Older people - what career would you have pursued, if you had support, money and resources?

I wonder how many of us were unsupported and never knew what options were available?

I think for many of us older people we were held back by gender and class.

In my case it was lack of understanding of autism and likely ADHD that held me back. Although I also received daily misogynistic messages that usually contained a “women are useless “ comment in them somewhere. Being told you are lazy and that a parent is “slaving away to keep me … “ didn’t help. Perhaps I would have been a late developer anyway, who knows? We can change only how we are in the present (positive message to self).

I think I would still be in a similar situation due to my inability to do maths, tech and art. Back in the day you needed an art O level to do hairdressing, a maths O level to work in a shop as you had to add everything up in your head before ringing it into the till. 

I think I would still be in a similar situation due to my inability to do maths, tech and art. Back in the day you needed an art O level to do hairdressing, a maths O level to work in a shop as you had to add everything up in your head before ringing it into the till. 

TheCatWoman said:

gloss paints used to go yellow because of the linseed oil

This is making me me smile. My bathroom door and frame which had been painted with oil based gloss in brilliant white had become quite yellow. I was considering getting it repainted but in the meantime I had cataracts removed. My yellowing door and frame instantly became brilliant white without intervention on my part.

Its not just the lighting, but what mix of pigments are used in the make up of the paint, crown paints for example use much more pigments in their paints than others in a similar price point. I agree some whites are really sickly looking and others are blindingly brilliant. It also depends on what sort of paint you have, gloss paints have got better but I remember older gloss paints used to go yellow because of the linseed oil.

TheCatWoman said:

I'm the annoying person in a paint aisle who can tell the difference between half a dozen shade of white

A useful thing to be able to do. 

I can’t stand certain shades of ‘white’. They may appear to change in different lighting but some are very obviously yellow or green and they can make me feel green. 

I wish someone would tell our council that then, all the lights in the library are awful and thats where the public use computers are and where the woman who did tech support are located.

TheCatWoman said:

Is that just in England?

It’s all of the UK, although there may be a grace period for buildings which had fluorescent lighting installed before the ban. 

Is that just in England? Because most of the public buildings here seem to have flourescents, although I'm not a fan of some of the halogen bulbs or whatever they are now, the light is so white and harsh. 

I remember black screens with green writing, they were horrible!

My friend has recently got a smart tv and I think it's awful, I can see huge blocks of pixels around the edges. Fortunately it's stopped working, maybe because the screen wasn't working properly to begin with. Maybe a lot of my problems with screens is a mix of light sensititivty and very good colour vision, I'm the annoying person in a paint aisle who can tell the difference between half a dozen shade of white.

I'm not sure I would of sung for the WNO as I'm not Welsh, but it's a nice thought, although I dont' know if I would of chosen to sing opera.

Marianne72 said:

Wow, I'd forgotten what a *** it was to learn

I’m so glad that it wasn’t just me, not that I would wish this for others because it was as you appropriately describe.

You and I could get new careers as authors of ‘Dummy’ style manuals/instructions. I wouldn’t use such negative terminology to describe them and they would be better than the ‘Dummies’ manuals. Some of those manuals aren’t very helpful anyway.

TheCatWoman said:

one of my biggest stumbling blocks with tech is that I can see the screen flicker, when I'm in a room with flourescent lights which most class rooms seem to be

Thank goodness it has been illegal to sell or install fluorescent lighting in buildings since 2024. Most, if not all public buildings in my area have switched to more economic and inoffensive lighting. I remember sitting in classrooms with fluorescent tubes flickering and humming and I wanted to run away.

Modern computer screens are improving all the time and most don’t have such a visible flicker. The first computer screen I used was in black and white and the corners of the screen moved about of their own accord.

TheCatWoman said:

I was in a singalong with a guy who's been a monastic choir master and he couldn't believe how good my voice was and said I had an operatic range and he couldn't find a note I couldn't sing

That would have been an interesting career. You might have ended up in the Welsh National Opera. I’m not good at singing but I sometimes sing to myself.

ArchaeC said:

She issued the instructions one by one, pausing between each action while I wrote down what to click, press and everything else.

This is exactly how I coped with different jobs over several decades. It is an excellent method - your own training manual. Far less stressful than trying to make out you understand then spending sleepless nights worrying. Wow, I'd forgotten what a *** it was to learn, before devising this method!

I couldn't pass a GCSE at level C even with extra teaching when I did my access course, one of my biggest stumbling blocks with tech is that I can see the screen flicker, when I'm in a room with flourescent lights which most class rooms seem to be. Being told to sit by the window, feels extremely patronising, I get terrible migraines from using screens in these environments, which can last for days.

I dont' think anyone would be able to help me with art, when I say I can only draw a bath, I really mean it, people just don't understand that I really can't draw at all and it's not for want of trying, I used to have a huge collection of art books and materials, I gave them all away in the end as I just didn't get any better.

I do wonder if I would of ended up with a singing career though, if just how good my voice was had been picked up in childhood? I was in a singalong with a guy who's been a monastic choir master and he couldn't believe how good my voice was and said I had an operatic range and he couldn't find a note I couldn't sing.

TheCatWoman said:

I think I would still be in a similar situation due to my inability to do maths, tech and art

I would hope that your difficulties with maths, tech and art would be recognised and that you would be supported to achieve your personal goals. 

I thought that about maths because although I have always been good at mental arithmetic, I failed ‘O’ level Maths at school,  a U (ungraded). Years later, I came across a GCSE Maths text book which had instructions and examples of everything needed to attain a GCSE. I understood what was required because the instructions and examples were clear and I could work it out in my own time. Around the same time, I wanted to be a teacher but I needed a GCSE in maths for that. I worked my way through the GCSE maths book, got a bit of help from a maths teacher, sat the exam and passed. 

When I first started using a computer in the 80s, I messed it up and it needed to be reset, and it happened again, and again. I couldn’t remember everything I had been told and the instructions didn’t reflect anything showing on the computer screen. I asked the trainer if she could give me enough time to allow me to write down each action required. She issued the instructions one by one, pausing between each action while I wrote down what to click, press and everything else. This enabled be to operate the computer on my own and eventually the actions became second nature.

Art is a different story. I enjoy messing about with a paint brush but I can’t draw people, animals, objects or anything else. My efforts look like a 5 year old’s, despite having taken lessons as an adult.

The point of this is that I need step by step instructions (with accurate images where appropriate) to do certain things like maths and tech, otherwise I can’t retain the information.