what are some things you CANNOT do because of your ASD?

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I can't get a job based on interviewing alone, and when I've had jobs in the past, I'm often the first to be laid off when those hit. With the last job I had before my current one, they specifically didn't say I was laid off, but that I was never scheduled. As I was afraid of missing work because I didn't know I was scheduled, I called every week to find out if I was scheduled until I was told to quit calling. One thing I know I can never do is telemarketing or direct sales where you earn commission because of my Asperger's.

Now, the job I've had since July of this year is different as it's designed for people with disabilities, so it's slightly more secure. The AS trait of not making small talk is almost an asset since at this job where I'm a mail clerk means that I get my deliveries done faster because I'm not wasting time chatting with the employees I'm delivering packages to.

Didn't think about the talking on phone one. I'm usually ok of someone calls me, but initiating the phone call sucks

Oh yes, I also can't multi-task, be assertive, stand up for myself, or speak understandably over the phone, no matter how hard I try at any of them.

CANNOT do?

Well the answer to that, is that there isn't very much that I can't do. But there are things that are very difficult.

*Copying numbers accurately when doing mathematics. How many times have I punched the wrong numbers into the calculator? For some reason, strings of digits such as 5.2568 tend to turn into something like 52.658 far too often.
*Learning how to tie new types of knots. I've been sailing for seven years and still can't remember how to tie a bowline or reef knot accurately. Of course I know what the finished product should look like... but not the steps needed to get there. It took seven years (or longer) to figure out how to tie shoelaces.
*Writing a b instead of a p (or the reverse) and 3s for Es on occasion.
*Memorizing strings of letters/digits.
*Following multiple instructions at once (they get out of order).
*Spatial awareness (good thing I don't live in a big city; I'd never get anywhere).
*Writing neatly at a decent speed.
*Tasks that require good coordination.

So basically, my worst nightmare these days is anything requiring sequencing. While I'm not the most socially aept, I think I can handle myself fairly well -- most of the time anyways. Sensory input doesn't bother me much either.

A lot of mine are emotional or psychological - I've got that Aspie hangup on fairness and playing by the rules (when the rules are rational and themselves fair) and I'm cursed with pattern recognition in the behavioral area.

So I had a lot of trouble tolerating BS and manipulation at work. I could keep quiet, but I could not feign approval, and if the BS and manipulation were going to adversely affect the quality of my work, I couldn't keep quiet, either. Some places where I worked would hold all day or even multi-day pep rally things, and I didn't go to them unless project deadlines were extended to compensate.

I also would advocate for people whom I saw being treated unfairly - even knowing I'd face retaliation, because it was just. wrong. This did not go over well when I was briefly a manager.

This is a sad one: I cannot ignore or forget about roadkill. I am still mourning animals I saw decades ago. Hard to explain. They lived, they mattered, someone should care, I'm available. I don't count my dead daily, but there are many times when I remember them. My dad (also Aspie) was the same way with this. He and I both would stop our cars to try and chase an animal off the road to safety.

I cannot handle people treating funerals as if they are parties or family reunions - unless the deceased specifically wanted to be celebrated in that way. A good man I knew died suddenly of an aneurysm, leaving behind a young widow and a tiny baby, and people were behaving as though his funeral was a party - while his widow stood mute and stiff and absolutely white with grief. I just wanted to scream at them. All I could do was hug her and stay near. (Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from NTs.)

I can make eye contact but only briefly, unless you are my intimate - or I would like you to be . That's for humans only; I can gaze into the eyes of my cats and pet mice, and any wild animal who permits it, for hours on end (bunnies, squirrels). Ditto my intimate.

I've got weird dyspraxia. It comes and goes. Some days I swear I'm right up there with Misty Copeland, some days I can't get through my own house without bumping into every door frame. I've learned just to roll with that, although dancing helps.

Indirect lighting. I bounce it off the ceiling as much as I can, use VERY frosted bulbs where I can't. When I worked, I never turned on the overhead fluorescents - they hurt. I bounced a baby spot off the ceiling. People used to come in to my office "for the ambience".

Conversation? Oh my. NTs are just rude, people.
Rude, rude, rude.
-- They will start their own conversation with someone else, right in the middle of you answering them about something THEY asked YOU. (And no, I wouldn't be monologuing at them.)
-- They will ask you something and start talking over you TO YOU about SOMETHING ELSE before you finish even one sentence. (And I mean: five words out of your mouth, and they're off.)
-- The idea that thoughts can come in sets - as in, a full response might take two sentences, even three - seems utterly alien to them unless they're the ones talking.
And NTs in groups? Fugeddaboudit. I used to be invited to group lunches all the time when I worked. I'd go, happily even, but I always took a novel. And sat at one end of the table. And about five minutes in, by which time everyone was talking to everyone but me, I'd pull out my book and enjoy a read. I could process their voices as pink noise, if I had something interesting. (If I sat in the middle of the table, I was still talked around, but people seemed more uncomfortable when I pulled a book out in response. No, it never occurred to them to forestall the book reveal by including me in the conversation - apparently I was some sort of animated furniture. I never bothered trying to figure that one out.)

What else? I cannot have a conversation if there is a TV on. Can't do it. Music OK if not vocal. And I drive NT friends insane if we are at a restaurant with live music, because I'm going to listen to it, and try to be encouraging to the poor musicians, stuck up there being sonic wallpaper.

Yeah, that's enough of my weirdnesses for now. I'm sure there are more.

I can't do small talk
There are times that I don't think before I talk
Incontinence
Be around more than two people at once
Ride a regular adult sized bike
Poor fine motor skills
I hate talking on the phone unless I'm talking to friends or family
I can only cook simple meals and most of them aren't that healthy. Hamburger Helper or Kraft Dinner, anyone?
I suffer from insomnia from time to time
I can't sleep in a room that's completely dark

^ Good luck, xatrix. It's grueling.

I was lucky enough to work for an organization that allowed us to have our own offices. With doors. That closed. And locked. And they allowed me to have a white noise generator in my office.

Beyond that, what kept me going was my special interests at first. Towards the end it was the promise of retirement - I just kept reminding myself that I'd be on a permanent sabbatical *with stipend* if I could hold on long enough, and all the rude NTs would be just a fading memory.