Employment in Population of People with ASDs

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I am not in school, have no job and am currently not looking. I'm applying for SSI so looking for work is likely not to help with that but if I get denied even after appealing the decision then I will be desperately trying to find some part time work or something.

I left out the questions that don't apply to me...

[1] Are you still in school?
No.

[3] If the answer to #1 is No, then what is your highest level of education?
(A) High school (B) Some college (C) Associate's (D) Bachelor's (E) Certificate (F) Master's (G) Doctorate or higher.
D - Bachelor's Degree

[4] Are you currently employed?
Yes.

[5] If the answer to #4 is Yes, then are you underemployed as defined above?
No.

[9] If you answered Yes to either [4] or [7], then what's the longest period of time that you have held a job?
Almost 4.5 years--my current job. And I'll probably be there as long as they let me stay, as the thought of switching jobs seems very daunting, and I historically haven't fared well in interviews..

[1] Are you still in school?
No
[2] If the answer to #1 is Yes, then what level of education are you currently in?
(A) Associate's (B) Bachelor's (C) Certificate (D) Master's (E) Doctorate or higher
[3] If the answer to #1 is No, then what is your highest level of education?
(A) High school (B) Some college (C) Associate's (D) Bachelor's (E) Certificate (F) Master's (G) Doctorate or higher.
(A) High school
[4] Are you currently employed?
Yes
[5] If the answer to #4 is Yes, then are you underemployed as defined above?
No
[6] If the answer to #4 is No, then are you currently looking for work?
[7] If the answer to #4 is No, have you ever been employed?
[8] If the answer to #7 is Yes, then were you underemployed while employed?
[9] If you answered Yes to either [4] or [7], then what's the longest period of time that you have held a job?
3 years

[1] Are you still in school?
Yes

[2] If the answer to #1 is Yes, then what level of education are you currently in?
Bachelor's degree

[4] Are you currently employed?
Yes

[5] If the answer to #4 is Yes, then are you underemployed as defined above?
Yes

[9] If you answered Yes to either [4] or [7], then what's the longest period of time that you have held a job?
6 years

[1] Are you still in school?

No. I made four attempts at college, and burned out and dropped out in three of those four cases. In the fourth case, the school closed.

[2] If the answer to #1 is Yes, then what level of education are you currently in?
(A) Associate's (B) Bachelor's (C) Certificate (D) Master's (E) Doctorate or higher
[3] If the answer to #1 is No, then what is your highest level of education?
(A) High school (B) Some college (C) Associate's (D) Bachelor's (E) Certificate (F) Master's (G) Doctorate or higher.

Some college. I was never able to manage more than two terms in any college before I ran out of resources to cope with it.

[4] Are you currently employed?

No.

[5] If the answer to #4 is Yes, then are you underemployed as defined above?
[6] If the answer to #4 is No, then are you currently looking for work?

No. I am pursuing disability benefits.

[7] If the answer to #4 is No, have you ever been employed?

Yes,

[8] If the answer to #7 is Yes, then were you underemployed while employed?

Yes,

[9] If you answered Yes to either [4] or [7], then what's the longest period of time that you have held a job?[/quote]

Four or five months. Same situation as with college - burnout over time. Working for four months meant burnout and extreme difficulty finding and working at another job for at least a year. However, I have only held three jobs in the past 22 years.

[1] Are you still in school?

No.

[3] If the answer to #1 is No, then what is your highest level of education?
(A) High school (B) Some college (C) Associate's (D) Bachelor's (E) Certificate (F) Master's (G) Doctorate or higher.

(D) Bachelor's

[4] Are you currently employed?

Yes

[5] If the answer to #4 is Yes, then are you underemployed as defined above?

Yes

[9] If you answered Yes to either [4] or [7], then what's the longest period of time that you have held a job?

One and a half years.

I am intentionaly underemployed for the moment. I have a teaching credential but refuse to put myself back in that aspie nightmare of having to be social with people i cant stand,, I am much happier as a sub teacher assistant, i only go to each site maybe two or three times at the mose, i get to drive to those sites which is my transition time,, I am handed a schedule to follow when i walk in,, and i follow it, the teachers let me know what i need to do. a lot of it is either working with kids which i enjoy or solitary work like making copies or grading papers.. it works for me. I am considering settup to work as a sub sp needs teacher. I am also looking at going back to school for computer science with an emphasis in networking and education,, so someday I hope to be employed at my leve.

Since it has been about 24 hours since the last post has been made, I figure it is about time I posted some summary statistics:

Based on the 52 votes in the poll so far, 17 (or 32.7%) of those adults with ASDs were currently in school and 20 (or 38.5%) of them were currently employed.

Out of the 17 adults with ASDs who were currently in school, 5 (or 29.4%) of them were currently employed. Out of the 35 adults that were currently not in school, 15 (or 42.9%) of them were currently employed. This 42.9% is greater than the reported 10%-20% employment rate for adults with ASDs at the alpha = 0.05 level. However, out of the 35 adults who were currently not in school, only 8 (or 22.9%) of them were employed and not underemployed (as defined by the OP) at the same time.

Out of the 20 adults with ASDs who were currently employed, only 5 (or 25%) of them were currently in school to either better themselves, improve their chances of getting a better job than the ones they currently have, or any other reason that I'm failing to mention. Out of the 32 adults with ASDs who were currently not employed, 12 (or 37.5%) of them were currently still in school.

Out of the 23 adults with ASDs who were currently not employed and currently not looking for work, 9 (or 39.1%) of them were still in school. Out of the 20 adults with ASDs who were not still in school and currently not employed, only 6 (or 30%) of them were looking for work.

So far, it seems that the employment rate (for adults with ASDs) based on this poll is higher than previously reported. However, when taking underemployment into account, a vast majority of adults with ASDs (who were not in school) were either unemployed or underemployed. A small handful of adults who were employed were also in school as a means of trying to improve their lives in some way. In addition, a small handful of those who were not still in school and currently not employed were looking for work.

If one has ever had a job for somewhere around a year at least, then I would say that that one is capable of keeping a job. Going by that, 13 (or 81.3%) of the 16 adults (with ASDs) who reported their longest period of holding a job, were able to keep jobs where the mean is about 3.5 years with a standard error of about 0.738 years. Thus, the 95% confidence interval for that mean would be [1.914, 5.08] years. This suggests that, on average, an adult with a mild form of ASD (just going by the responses to the questions posted on this thread) is capable of keeping a job for at least a year, which goes against previous reports that adults with ASDs have trouble keeping jobs.

1. No. I'm a "housewife". A pretty bad one.
3. I have a Bachelor's degree.
4. No.
6. I'm not looking for work.
7. I've never worked.

I'm currently underemployed for my law school class ranking (top 10%) but not for my field. So it's hard to say. Most of those with my class ranking go to white shoe firms, particularly on Wall Street or Dallas. I could not get a private sector job in spite of 29 interviews, so I went with a federal agency job, which usually goes to those around the middle or lower part of the class.

I also might not have even gotten that were I not an affirmative action hire based on military service and claiming autism for disability hiring preference.

[1] Are you still in school? No.

[3] If the answer to #1 is No, then what is your highest level of education?
(G) Doctorate or higher. I have a PhD.
[4] Are you currently employed? No, I was laid off last summer. Since then, I have been collecting unemployment while trying to figure out how to go into business for myself.
[5] If the answer to #4 is Yes, then are you underemployed as defined above?
[6] If the answer to #4 is No, then are you currently looking for work? I'm really most interested in starting my own business, but I am looking for other opportunities.
[7] If the answer to #4 is No, have you ever been employed? Yes, I was employed more or less continuously from age 18 to age 35.
[8] If the answer to #7 is Yes, then were you underemployed while employed? I was definitely underemployed in my last two positions, and I had certainly been underemployed in various jobs before that. I definitely think that some traits related to ASD (some social awkwardness, difficulties related to organization, single-mindedness, lack of interest in tasks I perceived as boring) were related to problems I had in the workplace. although given the right setting and the right job, I am capable of being a very good employee and I have a good work ethic. I should also mention that I was let go due to general downsizing, not because of poor performance on the job.
[9] If you answered Yes to either [4] or [7], then what's the longest period of time that you have held a job?[/quote] I was in my last position for about five years. That's probably the longest I've stayed in one position.

^ ^ As in.. what field, not literally where.

I relate to a couple of these posts and it is an interesting topic.

I am coming up to completing my first bachelor degree after about five 'false starts' in differing fields and am totally petrified I will never get a job although there is not really evidence one way or the other.

I am capable of go-getting the job but then the question arises: do I really want it? Do I want to have to 'work'? There's so much pretension.
If it's going to make me unhappy, I'm going to hate it and not go.

I'm like the poster who has a neuro degree (YAY!!) .. my major is/was neuroscience, which is vocationally silly as the only thing it leads into is a PhD so you can do research which would be GREAT but I have no money and I don't think I can survive as a student for another five years.
Plus it's unfair to my kids (and I'm a single mum. . my kid's Dad has passed away, etc).

Sooo.. so many options. I am obsessed part time with forensics and thinking of doing the Masters course but want/need reasonable to well paid employment now that is not going to tax my soul heavily or destroy my will to live.

I currently work casually in a couple of different roles (bookkeeping and mystery shopping) way under-employed really and I've got that over-qualified thing going on.
Keeping an open mind for the year.. and will re-assess after that but it is hard to be patient.

May just chill out on welfare and write a lot.

I am currently in a Master's program in university. I do not work at the moment, and I am not currently looking.