Difficulty following verbal instructions

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I have AS. I find that when people give me verbal instructions, I forget them very quickly and hence find them hard to follow. However if I'm given clear written instructions, I'm usually fine

Does anyone else have this problem?

Yes.

Yes. One thing to do is to carry a notepad and pen, and ask them to be clear and repeat things until you get it all down.

Absolutely. I have to have everything written down, though most of the time I can do the writing myself. I sometimes request an accommodation for profs who give quizzes: Please write the instructions on the board or print them on the quiz. They usually do this anyhow, so it's seldom a problem.

If I am expecting to learn something, I will have an ever-present clipboard with me. Ask anyone I worked with during my summer internships--that clipboard was my trademark even more so than the colored-polo-shirt-and-black-pants "uniform" I wear.

Oh definately. After a few sentences of information, I can't remember more then that. So they either have to simplify what they said, or I have to right it down. With this, I often have trouble remembering directions people give me to find a place. But I make up for it however by asking for directions every few turns.

Yes, very much so. What's worse is that people at work seem to find it offensive for me to write down their instructions. They're always telling me in a frustrated voice to put down my pen and just LISTEN to them. They stress the word "listen" as if they believe my problem is inattentiveness. They seem to hold the belief that if I listen closely to their words I will somehow gain the ability to follow their instructions and remember them. They then act outraged that I forgot things they said, even though I told them beforehand that I have to write things down to remember them. This is one reason that I do so well in college but am considered an idiot in the workplace.

I've also found that certain people at work are paranoid about their comments being written down. They want the freedom of later changing their statements and accusing you of not understanding or remembering them. When me and a boss or coworker have had a disagreement about something they told me, and I've shown them that what they really told me was written down, they were NOT happy at all. They quit arguing about it but held a grudge forever after.

SteelMaiden, I have that problem. I answer/tend to one thing at a time.
I've just reviewed a series of texts with a friend. He's really friendly, and talking about various things in the texts. I'm answering ONE thing, and asking ONE question in my replies. Very mechanical. *sigh*

Molly, I can so totally see those scenarios you describe.

Ya, that's why I found a lot of classes annoying and would get very distracted.

Difficulty?

No. No difficulty. It's freaking impossible to follow verbal instructions. I don't know how anybody can follow more than two steps of anything explained verbally.

"Put your right hand in, take your right hand out. Ok, no more. That's all I can handle. Write the rest down for me."

Yes. But if they are clear and I can understand them, I am fine.

I can't even remember all the steps either unless written down. I know I should write them down but I don't. I just do what I remember. But if I am shown it, I seem to remember better. But that doesn't mean I can watch a video on how to do something and the learn it. I have a hard time with that.

I can follow one or two things verbally.
Maybe I could do more with simple tasks, but it becomes less certain I'll remember.

With things I'm told to do at work, I prefer e-mail, a printout, and a highlighter.

Worse is no instructions. Like the boss says "Do blah blah. I need it my blah blah". But that's it. Like I'm supposed to know the inner recesses of his mind.

May as well be tasked with building an interstellar warp drive.

Yup, happens to me too.
One of the specific accommodations I have is written instructions for tasks.
There is still one member of staff who is somewhat resistant about this, but all the others are fine, getting used to the idea.
Sometimes if you have any sort of label that means you have issues with short-term memory (Dyslexia/Dyspraxia etc.) you may have to push the idea "It's a disability thing, deal with it!" with people. If you don't have any kind of label, sometimes speaking to a supervisor (or sending a written message) explaining the problem can help.
Sometimes you just have to explain, gently, that you are not a mind-reader and require more information....