Is working at home better for Aspies?

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I wouldn't mind working at home. I know it seems like a lot of pressure, but I still wouldn't mind because the most pressure with me is having to deal with customers all day.

When I was a small child, my mum used to do an ironing job at home, ironing tablecloths from a restaurant, and it was ideal. I wouldn't mind doing something like that at home. I know I don't know how to use an iron, but I can always learn, and I wouldn't have to worry about showing my....blank unconfident face what gives off stupid vibes all the time.

Anyway, do you think working at home would be more suitable? I already have some friends who I can meet in my spare time, and I live with a family anyway, so I won't get lonely.

Hi, i work from home, I'm a freelance web and graphic designer, i find it suits me ideally, sure it can be hard to be disciplined enough to sit down and do X amount of hours in, especially on those days when a deadline is looming, and your having one of those can't concentrate days... thats the downside, the upswing is, your the boss, you have the final say so. basically all my clients care about is that the stuff is done on time, to budget, and its up to there expectations. they don't care if you do the work during the day, in the evening or on through the night. so its flexible in that way, ok sure i still have to meet clients, i still have to pitch for work, but this is controllable, its the only really set time thing i have to do, and I've got adept at putting on a "game face" for the meetings. its a necessary evil i guess. but it sure beats having to do a job where i have to be surrounded by people all day, and have to be fake and nice, and constantly stressed out all the time. i dimly learned i was never gonna feel comfortable working like that.

I often work from home, as I write all the research papers of our lab, the two books we have published and all the grant proposals and reports. I see no need for me to travel for two hours a day in order to reach a desk with a computer.
This suits me fine, but it definitely makes me more socially awkward, less tolerant to other people and more...you know, autistic. Also, the transition from work to home mode after I've finished working is practically impossible, I am too overwrought every evening to even sit still, let alone even listen or communicate normally.

It is sometimes hard to concentrate when one is at home alone, as there is no boss and no inquisitive colleagues breathing down your neck. In other words, you rely on yourself only to determine the amount and the quality of work you do, and you often set in your own pace of doing things, which may be unusual and/or get in the way of other activities, For example, when I write anything, I start around 3 pm and plough on until midnight or later, meaning that I get to bed very late and get up around noon the next day. Certainly I would not be very happy if someone tries to call me around 9 am, which may be normal for others but is an unhumanly early hour for me.
One woking from home might need to set in place rouitnes in order to exert control over oneself - like dressing formally, sticking to set hours, or working in a designated room. I myself use the last two, and it seems to work for now.

Last edited by Severus on 30 Oct 2011, 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think working at home be great, it be cheaper because you wouldn't have to pay for gas to get to and from work unless your own business requires you to use your car. You can also get up any time and work anytime and stop any time and take as many vacations as you like. That is if you have your own business.


I also know there are jobs out there where you can work from home despite that you work for someone else.

I've been working at home since June of this year. I work for a major call center company. I started out working at one of the company's local offices and they initially hired me as tech support for their Verizon Wireless account. The company lost that account earlier this year for reasons not relevant to this post. I was then transferred to the Verizon FIOS (Fiber Optic) account and that was a work-from-home tech support position. The company recently took on Sears as a client and they transferred me to that account. Unlike the first two accounts I serviced, this is a customer service position.

Needless to say....i'm not sure if you'd have as much trouble interacting with customers over the phone as you claim to have when dealing with them face-to-face. That's a question only you can answer. The customers can be quite rude and abusive over the phone too, but I don't take much of their crap and at least the company I work for is pretty good about giving the most abusive customers the short shrift.

Call center jobs are fairly easy to get. They have high turn-over rates and are always hiring. If they'll hire a loser like me with my very sketchy work history and nothing but a lowly AA degree in liberal arts...they'll hire anyone. The pay is basically crap....but several dollars more per hour than minimum wage. So long as I log into the phone for my scheduled shifts and take calls....the bosses generally leave me alone. My paychecks go to direct deposit, so there is never a reason for me to go to the office.

Working from home allows me the freedom to be the eccentric, introverted, misanthropic, unsmiling, bookish, bohemian slob that I am and that I make no apologies for. Regardless of what this hypocritical society tells us about the importance of "being yourself", what they really mean is "be yourself so long as you don't deviate much from the mainstream, middle-class, well-dressed, top 40 listening, swinish bourgeoisie norm".

Oh....and don't DARE even SUGGEST you have anything less than the most sappy and bubbly Pollyanna-ish outlook on life. The poor rabble just might get offended when you inject a bit of reality into their self-deceiving lives.

I don't believe in leaving the house and interacting with the two-legged NT locusts unless I have some significant need or want that requires me to do so. Sure if i'm traveling, going to college/uni, the library, a doctor's appt....then I have no qualms about leaving the house. I'm not doing any of those things right now though and therefore have the luxury of not having to sit in traffic everyday, put on "business casual" attire, gaze upon the mind-numbing eye sore that is contemporary American suburbia and contend with the noisome masses that I despise with every fiber of my being

Plus my gas expenses are practically nil and that means quite a lot when you're not even making $10.00 and gas prices will probably never fall below $3.00 per gallon again.

All in all....I wouldn't trade this work-from-home gig for ANY job outside the house unless it was paying at least $15.00. It would have to be a pretty ideal job in other respects as well for me to even consider it.

You know....maybe something like toll booth collector with cable TV, internet and a tricked-out kitchenette in the rear of the boot.

Working from home is a great idea and I think you should definitely give it a try. However, do not fall for any work from home scams which ask you to pay to get a job. Instead, look for some work from home jobs offered by genuine employers. If you are good at computers, then there are plenty of opportunities available. Good luck!

Well its not an option for me, my moms house is not a very good environment for working.....not to mention I can't think of any work from home jobs I would really like.

Now that I am at home I have tons of time to think back to all the years I was in the workforce, undiagnosed. Almost all of the jobs I had were intensely fast paced, required me to keep track of several things and required me to interact with the not so nice public and my co-workers. It was an acting job everyday. I came home everyday with massive headaches and sensory overload. It was stress from the moment my alarm clock rang each morning, up to the moment I got off the bus to go home each evening. I did my jobs OK, but the social difficulties prevented me from getting promotions, or having a social life with my co-workers. I worked at great companies and had decent starting pay but deep down, it was sooo difficult to find my place and fit in. I was invited to eat lunch, but not to outside functions like the lounge or parties and stuff. I would love to return to the workforce one day, because I enjoyed putting in 8 hours of work of earning a paycheck and I loved learning about new industries, and I am confident I will be back better than ever.

I think working from home is ideal for many aspies. It takes off the stress of having to deal with other people (customers/colleagues) all day and being in an unsuitable sensory environment all day. I think it would be a good idea to give it a try if you find a job you can do from home.

I really want to work from home myself. So far I've always worked in the workplace, except for overtimes, which I can currently do from home, but I'm hoping that in the coming months I can convince my supervisors to let me work from home more, preferrably most of my working time. I feel that I can both get more work done without all the sensory pollution of the office and I'd feel much better, both physically and mentally, if I didn't have to be at the office so much.

I work from home as a trainer for a virtual call center, so I deal with people over the phone and in a chat room all day. It works out pretty well for me, but it does take kind of a thick skin and the ability to "voice-act".

wow this is cool call centre allow to work from home...atleast in india this is not available yet

I run my business from home. I read tarot cards online through my website

Earlier i used to read cards in person. But my blank face(u know), though people loved my readings
i did lack confidence, self esteem etc and got nervous in presence of people.

From the time i switched over to reading online i have fared better and feel at peace.

Also i work part time in a school. I hate the travelling part fighting with the bus conductor over
change and dealing with seniors interacting with colleagues who go out for movies, parties etc
whereas im left out...

I think its good Aspie's work from home it saves them sensory overload and protects
their feelings from being hurt.

Working from home is my dream. I want to be a graphic designer but rehabilitation will not help me at all. I've run the idea across them several times but they don't want to put up the money to put me through school. The only thing they ever offered was to pay for my classes at a local college and all they offered were the basics of Photoshop. I already know the basics! I know if I were to take classes that is where I would have to start but I would like to progress and this place does not progress. I guess I could go on what I know from teaching myself and what I don't know I look up online. But who would hire me without a degree of some sort?

Other than not offering anything but the basics, the place is far away. I live in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town (the one with the college) is 35 miles away. I do not have a car and still live with my parents at the moment. My parents will not drive me to and from school every day. That is just out of the question. I rarely get to go to doctors appointments because they don't want to take me. If I had my own car I could drive. I do have an ID.

Anyway back to the originally post. I think working from home would be awesome! That is, if you can find something you can do from home.

Hm. Sensory overload. Thats why I'm sitting at home in my little realm right now with my scull cap tea and no sound.

I use to work at a store called Happy High Herbs (in Australia) and I did like the idea of me working in a place with herbal tea's and a layed back atmosphere however, picture this....the shop was on the side of a busy road which linked onto a highway and all the walls were glass so it was like i was in a fish bowl of hell. The shop was small and fitted with really bright flour lights and all the things in the shop were colourful and in a chaotic order and the music we had to play was techno . So for me it was like walking into a world designed to kill highly sensitive systomatic aspergers folks like me.

Every time I worked in there (by myself) I had to stand out side every ten minuets to calm myself and actually breath properly.
After every shift I would get that feeling in my chest like I just ran a sprint marathon and my legs would be jelly and even my lips would sometimes go bluish . The next few days I would REST and have to rebuild myself.

I would LOVE to find a job from home. Here is where I feel balanced and I have no trouble waking up to dress formally
I love herbal medicine, so I'm doing an online course on it however it was only 700 dollars and not recognized in Aus....baby steps.

florescent lights*