What kind of jobs can someone with Asperger's get?

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I'm not fit for anything. I'm starting to think I can't work. In every job opportunity that comes up, there is always a barrier against me.

Retail
Too much interaction with customers, which I'm not very good at (even after having 3 years experience doing voluntary work in retail, I still found out that dealing with customers is not for me). I actually think I will be better off working in a big supermarket, because in small shops I often see lone workers, and I wouldn't be able to cope being left to my own devices and running a shop and having to do the till and sort customers out all at the same time. Not with my state of mind. And why would an employer want to take on a young girl with Social Phobia, anxiety issues, panic disorder and Asperger's Syndrome, to be put in a position where I have to interact with customers? Ain't going to happen!
Supermarkets might be easier, because if I had a job where I was just stacking the shelves, I would be fine. Yes, every time I say this I get people saying, ''yer but you might get customers asking you things like 'do you know where XY is?', so you'd have to talk then'', but that's a bit different. I mean, I can speak, and just dealing with small questions like that is OK, I think I can handle that. But it's being somewhere where you have to interact with customers and sort them throughout the whole duration. But the only problem is with supermarkets is the rush hours. I hate supermarkets when the kids are coming out of school. I can't cope with small children running around screeching when I'm trying to do my work. Toddlers are bad enough in the day, but when you get kids of all ages coming into the supermarkets after school, that's when it becomes unbearable.

Administration
I would love to have a job where I'm working with a computer, in an office environment, because I am confident on a computer, and I think I would be most happy working on a computer. But in every administration job I come across, they always want you to have excellent telephone and communication skills, and I mean it does say it in those exact words on the application form 'Must Have Excellent Telephone And Communication Skills''. So I suppose that's out of the question too.

Engineering
Not that I would be interested in this sort of thing, but just because I have AS people seem to assume that I'm excellent with maths and science, which I am not. I'm better at writing. I am not intelligent. The highest grade I got at school was C, and I got very low grades in maths and science.

I would like to work in a kitchen, since kitchen fascinate me. I can't cook, but I am good at washing up and cleaning up, and doing tasks like loading and unloading the dishwasher, preparing easy meals like sandwiches, putting plates and cups away, sorting out cutlary, and other tasks like that. I've actually had a go at doing this when I was doing work experience just before I left school, and the people who worked there were very pleased with me and said I was really good. I am good at being a team player, and I don't find multi-tasking hard, and I just think I will be able to relax a bit better if I am working somewhere which doesn't involve too much interaction with customers, is in the background more, and where there are no screaming brats.

Interesting. I used to have an ABSOLUTE phobia of phoning people, like if I knew I had to phone someone on Saturday, I'd have to start thinking about it on the Monday before that AND think about it constantly till I had to make the call, to "psychologically prepare myself". Back in 2008 a very good friend of mine wanted to go to her sister's wedding, but she wasn't allowed to leave her job unless she could find someone to fill in for her. She begged and begged and begged, I HAD to say yes in the end. Receptionist in a secondary school. It helped that I used to teach there, so I knew most of the administrative staff there (easier to transfer the calls of someone who wants to talk to the "person responsible for the Arts in secondary school"). I was there a full week, and realized something then: most NTs are really uncomfortable when phoning a school or an administration. After all, they have never seen the school's receptionist in the face either. That experience made me realize more people than you think have fears of phones. I am now MUCH better at those fears. There still is the odd phone call I can't make, but on the whole, I'm fine. I would NEVER have chosen that job myself but as someone else said, sometimes you JUST have to try it to know.

I think any job where you do not have to play a leadership role or where your not constantly working with a team, or any jobs where you are constantly working/helping out customers or clients. So jobs where you work mostly by yourself.

-Medical Transcriptionist
-Medical lab technician
-Data entry clerk
-Mailman
-Driving a delivery truck
-computer programmer

If you believe you can't do something... Or if you believe you can... You are correct.

I am going to the local university to begin a couple years of accounting classes. I am math/logic oriented, so accounting suits me to a T. Pays well, with lots of benefits if in a very good company. And if the company is a disability insurance type of place, they are more likely to accept someone who has AS/autism than a company that does not.

Networking with others has been huge for me, as I sit on the Board of Directors for a local autism center. Another member of the Board happens to work for a Fortune 250 company as an accountant, and has offered to take on a mentoring role with me. One never knows where "getting a foot in the door" can take place. All it takes is one place, and one person to get to that place.

So, the thing I would suggest for anyone with AS/autism is to not be afraid of networking with others. Never know where one conversation can lead to in your journey and career.

Totally agree with this. One of the ways I learned was working in an industry not conducive for anyone with AS/autism - the construction industry. I worked as a cost estimator for a couple of years. However, I'd get many superintendents and general contractors who could call me back, day after day, chewing me out because of this or that or whatever. It just goes with the territory in the industry. Rarely does praise go along and such. But, when I left there, I was a better person for learning to socialize with people who were different than me - people who are normally associated with the term "rednecks".

Not everyone has the ability to work effectively with people who don't like them for me it would be impossible because I would just start getting really paranoid and that would interfere with my ability to concentrate on work......and I don't think any amount of sitting with people is going to turn me into an extroverted neurotypical. Besides how does one even go about approaching a table of people they don't know and sitting there...I typically cannot even initiate that sort of thing. I guess that is why having disorders like AS can interfere with ones ability to work some jobs though.

How do you not be afraid of that?

I majored in art, got a Bachelor's degree, had dozens of temp jobs before I apprenticed with a sculptor one summer, I turned that into a footwear engineer job with Fila (it's similar to sculpture in that I made shoe models from clay), now I do the same thing only with computers, and I work at Nike.

It's better known as "staring fear in the face." That's how I got over my fear of snakes. When I realized it was ok to touch a snake and I would not be bit, I got over my fear. When I got involved in committees to help provide housing, employment, and important areas to adults with autism, I met a woman tonight who is married to someone in the financial area. Told her I had been job searching for seven months and my background, and she said she was so encouraged by how the meeting went that she is going to tell her husband about me. Again, never know where one conversation can lead to in your journey and career.

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A better analogy would be that you were on the verge of realizing it was ok to touch the snake and then it bit you when you finally built up the strength to touch it. And then bites you most times after that to.

I've worked in retail for over 2 years. I work at the second busiest petrol station in the country (of the company. And it's one of the three major brands.). And while it is definitely hard, I've found it to be like any other life change: I've adapted. There's lot's of social interaction, yes, but it's one-on-one and very structured. I can handle that. It's when I have to deviate outside of my "customer service routine" that I struggle. However, that doesn't happen very often. Yes, I go home feeling very drained. But that's just it: I get to go home and "recharge".

-Auto detailing
-Auto restoration, window tinting, paintless dent removal, paint touch up, plastic restoration, headlight restoration
-bonsai nursery, fine pruning
-dog grooming
-candle making
-cooking
-knife making
-sharpening
-small engine repair
-small sawmill, wood drying kiln
-soapmaking
-truffle hunting, truffle dog training
-upholstery

Dog grooming? Interesting. Dog walking, pet sitting, etc. are also options.

So is house sitting.

And posting flyers (companies often hire students to post flyers at universities).

I work in a warehouse now and I like it much better than the customer service jobs I had in the past. Boxes are more cooperative than people, FACT. And it pays more than my customer service jobs so I don't lose out. Now if only I could find a job where I could use my degree.

Warehouse? Interesting.