How to change careers

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Having specialised interests is criteria for aspergers, but we don't have the monopoly on interests or on hating jobs that don't encompass them.


Why should everything pertain to Aspergers? You're still human. I have no idea why so many aspies are unemployed; for many here it looks as if they are too immature/sensitive to outside stimuli to cope with life outside their family home and survive on disability or parents charity. Also some are probably expecting the world to give them a job in their chosen interest. Life unfortunately doesn't work that way.

By the way, beautiful picture. You have a great drawing skill; very photo-realistic. Just a thought but maybe you could hang around tourist sites and offer to paint peoples' portraits? You'd have to work on your speed though and money mightn't be great.

This is stating the obvious. But isn't it true that the capacity of an Aspie to deal with such things is fundamentally different?



Considering that this is an Asperger's/Autism site, it doesn't seem unreasonable that I would expect the pertinence of Asperger's to take a prominent place in a such a discussion.



Immaturity is not the same as sensitivity to outside stimuli. Immaturity can be overcome. Of course that would require understanding social cues well enough to know what immature behavior actually is. And isn't this the crux of the matter? An Aspie is essentially unable to decipher the social rules that would allow them to even define maturity, let alone attain it.



Not only is life not fair, the level of unfairness meted out to each of us in unequal, resulting in the irony that even unfairness is unfair.

I, for one, do not expect the world to hand me anything. The world is marvelously and cruelly indifferent to me. But it is not an unreasonable expectation to hope that there are those that might assist me in determining my challenges and perhaps develop strategies for overcoming them.



Thank you.



I do portraits by commission. Speed will never happen to an extent that allows me to do ad hoc portraiture. The process I use is far too involved. No one will sit for the many hours it takes to do a graphite rendering. A 'sitting' for me consists of me taking copious photographs and composing a portrait from that.

I am having my first gallery show next month. All of my work hung in a single space. What a trip. We'll see what evolves from there.

Here is a portrait:

Fundamentally different? No, I don't think so. I have aspergers too and whilst my interests may be more single-minded or intense than an NT, I have the same capacity to deal with things I don't like doing as any NT. I'm sure I'm not the only one.


No, not really. People come here asking for all kinds of help and not all of it pertains to AS. As far as I saw, you were looking for advice in starting up your own business; I gave the same advice I would give to any human as we all live in the same world. There's no special advice for aspies except try harder if you find things harder.



Yes. That's why I included both, rather than just grouping them together under say, immaturity. I was just giving them as examples of why some AS people are unemployed. Don't sell yourself or others short; many aspies are able to decipher social rules after a while.



I was trying to give you advice; that was keep up the day job and plan your artistic career on the side. Get to a level where you can support yourself financially and then quit, otherwise it will be very tough. You don't have to take it though; you're welcome to do the complete opposite if you like.



Good luck with the exhibition; that's definitely a step in the right direction.

Your advice completely misses the mark. You did read my initial post, no? Unless I worded it poorly, it should be evident that I was not looking for advice on how to start a business nor whether I should quit my job. I am specifically concerned with how Asperger's may or may not have negatively impacted my professional life and how it might affect my ability to transition to a different lifestyle. Surely there must be more to learn than 'try harder'.

You know what? Make your own advice then. I tried and I wasted too much time on you and you just nit pick on the minutae and miss my point. As well as that, you are rude about it. I explained already why I gave the advice I did and it obviously wasn't good enough for you.

This is wrongplanet. Maybe you're new, but you should realise that people aren't paid to give you advice here. This place can be a useful source of knowledge but you do have to choose what you follow, and discard what doesn't fit. Basic courtesy never goes amiss. Maybe I missed the point of your original query. I answered it as best I could. If you want expert advice specifically tailored to your fussy needs, go pay a counsellor.

good bye.

Someone has a thin skin.

I was looking for insight about Asperger's relative to changing careers.

You offered generic platitudes. I'm to be thankful for that?

I must admit that I am quite baffled and both the direction and tone this thread took on. Perhaps I needed to be more specific in my opening post.

Try again?

I have my first gallery opening in a few weeks. The upside is that I get to show my artwork to people. The downside is that I have to "work the room". I'm not particularly frightened of the prospect, fear is pointless. But I am resigned to not doing it well. How would you, as an Aspie, handle a room full of people with whom you are REQUIRED to interact?

So does anyone else see the irony in the fact that I killed a conversation among people that would understand inadvertently killing a conversation?