I just need to find the right field to go in to. I'm thinking writing or helping kids, maybe disabled kids as that's something I understand really well.

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  • in reply to Iain

    Wow your work in Brazil sounds amazing! That's really cool that you retired early to do that. I'm glad it's working for you both! :) 

    My grandparents own a wine farm in Italy, sometimes I've thought about going back there and joining that but I really want to make it on my own. I just need to find the right field to go in to. I'm thinking writing or helping kids, maybe disabled kids as that's something I understand really well.

Children
  • in reply to Daydreamer
    Daydreamer said:
    My grandparents own a wine farm in Italy, sometimes I've thought about going back there and joining that but I really want to make it on my own.

    If your grandparents are knowledgable about your autism and you have a good relationship with them then I would strongly recommend talking to then, reading up on how the business and farming/processing works and see if it looks interesting.

    Imagine the Italian climate, food, work ethic - all are quite likely to give a good quality of life.

    And the Italians are known as passionate people, so you find your status as an exotic outsider makes you quite a catch.

    The fact you would have you grandparents as your employers should give more scope for your stress management to evolve, and I would expect they would love having you around, learning about something they love and teaching you more about life.

    Soetimes it takes making a complete change like this to help us find a new normal and discover a new passion.