My father recently recently said aspie could keep jobs.

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My father recently said that the high iq of aspergers people was worthless because they couldnt work jobs or get educations. I informed that half of this countries engineers and research scientists are on the spectrum. He refused to believe it and got really angry. It pains me to no end having to live with his ignorance bigotry and irrational anger.

Gets old, doesn't it. Sorry you have to deal with that.

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The catch is, you have to either learn to adapt to work in a NT environment, or find environments where your interactions with NTs are limited. There are literally hundreds of jobs out there that do not require extremely polished social skills. Even for those that do, it can be a learned thing. I worked for years as an academic advisor in a college program. After about two months I realized that I was being asked the same questions over and over and over. I worked out a series of answers for each question, and when I'd hear it again I could select the answer that seemed most appropriate for the student in question's situation. After that, it was all routine. I did well there. You treat people decently, even when you don't have to, and things work out for the best. Listening plays a big part in all the interactions I've had with NTs. You can get a lot farther by listening a lot, offering opinions when asked, and learning how to phrase them in neutral terms, so nobody's feathers get ruffled.

So, no, your father is wrong. The issue I see here is - are you going to let him shoot you down? Or are you going to go out and do your best and most in spite of what he says? It's doable if you want it bad enough. It's all in what you decide you really want. If he refuses to fund your schooling, and you want schooling, don't let that stop you. I never got a penny for mine from my family. I worked my way through. It's hard, but it's doable. It's all in what you want, and how badly you want it.

Last edited by Nan on 20 Apr 2008, 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BRAVO NAN!! ! Made me smile to read your post!! ! Yay for you!!

I could never finish school...But I'm just shy on a BA...I own a home, and have a job...I have a loving partner and two great kids.

I had to learn how to deal...I made alot of mistakes...but that doesn't mean you won't succeed. Success is built on failure. And an old friend of mine said (and I'm sure he was an Aspie) if you don't make mistakes you don't know how to get it right.

Don't try and change your father's mind. It may be frustrating in the end. Provide him with literature to read, if you must...but let him change his own mind. My father thought I would be institutionalized. Glad to prove him and my siblings wrong. You can too. Don't let it get you down.

Source? I'm sorry you have to be around someone that trivializes life on the spectrum, but I don't believe that number and I'm on the spectrum. I spent some time working at large software company in Redmond Washington, and contrary to popular belief, it's not a bunch of aspies hunched over in their cubes churning out code.

You could tell him about Vernon Smith. He has AS, and he won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002 (for his work on experimental economics).

AS here. I've worked all sorts of jobs - landscaping, baking, painting, mover, you name it I've probably held a job doing it. Went to college in CmpSci, am now more than ten years into a successful software engineering career. Have a great wife, a house, two great kids. It can be done.

AS is not a sentence to imminent failure.

Meh, I'm about to get my diploma and a possible promotion. Your father's ignorant.

I always thought AS was a very marketable trait to have on the job market. Sure your people skills are lacking, but boy can you ever do the runt work. My grandparents are aspies and have held powerful positions in their industry in their working carreer.