Aspies in unexpected jobs?

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Hi there!

I was just wondering how many other Aspies there are out there who are in careers that you wouldn't expect an Aspie to excel at!

Here, I'll start off with my story:

I'm an Aspie who's a massage therapist. When I first applied to massage school, they noticed my eye contact avoidance & asked me if I could make eye contact, & I couldn't, so they asked me what that all was about, & because I'm a terrible liar, I just said, "I have Asperger's. It's really uncomfortable." & they almost didn't let me in. I had to have two additional meetings with the president of the school, & I agreed to having to meet with a student advisor once a week for the first two semesters of school before they actually let me attend. (The president had told me she had had two other Aspies apply to the program; one dropped out, & the other graduated but kept getting fired at her jobs because she couldn't establish rapport with clients & last she had heard she was a checkout cashier—so I had to spend a lot of time explaining to her that I honestly thought I could do this in spite of my interpersonal handicap.) I didn't tell any of my teachers (I was concerned it would adversely affect their perception of the quality of my work), although I told my three favorite instructors on my graduation day & they were all like, "Ahhh...that explains a lot. But you are doing a very good job of hiding it."

I started out working for three different places post-graduation, & ended up quitting at all of them within six months on account of me being too particular about how I want to do things to be a good employee (which was causing me too much stress). I opened my own business, where I get to have complete control over my environment: I work out of my home, so I don't have to cope with transitioning out of my own space & into public space & then into somebody else's space (& then back again); I have control over my schedule, so I don't have to deal with more than two new people a day (which I've discovered is my limit); I can take photos of my clients, so that I can practice memorising their face in my off time; I get paid very well, since I have very little overhead & nobody's taking a cut; & marketing is on my terms, so I don't get angry or frustrated about stupid business decisions. And lo & behold, my business is thriving!

I trained myself intensively in body language & facial expressions in order to be better at establishing rapport. I started watching The Colbert Report & The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every night so I always have material for small talk. I'm constantly reading books on anatomy, physiology, perception, & stress—& I'm good at relating it all back to massage therapy, because massage therapy is that The One Thing I'm Obsessed With. (I frequently get comments from my clients as they're leaving along the lines of "Thank you for all of that fascinating information! I had no idea!") I'm a huge hit amongst folks who're science-oriented or academically-inclined—as almost all the other massage therapists that exist are kinda intellectually flakey & not especially interested in the physiological mechanisms at play in their work.

I think being an Aspie makes me an exceptional massage therapist because...
- I love that the body never lies (even if the person is an exceptional liar verbally & facially!).
- My tactile hypersensitivity to textures, pressure, and internal sensations (like pain or soreness) makes me exceptionally good at determining the most comfortable way to execute a technique.
- I'm also extremely good at explaining things that most people never verbalise—like how many distinct qualities there can be to a painful sensation, or how you shift the weight in your feet when you tilt your chin up—because I'm hyperaware of everything in my body all the time, so all of these sensations are exaggerated to my perception, so it's much easier for me to put it into words.
- My tendency to hyperfocus on one particular subject & learn everything about it makes me exceptionally well-informed, so I'm always confident, and bodies always respond favorably to confident touch.
- Because I hate the feeling of residue on my skin, I managed to find an oil that doesn't feel like it leaves a residue—& many of my clients comment on how wonderful it is to not feel oily after a massage, especially during the hot humid summer months. (Though because I hate oil, I usually don't use any—I've kind of zeroed in on massage modalities that don't require oil.)
- I used to do a lot of art, & I think that's a big part of why I've always been good at massage, even from the start—bodies of living tissue are really just like the most complex, interesting, responsive clay in the world. I approach every massage like it's working on a piece of art. (You do this to get it to do that.)
- Animals have always found me comforting (even wild ones! Wild foxes used to come up to me when I walked around the woods as a kid), & I think there's something of that at work with massage, too—my clients often mention something along the lines of, "You're so calm. You're so zen."
- A lot of massage therapists are overly bubbly & friendly—I know that that makes me insanely uncomfortable, so I'm always just myself—quiet, calm, observant. Many of my return clients love that about me—that I don't feel the need to manufacture intimacy until it's actually there. There are a lot of introverts who adore me.
- I'm super-good at draping (because I'm hypersensitive to how uncomfortable wrinkles feel, & when cloth doesn't feel like it has enough tension to be secure against skin).
- I conduct extremely thorough intake interviews. Several folks have commented on the fact that my interview is far more thorough than anything a doctor has ever done with them. I've even had three folks who had gone to an ER, the ER missed something, but I caught it during the interview, & told them to go in again & get this specific thing checked out, & it turns out that they would've died if it had gone unnoticed. Which is nowhere in my job description, but it's just what happens when you read as obsessively about medicine as I do. I think my clients love the fact that I'm so curious about their circumstances, & that I ask weird questions (like which side you sleep on, or if their computer screen is off-center...), so it endears me to them. (Most people seem to be very charmed when you just ask them to talk about themselves.)
- I never make assumptions, & I'm hypersensitive to when people invade my personal boundaries, so I'm very good at asking for permission before doing anything that somebody might find presumptuous or invasive.
- I could never be a spa massage therapist, but I'm awesome at working with folks with chronic pain, athletes, & intellectuals. Just had to find my niche!
- That's all I can think of for now, but I know there's more. There're all sorts of ways that I think having Asperger's makes me an exceptional practitioner. (& to think, if I'd listened to my massage school when they first told me there was no way I could succeed in this career, we'd've never known that it can totally be done!)

So, yeah...is there anybody else out there who's managed to find some niche somewhere we'd never expect to see an Aspie? Let's hear some interesting stories!

Good for you! I always thought being a massage therapist would be great, but I can't get my head around the whole interpersonal side. I'm not too bad one on one, but I'm not good at small talk. I also worry about getting massaged by my classmates in school. I always imagined massage school as a really interpersonal experience where everyone is touching each other all the time, haha. It's great to see an aspie having success in this field despite the challenges and preconceptions. The science fascinates me too, and I could see athletes as being great clients. This has made me consider physical therapy but there's much more school involved and I wouldn't likely be able to work for myself..

How did you know that was what you wanted to do? I've been debating going to school for it for the last couple of years..

Ladyships, I hope you will be an inspiration to many at WP. I've read many stories about aspies not knowing what to do with themselves. While the answer to that question will vary with the individual, many of us can do something productive and rewarding.

My job is kind of different. After graduating from library school, long before I had ever heard of AS, I held two jobs as a reference librarian, didn't like either, though I stayed at both for about two years. Then I got into management, and I've been able to make a success of it, and have been at the same job going on fourteen years.

My secret is that my special interests involve heavy reading, I have a flair for administration, and I have my assistant deal with my employees most of the time as a kind of foreman. Besides, it is now the responsibility of my employees to get along with me.

It's so great to hear a success story like this! I hear of so many people who have these same issues at work and you've come up with some really nice ways to overcome them!
I work as a therapist which is basically 100% interacting with others, so a lot of people are surprised when they hear I have AS (although I don't usually tell people too often). Although I do have difficulties with social interactions, I don't really consider my client interactions to be social, which is how I overcome that piece of AS. That differentiation, along with standardized forms, makes information-gathering and rapport-building go smoother.
I'm able to do my job well because I have been somewhat selective in the populations I work with. I try to work a lot with Aspies and family members of people on the spectrum as I can relate to them so much easier. I also work a lot with children as I am less intimidated by their social abilities as they often (in my world, at least) show their emotions very clearly.
The hardest experience I've had (and this is part of why I'm more hesitant about telling people) is that when I told my sister about my diagnosis she asked what I would do about work. As if having a diagnosis suddenly makes me incapable of helping and/or caring about other peoples' problems... The question was asked innocently enough (her only understanding of AS being that a lot of people have difficulty showing empathy), but it still felt off-putting to me. Otherwise, my clients love my attention to the small details in their lives (particularly parents when I talk about how they intervene with the children's behavior) and how I can keep my cool when they tell me difficult things.

I am thinking of going into library science, what was it about being librarian you didn't like? I am aspiring to become a university librarian actually.

I didn't like the politics in my last two jobs before my current job as a public service reference librarian. I should've gone into technical services but for two reasons: My attention to detail is very poor; I tend to see the bigger picture. And I wanted to be able to live way out in the country.

Actually, since I'm of more of an intellectual bent, I trained to be an academic librarian. Here in Texas, that would've meant getting another master's degree and taking a thirty percent paycut. The politics are also cutthroat.

I'm glad I went public. My library is actually a nonprofit, which means I only answer to a board of trustees, and I only see them about eight times a year. And since I've always run the place well, they generally leave me alone. In an academic setting, no matter how high up you rise, you will always have a boss and colleagues. I in effect have neither, though I do have oversight.

So, for the sake of politics, unless your people skills are much better than mine, I would recommend technical services. But for many jobs now, that means a bachelor's, an MLS, and then another master's and PhD in a specialty field. I think weirdness is tolerated better among technical services librarians.

A big part of being a public services librarian is being able to deal well with people. I only wormed my way through by being able to answer the most obscure reference questions easily and quickly in the days before the Internet became so omniscient. My lack of people skills came close to ruining me a few times though.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

I loved reading Thelibrarian's response.

I also like management in libraries.

I made a royal hashbrown of my first job as a librarian, and of a couple jobs where I was an assistant. I was even told by my first manager that "she thought I didn't have it in me to do management." When I came to my job now, I was asked about my supervisory experience. Because the two libraries are in the same area and because people know each other, I told the truth somewhat and said that I had made a lot of mistakes that I would not make again, and that it had been a very productive learning experience for me, as I had gained skills in communication and leadership.

But another success factor in this current job is the lack of a doorbell. I am going to be honest, but my desk was hooked up to a doorbell, and everytime it rang, I had to go out and help staff at the front. Which, when you are trying to do people's payroll and schedule design, is pure h**l. I was told that I lacked attention to detail, but I could not muster the courage to say that I was constantly being harrassed by the doorbell and could not settle in to finish my work!

In my current job, the pace is slower, and there was time for mentoring and training. I have fewer people to supervise, and I get to do the fun stuff, like planning children's programs and order books. A lot of what I do is behind the scenes.

Thelibrarian, how many librarians are there where you are? Do you plan programs or purchase books?

Thelibrarian, how many librarians are there where you are? Do you plan programs or purchase books?[/quote]

Tina, it is a pleasure to meet a fellow librarian, especially one who is an aspie.

I can relate to your situation with the doorbell. On my last job, in College Station, Texas, the director there decided that there wasn't going to be pornography filtering, but that the reference librarians would have to monitor the computers at all times to ensure patrons didn't look at things they weren't supposed to. We also had to check the computers in and out, as for some reason circulation clerks couldn't be trusted with circulation duties.

This would've been all fine and well except that I was also expected to perform professional duties at the reference desk, such as compiling books for acquisition. It made the job very difficult, and far more unpleasant than it should have been.

My area is so rural and unpopulated that I'm the only professional librarian, though several of my staff have degrees. I love living out here, but this area is rather poor, and the library is funded accordingly. My subsidies from the city and county have never exceeded a quarter of a million a year, and for a county of almost forty thousand people. For the number of people we serve, my library is one of the most poorly funded in the state (the average funding for comparable libraries is about seven hundred grand a year).

As far as the number of libraries, when I came there was only the main branch. But I was able to run this place so efficiently that I saved enough to buy a building across the street from our courthouse and start a genealogy library branch.

My favorite story on this is that after I got the library all set up, the State of Texas couldn't recognize the library because there was no bond package or guarantee of funding for it. What I did was unheard of--and horrifying to a lot of bureaucrats.

I set up all my programs years ago. When I was appointed, my library was on card catalog, had no computers excepting an old Apple II (this was 1999!), no fax, and my office had a rotary-dial telephone. I was appointed when I assured the Board that I could automate this place on the cheap, which is exactly what I did. But we also have 32 public access computers, as well as staff computers--stuff I also managed to fund on the cheap.

As far as how I did it, when I first discovered I had AS, and was doing some research, I came upon a joke about an aspie being congratulated for thinking outside the box. The aspie looks at his boss in all seriousness and said, what box? That describes me perfectly, except now I'm proud of it.

Please tell me more about your experiences.

It's a real pleasure for me too to meet a librarian in management!



Okay, so your library system and my library system here in Western Canada sound so similar in terms of size and funding. We are at about fifty thousand, and from our north border to our south border, you can drive for about four hours. So, very rural. Except that I work at the main branch, and that serves about 35 000 of the fifty thousand. There are twenty rural branches serving populations of about 200 to 500 people. We've had a funding decrease, but since I am only at lower management, I don't have to worry quite as much about that. But I feel badly that I cannot pay my highly educated staff as much as they deserve. And I am a little worried about the union negotiations.

I didn't know about my Asperger's until last year. Thank goodness, or I may not have had the courage to try moving so far (though I would have wanted the assistance sooner, so I guess that it is half bad and half good anyhow).

I love being a librarian. I am trying to get a lot more involved in community outreach work and have not yet figured out how to balance that effectively with weeding. It seems that everytime I have a nice chunk set aside for weeding, review journals pile up on my desk with the request to get them done ASAP for the next ordering round.

You have done some really impressive things for your system! That is so awesome that you were able to get it automated on the cheap! That must have taken some doing! That shows careful financial planning and good research!

My only accomplishments for this year have been setting up new programming. Previously, the babies story time never ran due to lack of interest as no toddlers were permitted then. Now, our babies and toddlers storytime is FULL to capacity with a waitlist, and is known as being the only free activity for babies in the area, and we have a dedicated set of parents who attend. I am also making increased school involvement a priority, and this year, we have been invited to some literacy nights, and I might have some involvement in going into schools next year. I also set up a new daycare storytime, which has been semi-successful.

My city is small by most standards, but I have also put myself on two municipal committees to try hearing what they are into doing. I may not be the fastest talker there, but it is important to try and hear the issues. And see where the library might get involved.

I have two other librarians at my branch. I purchase all the children's materials, and my coworker purchases all the adult materials. My position is new to being management, so it is not as managerial as it should be, as I run programs in addition to the supervisory stuff. Even though I struggled with scheduling and payroll, I really would love to be better proficient at them. I got into a groove with payroll, and it became fun at my last job.

I also have a boss. We also have a provincial association that all directors belong to and meet for, as all of our libraries are hooked up to the same borrowing system and you can lend stuff from across province, even up to the way north where you can only fly stuff in. It's cool!

My coworker has many good ideas, which I am grateful for. But she also has sometimes tends to say "No!" really quickly to my new ideas, so I am trying to figure out ways around that.

Part of the great thing about being in a smaller area is that there is a lot less bureaucratic red tape, and a lot less lag time in getting things done. I also enjoy the fact that people care about each other more in a smaller setting, I think.

I am also enjoying having more charge over the summer reading club here. Did you find it took you a while getting used to being in charge in a small place?

Ladyships, how did you work on your body language and facial communication? I think my facial communication is fine, but I am still a bit slow in body language.

The way I got my current job is kind of a fluke. Back in 1999, when the Internet was still relatively new, I met a girl from this town on the Internet, a town I had never heard of before. Well, she invited me out to visit her, and after looking at where the town is at on a map (near the Texas Hill Country), I came out here. Well, while she was showing me the town (there's not much to it), I happened to see a sign on the public library that they had a director's job open. I applied, and was appointed.

At the time, I only had about three-and-one-half years' experience, so I was a little intimidated. I was supposed to start on 1 Oct 99, but came a week early hoping that the acting director, who had been here for many years, would show me the ropes. Well, it didn't work out that way. She pointed at my office, said it was mine, and not to bother her. It was essentially dumped into my lap, but I managed somehow to get off to a running start.

Speaking of funding decreases, I hate to brag, but one of the things I'm most proud of is that we are the ONLY city or county department not to see our funding cut, and we're actually part of neither, but a nonprofit corporation. I've been told down at City Hall that they are still wondering how I've managed to do what I've done.

I doubt we're as rural as parts of Canada are, but I wouldn't mind it. I really like rural, and the less populated the better.

I'm guessing there are a lot of cultural differences. Texas is a state of low taxes, and low services. That's actually fine by me though.

Texas had its budget crisis, and the governor promised he would solve the problem without raising taxes. Consequently, almost all services and subsidies to local libraries were cut. I'm actually much happier with this arrangement; with state funds came state regulations, which interfered with the way I choose to operate this place. So, while I could use the money, I'm glad the state is out of my business.

We do have a story time--something I set up when I got here. The previous director's (bad) attitude was that the kids have their own libraries at the schools, and this library was primarily for adults. So, I had to redo the children's section completely, along with everything else. This was tough for me since I don't have children, know little about them, and even less about children's librarianship. Luckily, I was able to hire a retired school librarian who wants to work a few hours a week. She's not a real librarian though, but a school teacher, but that's fine.

One of the first things I did when I came here was to clean and weed this place thoroughly; it more closely resembled an abandoned attic than a library.

Here is a little story on this: The workroom in back had useless stuff stacked up so high that I felt like I needed a hard hat to walk around back here. I found, in 1999, a bag containing old Friends of the Library stuff. At the bottom of the bag, the dues were still in there--in real silver change! This means that bag likely hadn't been touched since 1964 at the latest, the last year real silver coins was in circulation.

I'm fifty now, and didn't know I had AS until I was 46. Finding out about it--that I wasn't somehow uniquely defective and weird--was the best day of my life. I stumbled on the term AS in an article I was reading. I went to Wiki to look it up, and was stunned; it was as if the article were written about me. I broke out laughing, something I'm hardly prone to do, and my employees must've thought I was crazy.

I'm guessing where you're at on Canada's west coast keeps you at least somewhat out of the frigid temperatures that are the rule in most of Canada.

How many people do you have under you?

I am a phd pediatric neuropsychologist! One of my areas of expertise is aspergers/autism. In my current position, I only conduct evaluations and write up the results, and then provide parent feedback. Similar to the other therapist, I love the standardized testing aspect. The interviews are very routine and all follow the same format. I find it easy to pick out the details that others may miss. I love seeing all the pieces of the evaluation come together into a cohesive whole to formulate an accurate diagnosis. Working with children is very rewarding, and they're much easier to talk to than adults would be. I could NEVER be an adult therapist!! Having psychology/medicine/neurology as an obsession certain helps too

That's awesome! I'm in a PhD program right now for school psychology. but my program has a neuropsychology requirement and many students specialize in it. My specialization will be in gifted education. I definitely do not want to do therapy. I really enjoy research and assessment though. Right now my goal is to work in a university setting somewhere and do some gifted assessment, curriculum development, etc. Of course, twice-exceptional students are a big focus of mine! Like you, I have no interest in adults.

I have a question for you though. Did you ever tell any of your professors about your diagnosis? I have several. There's not really anything they could do to help, but there are some things I struggle with.

I am an Aspie who really likes her job in a callcenter doing level 2 technical support. Yes, some of the customers are difficult to interact with, but in general, they are mature enough to cooperate. There are interesting technical problems (partly because ) and most interactions are sufficiently formulaic not to be too stressful.

I think there is all this emphasis by neurotypicals on what's wrong with aspies and that that destroys. But what to do about this?

I loved coming across the idea that autism and aspergers might be what makes someone able to be exceptional in ladyships' original post. And I agree.

So how do those Aspies who are exceptional manage to exist in this neurotypical world without getting lost in others' negative perceptions? Because, really, when you think about it, an aspie in any job where others need to depend on and trust him or her seems to to me to be seen as unexpected. And an anomaly that is uncomfortable.

Does anyone else ever wonder about the prevailing perception of Aspies as not only facing challenges but as inherently inferior?

Waterfalls, just my carefully considered and successfully applied opinion:

First, we were NOT all created equal; we are all unique and different, with aspies being among the most unique and different of all. We have to be able to accept our unique and different selves before others will do so.

Second, ALL people have their strengths and limitations. What has worked for me has been to cultivate my strengths while remaining ever-cognizant of my limitations. I've found that when we develop our talents, and become very good at them, people generally are willing to overlook our limitations. And the better we are at what we do, the more indulgent others will be with us.

Bottom line: If we wish to be needed and respected for our contributions, we have to be able to offer real contributions that others need. It is only right and just to accord basic dignity to all human beings. Respect is different; it must be earned.