Hi, I'm Hazel :)

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I'm 25, a women's college graduate with a major in theatre and psychology. Thanks to this crappy economy I work in sales.

Around 1996, I had a teacher who was concerned about the fact that I only wore black stretch pants instead of "cute clothes" and only ate cheese and ranch dressing sandwiches for lunch. She suggested that I be screened for ADD. While my parents had me tested for "everything under the sun" (whatever that means), my doctor said I was merely not a social butterfly. But more and more I wonder if I missed being diagnosed.

My father, if you asked him to describe me, would call me self-absorbed and only interested in what I'm interested in (when I was young he often told me 'no one cares about what you're saying'... yeah that didn't have any impact on my self-esteem whatsoever. Nope). In fact, I think most of my family would say that. I'm constantly reminded that I have to ask others what they are interested in to actually maintain a conversation. I struggle to maintain eye contact and would rather look elsewhere when I'm talking.

That being said, I can still be very social for short bursts of time especially when there is something specific I'm supposed to be doing--which is why I'm in sales--it is basically scripted and specific. If I see a person I know, usually I remember that the polite thing is to say hi (though sometimes I don't follow through). I can be charming at parties or family get togethers for about an hour before I completely crash and need to be away from humans all together. If I know someone well, the social cues make more sense--like my roommate and close friends.

I've been in therapy in recent years for depression and anxiety with the transition out of college but have not seen anyone in a few years. I'm trying to get my finances in order because I'm struggling with that right now. But I guess I wanted to come here and talk about my experiences.

I do not know if I have aspergers or not, but I suspect I might and just want to feel accepted for being me

Welcome to WP, hzl ! !

We all hope you find this place to one of refuge and help and occasional silliness.

Thanks, Prof! Silliness is always appreciated.

hi ,hazel, I score on that test about the way you do, but when I read about autism, I feel it describes me. here's a very brief test based on the criteria docs used to use to diagnose Asperger's:

www.iautistic.com/test_AS.php


I don't know about where you live, but around here your background would qualify you to be a social worker in a psychiatric rehabilitation program teaching people things like how to deal with stress and to understand their illnesses. if you can stand to work with people full-time, the pay is $10-11 per hour, maybe better than sales work. or you could be a wrap-around, modeling healthy behavior to a child, at about that same rate of pay, only part-time.

Hi, Cathy. I've been trying to get a job like that for ages. I used to work at a residential facility with traumatized children but left after funding got tight and we took on more children with psychotic symptoms that we were not really equipped to treat. I took a few too many hits in the head. I've put in over 100 job apps and gotten very little from it.

sorry your job search has been frustrating. don't give up.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Don't lose hope over jobs. I worked in retail for a short time, but had a very difficult time trying to convince people that they needed to buy things (I worked on commission).

Welcome