Autism and The Job Market
Eventually, I was hired. When Employee orientation came, I found out there were different sections people applied to. I applied to the guest services section without knowing about other sections.
After orientation, I started to work. I ended up working at the Aquarium for two weeks. On my third day on the job, I had headaches and threw up in my boss's office. I was uncomfortable speaking to people who wanted answers right away. I should've taken a job where I could have a calm environment and have slow conversations with people.
Would I be considered a quitter after working there for two weeks?
are idiots. Almost any work experience you pick up will be beneficial to you because you learn what you can and
can't do. I've had 26 jobs (none at your age) varying between one day (chicken factory) and seven years (book
shop), I've learnt something from all of them. I don't regret leaving any of them but I do regret staying in some
for too long.
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It appears that employers do not want to take the risk on people with Autism/Aspergers. Having Autism/Aspergers makes it extremely difficult to find employment due to employers reluctance to take teh chance on us. It is no fair! The jobs that we can apply for are limited and even then employers prefer the people that do not have Autism/Aspergers.
I would suggest looking into civil service jobs. "People skills" are often less important in civil service jobs than in comparable jobs in the private sector. And civil service jobs are often unionized, which protects your rights to some degree.
Be that as it may, we need a lot more Autistic-friendly workplaces, which will come into existence only if we can build a much bigger and better organized autistic community than now exists.
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Dear_one
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Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,721
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines
A business is not there to help people, it wants to make money. It designs jobs that are almost mindless, so that there will be many adequate applicants, putting them into a poor bargaining position. However, it still costs a lot if an employee does not work out, so any poorly understood complications will be unwelcome.
I always figured that I had unique talents, and should not be taking a job that anyone else could do, since I had only myself to support. I also expected to be learning on any job I took. I wanted a paycheque in my hand, and another in my head. By middle age, I was forgetting as fast as I was learning, and specialised more.
ASPartOfMe
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Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,536
Location: Long Island, New York
My advice and the path I followed before I knew I was autistic is target small companies. Less sensory, less people to get along with. Interviews are less rounds of interviews scientifically designed to weed out non team players and more informal one on one type interviews with the owner.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
That's what I found but the downside is the relative lack of job security. Still, if I had my time back I would have either concentrated in the local industrial park (tonnes of small businesses) or looked closer at entrepreneurship.
I did this too but I am now somewhere that is part of a chain and there is far more structure and management are better managers as they have clear responsibilities. The smaller places were more clicky which was difficult.
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Petition against Amazon selling 'make downs extinct' t-shirts. And other hate speech paraphernalia.
Instead of studying a worthless Accounting degree, I wish I studied a degree in Psychology to improve communication skills and to learn how people behave, think, etc. Years after completing my worthless degree and my communication skills are still useless and has prevented me from ever getting a job.
Studying a degree in Psychology or a Bachelor Arts/Communication or Journalism help improve communication skills that are critical to interacting with others and being able to get through an interview and then cope with a work environment or deal with customers?
Never disclose.
What you say:
"Hi! I'm looking for a job. I have Asperger's Syndrome. May I fill out an application?"
What the employer hears:
"Hi! I have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that is often mistaken for willful arrogance and total indifference to the feelings and suffering of others. I sometimes have meltdowns that involve screaming, crying, and violent actions. When may I start working at your establishment and begin interacting with your customers?"
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Dear_one
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Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,721
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines
Studying a degree in Psychology or a Bachelor Arts/Communication or Journalism help improve communication skills that are critical to interacting with others and being able to get through an interview and then cope with a work environment or deal with customers?
Knowing the theory of how humans interact does not prepare you for joining in. The Universities that cater to the rich and powerful emphasize performing arts and salesmanship, along with ways to cheat the laws. You might pick up on what you lack by joining a theatre troupe or Toastmasters, or just by cultivating friends who waste all their time with each other.
Studying a degree in Psychology or a Bachelor Arts/Communication or Journalism help improve communication skills that are critical to interacting with others and being able to get through an interview and then cope with a work environment or deal with customers?
Knowing the theory of how humans interact does not prepare you for joining in. The Universities that cater to the rich and powerful emphasize performing arts and salesmanship, along with ways to cheat the laws. You might pick up on what you lack by joining a theatre troupe or Toastmasters, or just by cultivating friends who waste all their time with each other.
I agree with Dear_one.
If you can deal with the sensory interferences then shop work would teach you some very useful interaction skills that are transferable. You interact with lots of different people in a day but there is a lot of repetition and it is a very surface interaction. Interviews for jobs are easier when there are other places you can apply to too. How is your eye contact?
_________________
climate change petition, please sign
Petition against Amazon selling 'make downs extinct' t-shirts. And other hate speech paraphernalia.
Technology and automation has made it harder for people to find jobs because there are more people competing for fewer job opportunities. The government has failed its citizens, they have failed to design a society where enough jobs are created to meet growing demand for jobs. The good old days of secure full time jobs are long gone and now we must embrace insecure part time jobs and uncertainty.
Be that as it may, we need a lot more Autistic-friendly workplaces, which will come into existence only if we can build a much bigger and better organized autistic community than now exists.
That's what I did.
Another thing, there are lots of Work-from-Home civil service jobs.
_________________
After a failure, the easiest thing to do is to blame someone else.
Academia has been the best career I've tried so far.
Here, I don't get talked to like I'm an idiot. People even listen till the end of my long rambling sentences. I don't get that kind of basic human respect pretty much anywhere else. It's made my work a bit of a safe-haven for me.
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