What do I do with my life?

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I am currently a counseling student now, and I don't know if I'm doing the right grad program or not... I have recently learned about my asperger's, and I've learned my limitations in "empathy" and reading social cues... something you have to do if you're conducting therapy... Reading People, listening to their "SUBTEXT." So that's one thing I'm really concerned about... Also, I live in California, and they are training us to be LPC, but there is no license in California for that, so it's just kind of stressful. Also, the legislation for california the california license for LPC's is hard to get through the congress... kind of difficult... I don't know if I'm making the right move first of all, putting in nearly 70K to a profession I'm probably not going to make much more than 50K, and probably not do very good at it because I lack social skills.

When I was working, I mostly wanted to get out of work, and go back to school, so I rushed back to school and didn't put much thought into what my strengths and weaknesses are... Oh, I feel so bad because I had 3 people write letters of recommendations for me... and now I'm wasting their letters...

What are good professions for people on the spectrum?

One of the classic areas is IT. I'm a programmer and by far not the only one in this forum.
But it's not the perfect solution for everyone. You need the logical thinking and should not have to strong concentration problems. You should like computers and the way they work at least to some extend.

You didn't write what you think are your strengths. Or what you think is important in life. Why did you chose your current profession? Because you want to "help" people or because it would offer a good payed job?

A few years ago, before my Asperger's dx, my counsellor told me that I should never be allowed to work with mentally ill people. Because of my lack of empathy and my inability to really read people. At the time I was studying psychology at university.

I ended up doing a BA in Anthropology, History and English Literature. Anthropology gave me the ability to still study people, but ALSO allowed me to study them within their cultures and gain insight into culturally constructed ideas, beliefs and actions etc. I found it really helped me to understand the way people act around other people, and why they seem to engage in certain social activities. I became obsessed with Anthropology and I went into History and English Literature because of their links to anthropology.

I am now studying a Graduate Diploma program that will give me qualifications to be a teacher. I have no idea how I will go with that, but I do love teaching, but I do have trouble with peer relationships which may hold me back. i have gone into teaching because, as a single parent, I cannot travel as often as I would need to as an employed Anthropologist.

IT and science are popular Aspie/Autie pursuits, but think about your life and decide which things make you happy. Do you like helping people? Do you want to earn money? What are your interests? What were your top subjects in school?

If you are passionate about counselling but scared of the real difficulties AS can present in such a career, what about going into the research side of things? Gathering information and developing models etc?