Research and writing at postgraduate level

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I just completed a 50,000 word thesis for my Masters degree in international relations. It was EXTREMELY painful to write and took me much longer than it should have. I was pretty good at the research aspect of it, but the hard part was organising the information and writing it coherently.

I later found out that people with AS often have difficulty with structuring and organising large pieces of writing; we also have trouble with written expression and with comprehension. I also have more difficulty than most people with understanding verbal communication. Also, in order to sufficiently focus when reading, I need to be in a very, very quiet environment. I do think my difficulties are AS-related because I've worked very long and hard to overcome them, but they still exist. I would like to know whether there are specific ways that I could get around these difficulties, now that I know they are AS-related (I was only diagnosed last year). I really want to pursue an academic career but I'm not sure whether it's possible, given how hard it was to write my Masters thesis.

My questions are:
- Can anyone here relate to this?
- Has anyone here struggled through a postgrad degree despite these kinds of AS-related difficulties with writing?
- Can these difficulties be overcome? Do you think an academic career is possible/realistic?
- Are there AS-specific ways of overcoming these difficulties, or would I simply be committing myself to more inevitable pain and torment, if, say, I were to pursue a PhD?

Thanks in advance for your advice or comments.

Hi yellowtamarin,

Thanks for your reply - it's good to know that someone else can relate.

Yes to all three questions. I do have trouble remembering what I read, i.e. storing enough information simultaneously in order to make sense of it all together. I also have trouble knowing whether I've found all the relevant previous research - I always have the feeling that I "just don't know enough" to write about it or draw conclusions. I went through so many sources that both my supervisors said that for my Masters I did enough research for a PhD! But one of the examiners gave me a low mark on the grounds that my thesis was not well structured. And yes, I think I included a lot of irrelevant details in my thesis, when I could have instead been elaborating more on the important themes.

Sorry to hear you quit your last job because of this. For me one of the hardest things is deciding whether to give up or to keep struggling to overcome these problems.

I thought I was being all secretive saying "national statistical agency" but we are all Aussies, hehe.

I'm in Melbourne too Seventh, and am 31, so if I did a PhD next year I'd be around 35 when I finished. I actually understand what you are saying about "just do it, and end it all if it comes to nothing". Of course you (hopefully) wouldn't really do that, but it's kind of a motivator to give it a go, I reckon. Because if you DON'T do the studies, you certainly WON'T be able to do those meaningful things you were hoping to do (the ones you need the qualification for), ever. If you can somehow manage it financially, being a student for life is not such a bad thing.

Btw, how do you propose to financially support yourself through extra study? Now that I know you are in Melbourne, I'm curious if would have a plan in place for that? Centrelink doesn't support you for anything beyond a fourth year as far as I know. Part-time work?

Wow, I can totally relate to thread.
I did my undergrad in 5 years, which was normal for Mechanical Engineering at my school; studying a week before exams, never earlier. Then I did my masters, with thesis, in 8 terms, but should have only needed 5. Now I am dropping out of my PhD after 9 terms. I was only Dx'd 11 months ago.
My masters research was done in 6 terms but I needed 2 more to finish the thesis. I restructured the thesis probably 15 times, which also meant re-writing each chapter. I spent hours with my supervisor trying to explain the problems I was having with the order and structure, but she never seemed to understand what I was having difficulty with. My research area was corrosion of stainless steel reinforcement in concrete, so my examiners and supervisor expected me to be slow, so that kind of covered over the problem I was having.
I have stalled on my PhD because I have to submit a research proposal, similar in size to my masters thesis (~50 000 words), and have not been able to put together something I can accept for 16 months now, plus my research area is very active so my literature review for that is a moving target. I've learned since my Dx that my aspergers is the root of my issues. I decided very recently that I am going to withdraw from my program because the proposal and thesis are destroying me. It isn't the program itself I have difficulty with; I have a high average in courses taken, all of which were high level grad courses, I recieved a scholarship for part of my PhD studies, I also published several (short) papers on my research. So for me the large-scale writing limitations are really what has stopped me.
I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from attempting a PhD just because of AS, but it may not be realistic for most of those who can relate to this thread. I know that I could eventually finish everything, but the quality of my finished product would not reflect my knowledge, intelligence or ability. For me, another reason to not continue is that I can't compete in the self-promoting, fund-seeking world of PhD engineering research. If a PhD really gets you to where you want your career to be, then maybe its worth marching through hell to get it...