Making use of a high IQ

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As per your first point - in my case I cannot absorb verbal instructions (visual or written is fine) and retain them for short term memory purposes - I have little to no verbal short term memory. However my scores in other areas outweigh this.

Verbal short term working memory is essential for jobs, and in this my IQ score does not reflect my ability, quite the opposite. There are many such similar examples where ones out of balance abilities interfere with the capability to hold down a normal or even menial job.

I have similar difficulties with verbal instructions, but I do really really well with visual and written ones. A pretty basic example is when I'm given directions somewhere. It's best to just show me a map or a satellite image, because verbally explaining the directions to me will be of no use - I've never been able to follow them well.

You ignored the rest of my post.

Yes, there is an advantage and on average this matters. That does not at all mean that in every case it matters, like you are claiming. That doesn't mean it outweighs the disadvantages of a disability. In my case, my higher IQ does not have a chance to affect my abilities in a career because my disabilities prevent me from getting there in the first place. In the cases of other people discussing here, they also have the advantage of a higher IQ, and that advantage is minimal, and doesn't cause them to suddenly succeed and suddenly not be disabled.

High IQ is an advantage. I'm not denying that. But being white is likely more of an advantage in our current society in America, and people who aren't white aren't just failures. They just have one more thing to fight against. Being disabled at all, even if it didn't interact with any job requirements, is far more of a disadvantage than having high IQ is an advantage. We not only have a disorder, we also have one which interferes with the job requirements.

The precise way our autism manifests has at least an order of magnitude more of an effect on this sort of thing than IQ, even without the fact that 80-90% of people with an ASD are unemployed or underemployed.

I wish I had your problem .

This is why I want to be self-employed, which I pretty much am right now. I teach bass and guitar lessons, and I'm in several bands which do paid gigs regularly (We got paid $800 and 4 hotel rooms for my last gig, getting $400 for the next, so it's an irregular source of income). I'm not making what I would working 8 hours a day - especially considering I have a degree that is pretty useful where I live, and in demand - but I'm making enough to be financially independent. I also am doing work that I love, which doesn't feel like work, and at a normal job (like any one I've had before), I get far too burnt out and stressed out and tired out and all that stuff, and I have all sorts of problems trying to do normal jobs.

Ignorance is bliss. You think you want it, but you don't actually understand what you're wishing for.

This entire thread is fascinating to me!
I work in education, and giftedness is my specialism, especially those who are 2e.
I've found that the children who do best in education are those with fairly high IQs, as in around 115-130. Go above that into gifted territory, and actually the vast majority of children underachieve, mostly through lack of understanding of teachers and the problems the children have with social skills as they are working at a totally different level to the other children in their class. This is totally regardless of any disability/condition/difference/background/gender etc.

Same problems that I had: being one-point-off-genius (!), I had massive problems at school and really underachieved.
It's only now that I'm working that I'm starting to use that intelligence properly- I spent most of my efforts at school/university trying to hide my AS traits- I don't have to do that any more, so have the spare capacity.

My advice to original poster:
You said you wanted to be an eternal student and have degree in psychology- what about trying to get a lecturer job at a university and doing masters/phd at same time? Then you're engaging in your interest, teaching it to others, have time to research, use your intelligence and get a further qualification.

Because I have an ordinary degree, i.e. nothing at all, as far as potential employers in the field are concerned. No-one is going to employ someone as a microbiologist, when they don't have at least a 2:1 honours. As I said, this happened due to social anxiety. I got my degree and ran. My parents know nothing about higher education and all my Mum wanted was a graduation photo for her wall. I achieved that much, so they're happy, but I couldn't do it any more. The post grad isn't even a masters, it's a mickey mouse qualification, which at least got me into work experience. I was 32 and a new Mum before I managed to overcome my anxiety, although it is still there, in the background.

Sorry, I don't really understand your second question. But, if you're meaning that I might want to return to my old workplace - there's absolutely no chance of that. It's in local government. In this economic climate, vacant posts are not being filled. And I wouldn't want to be one of the staff either, especially not now. My husband works there and he's up to his eyeballs in work. He's completely exhausted, there's no end in sight and there are very few other jobs out there.

I only heard about 2e a few months ago. I found it really intriguing. I can identifiy with it and see it in my daughter too, although we present quite differently, at the moment. I was the one who was almost always top of the class. So, when I struggled with anything, the teachers just thought I wasn't trying hard enough. One thing I really struggled with was reading a passage and answering questions on it, within a specific timescale, despite being able to read from the age of 3 (probably hyperlexia at play). The teachers were always baffled by my inability to do this and appeared quite angry. At high school, you really need to study to get great grades. I got good grades, enough to get into uni, but had I been able to study, I know I could have done much better. However, people see that I did well at school and went to uni and think that's marvellous, as not everyone can manage to do that. But, I still feel there were things holding me back from doing better. I don't know what my issues are with concentrating and studying, but I just can't do it, unless I'm really engrossed in the subject. The weird thing is that I was regarded as a swot, by my fellow students and teachers. They all thought I was studying all the time, to get the grades I got. My under-achievement at uni is mainly down to social anxiety (brought about by social skill problems). Although I wouldn't have been top of the class, I'm pretty sure I could have got a decent honours degree, whether I studied or not.

My daughter is way different. Her concentration difficulties are obvious, to others and herself, and she has trouble completing tasks. When it comes to anything involving imagination or artistic skills, she's way ahead. The teachers know she's academically smart too, because of how she can answer verbal questions, but have had trouble placing her in ability groups, due to her lack of productivity. So she's in the middle. Recently, something happened and she suddenly started getting most of her work done. Now, it's obvious that she's highly intelligent and she actually finds everything easy. I do worry that the teachers will forget about her struggles (or she'll get new teachers) and, when she doesn't complete something, they'll say she just hasn't tried hard enough. But, she also has the benefit of being identified as being on the spectrum, so hopefully a bit of understanding of her situation will go a long way.

I have read that intelligence, or at least whatever an IQ test measures, accounts for only 20% of success (however one defines the term) in life. I wouldn't be surprised if the acutual number is much lower.
I assume that the large majority of people on this forum are native born, white middle class (or above) Americans, and of average to above average IQ. The majority are probably young- below forty in other words. Sure, everyone in this harsh world of ours can legitimately complain about all sorts of things. However, people here are so fortunate in living in America, or at least another Western type country.
Why not quite your whining, and do whatever it takes to improve your life? Your way of thinking would not be tolerated in China, India, Singapore, Korea, or other places where people are eager to work hard, and find a better life for themselves. As Colin Powell once said, "Get mad and then get over it". Take whatever hand is dealt you in life, and just make the most of it.

^ The thread topic is 'Making use of a high IQ'. The posts in relation to the topic are just discussing how their high IQ has not necessarily resulted in the best career or self fulifillment. The multitude of reasons behind this are being discussed by the contributors here, in a largely intelligent and non accusatory fashion. Remember, the contributors on here have ASDs or suspected ASDs (especially in the case of older members). One problem is the expectations of other people that you could and should do better, because of how smart you are, whilst you don't know how to improve. I expect we are all making the most of what we've been dealt, but that means the negatives, as well as the positives. I haven't made the best of what I've received, intelligence wise, I agree, but it's not down to just not trying my best. There has been obstacles and I'm only now, at 39, starting to understand them.

That said, I don't mope around, wishing to be someone I'm not. Currently, I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the next 30 years of my working life. I've just never found what's right and how to overcome my inability to study or my social anxiety, fully. I haven't worked for the past 6 1/2 years, because I have a young child and haven't actually needed the cash, because my husband earns enough to keep us all. Drive is not an issue either - if it was I would never have taught myself database design or entered art competitions and would not have accepted the challenge of moderating this site or running a toddler group.

I think most intelligent people secretly wish they were more intelligent, so that they could understand the world even better. Maybe the way aussiebloke put it is trivialising the problem somewhat, but still, it is a good problem to have.

So, back on the original topic... High IQ generally means you're good at learning. Do you feel that you are? If yes, that means a lot, because you could always learn the skills for a new career. A lot of Aspies are programmers - no surprises there. (I'm one of them - not in the "gifted" range, but can still learn things pretty well.) So if it's something that interests you by all means give it another go. I don't think it's "too late".

I don't think there's going to be any formula for what you "should" do based on your test scores. Even if there is, I'd say interests are more important, because you probably won't stick with it if you're not interested. You say you don't have special interests (like me), but you do have interests, right? Actually, I don't quite understand why you want to change careers if you really like psychology. Is it just because you feel your high IQ isn't being properly utilized in that field? Maybe you could do a PhD in it and keep doing research on how messed up people are all your life. That sounds pretty interesting to me! Perhaps even something AS-related. I think we could do with some highly intelligent Aspie psychologists working on that.

I have many interests but few I would want as a career.
My hobbies are cars, carpentry, all things that have to do with animals.
My idea of a dream job would be becoming the next Steve Irwin even if it wasn't on tv.
My favorite animals would be alligators,crocodiles, orca and dolphins.
I would love to do an internship at Marineland.

In grade school, the teachers didn't know what to do with me, so they left me alone and let me do whatever I wanted. I spent most of my time learning on my own independent of both the teachers and the other students in the gifted and talented program. I got into the gifted and talented program, because I scored well on a non-verbal test that was like the Raven's Progressive Matrices. Because I was allowed to learn on my own and didn't have to conform to anyone else's ways of learning, I figured out how to learn in my own way and make the translations between my ways and others' ways for academic success. At any given moment when I am around people, most of my mental faculties are devoted to translating my thoughts into communications that others can understand and other's communications into thoughts that I can understand. It takes lots of lots of eggstra effort to make use of my intelligence in a world where most people think very differently from how I think.

I don't know what the details of your education qualify you for exactly. But you could have made better decisions with your education.


I'm not talking of your old workplace. If you were using such advanced skills anywhere, you should look for other job opportunities that pay well for the great work you could do. There are other jobs out there. You need to seek them out.

It determines a lot of success, with economic factors also influencing financial success. IQ can help one advance in life from an unfortunate status.

How is your condemnation of the decadent living of the West going to benefit those in other countries? I don't think you necessarily mind things continuing the way they are. I couldn't even do my job part of the time I as was so undermined. And I wanted to be productive. I didn't want to waste my boss' money. Hard work isn't sufficient to solve things. Hard work to change constraints is going to be necessary.