Any lawyers?

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Me too, except I practiced administrative law (you know, the "almost" kind of law) in college. I still use that knowledge in my life when I lobby for legislation, administrative rules and corporate policy. It is quite useful.

I'm a data-entry operator, not a lawyer--but I've always been interested in Criminal Law.

You have been quite Solomonesque on Wrong Planet. You would do well in criminal law.

Thank you, Sir.

If only I had the elegance of the Celtic Cross.

How's this, then?

http://straykat.deviantart.com/art/Celt ... -384778165

I couldn't get it to place into the post. Sorry.

Now....that's a great cross!

They actually had quite literate monks, and monastery schools, in Ireland before there was much literacy in England.

I agree - so true!

I am a lawyer on the spectrum, although I don't disclose it to people I know professionally. A significant aspect of my career development depends on contacts and some people will discount you if they see you as "that disabled person." It's unfortunate, but part of human nature.

Law has been a good career for me, although there are times when I have to know my limitations and adapt to overcome them. Socially charged situations require more mental preparation on my part than they do for most people, but I find that I have developed habits to support that. I lean on lists and electronic reminders to extend the limits of my executive function. Research work is generally easier and more comfortable for me than the courtroom, but I can do courtroom work well so long as I am suitably prepared. Sometimes the fact that it is challenging motivates me to work harder at it.

To respond to a previous question, I haven't typically had trouble seeing where my client was wrong, although I have always been careful never to assume the client is right. This is a common practice among NT attorneys as well. Sometimes the best service you can provide a client is to show them where they are wrong and help them mitigate the damage before it gets worse. (And trust me - litigating a faulty claim or defense can do a LOT of damage, no matter how hard you "fight.")

I've known at least two other attorneys that I believe are on the spectrum, although neither of them identified themselves as such and I never asked. There are probably a reasonable number of us in a similar position. I think law can be a good career for a neurodiverse person so long as you understand the challenges you are getting into and are prepared to take them on.

I'm sorry you don't feel you can disclose. I disclose whenever I can. My son is autistic as well, and I feel that by disclosing, there may be less stupidity and misunderstanding for my son to claw through when he is older.

I feel that lawyering is a fantastic career for me - my neurodiversity gives me a big advantage in our profession.

I am so glad that this topic was created. While so many other autists seemed to me to have stereotypical interests in mathematics and science (or science-fiction and fantasy), I always felt that my interests in law and politics (as well as genealogy and history) seemed to me a kind of dodge from what I could have been. I wondered where the others who focus on social science were in my life.

As I have admitted within this topic, I practiced administrative law in college. This morphed into lobbying about legislation which I wrote or supported successfully. These experiences helped convince those I was lobbying or those who employed me that I had a prodigious kind of knowledge about the law that affected them most. I was frequently asked where I earned my J.D. I replied happily that, whatever knowledge I have about law, it came about autodidactically and experientially. I have been appointed to serve in corporate-finance businesses and government-law offices, particularly as a compliance officer for a financial institution and a hate-crime adviser for the U.S. Office of the Attorney for the District of Utah.

So, in my case, at least, the only challenges that I experienced ended up benefiting me.

I wonder why, if there are celebrity "black lawyers," "women lawyers" and "Jewish lawyers," among other examples, there couldn't be one or more celebrity "autistic lawyers."

Lisars, I think it is great that you disclose and I think it does help to reduce misunderstanding. Perhaps if I worked in a different setting I would be less cautious about disclosing. Perhaps if I were less cautious in general I would disclose anyway.

My practice field has a lot to do with providing benefits to people who are either disabled or disadvantaged in some way. The people I work with tend to have a strong belief in what they are doing and a lot of compassion for those "disabled clients" that are less fortunate than the rest of us. They're great folks. The trouble is, that viewpoint comes with an unspoken and often unanalyzed bright line between "disabled clients" and "the rest of us."

Not everyone would look down on me if I disclosed. But some would. From my experience, it would be those most eager to help or offer accommodation. In a prior job I had a supervisor accept an attorney who had sustained minor brain injury then pass her to me as an assistant, saying "she isn't capable of very much."

In an institutional environment I sometimes have to rely on a single person's good opinion of me for career advancement. Perhaps I'm over-cautious, but I don't want to end up being seen as a condition rather than a person. And once I make the choice to disclose, I can never put that genie back into the bottle.

I'm so sorry they think that way! How unfortunate. My son helps educate his teachers each year when they are wrongheaded that way. One year he asked "what is the color and texture of four?" None of the teachers understood, so he explained to them what it meant - that he was synesthetic. He wanted them to understand that, although they didn't have his abilities, he didn't think less of them. He asked them to be as understanding of him if they had skills he did not.

Your boss sounds horridly ignorant.

I like your son's approach. It sounds like he is developing skills in understanding and communication that will serve him well later in life. Hopefully he's helping the teachers to relate better to future neurodiverse students.

That particular supervisor was a very nice person who taught me a number of valuable skills in the practice of law. And, yes, she was ignorant. I don't think it was an intentional or negligent ignorance, but was simply the way she had been taught. That sort of mindset, unfortunately, runs deep among those who operate the social welfare system. At least it does in my region.

Perhaps we can help shift the Overton window, so to speak. I hope you can be part of changing the mindset.

I hope so too. I still talk about the subject, even if I don't identify myself as on the spectrum.

Was practicing corporate law before my PhD and I think our (my) way of looking at things - e.g. being able to remove emotions from the equation AND empathize (albeit in a rational manner as well) to find someone's motives - are a plus when it comes to this field.

However : make me do penal / family law and I would crumble. Too many feelings involved and not sure I could turn them off...