Would you rather...

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Imagine you didn't have any social difficulties and any negative past social experiences. Considering from the perspective of your personality inclination only, would you rather:

- Get a position where you would directly influence people's well-being, such as being a teacher, a therapist, a doctor, etc.?
Or
- Get a job where you work on tangible things instead of with people, thus making a difference for people in an indirect way?

I'm wondering because I've noticed that I'd rather work directly with people where I can see their satisfaction and improvement continuously, even if the improvement occurs in very small increments. While I enjoy solitary work, the lack of immediate feedback tends to drive me insane. So I'm wondering how many other people on the spectrum have the same need. I don't like mixing both because I generally have difficulty switching tasks and would rather either stay in the "social" mode for the whole day or just always stay in the "non-social mode" without having to interact with people whatsoever.

Directly - I actually really want to work with disabled adults, something along the lines of training or being a mentor.

Funny for me to admit this given as in the past I never liked the idea of caring professions - my mother was a carer for old people, my father was a nurse, being aspie the idea of caring for other people who were dependant on me was hugely off-putting. The interest in working with disabled adults comes from considering myself as disabled, I was "low-functioning" as a child and I am now "high-functioning" so the idea of helping others like me appeals, also I worked as a teaching assistant for disabled students a few years ago and enjoyed the work. For me it's not about satisfaction of seeing improvement, but a want to guide others.

Last edited by Bloodheart on 19 Jun 2012, 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nice question. When I read the poll before reading your post, the answer was easy - indirect! But if I were to have the social skills to handle directly helping people, I think that is what I would prefer. Same as you, I like to see the results, and in real time is best. Actually it is slightly upsetting to think about this, I never really thought about what my true preference is before. I've just assumed that because I'm not naturally a people-person, that it is my preference to be behind the scenes. Maybe not the case. Food for thought.

Both/either. I am happy to make a difference any way I can, whether or not I see the immediate results.

I wouldn't be myself then, because my social difficulties and past negative experiences are a part of me and define part of my character and behavior.
I'd choose "indirectly", because I think working with people is just difficult. I used to work in customer's care, and it was hard. I couldn't cope with negative feedback, and sometimes it wasn't easy to be polite, to make small talk with customers in spite of being exhausted etc. I guess that overall, the positive experiences I had with people at work outnumbered the negative ones. The negative things, however, really annoyed and bothered me and stressed me out.

I posted it this way because I think that some people might avoid working with people altogether due to bad social experiences. However, you really don't have to necessarily be socially adept to work with people. I know autistic people, even the ones considered to be more "severe", working with special needs and they are successful because 1) people in this industry are more understanding of (dis)abilities and 2) the rules for interacting with special needs tend to be very clear-cut. I have recently done some training and I was very happy about how logically everything was laid out. Interactions with certain groups of special needs individuals tend to be more simple and move at a much slower pace than regular interpersonal communication. So, that way, one could by-pass complex social dynamics while still directly helping individuals. A drawback of this kind of work, however, is that you need to have lots of energy to expend, so it's probably not for everyone.

It took me a very long time to realize that this is what I'm happiest doing.

Yes, that's true. I lack this energy, therefore working with people wears me out, and I try to avoid it. But I'm happy for you because you seem to have found a job you really enjoy.