autism and jobs ..ASPIES ONLY ! !! !

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I read that the most popular careers for Aspies are college professor and computes. I gather from you experience that you don't yet have the letters after your name for the first, but the second should be worth a shot.

For the past 28 years, long before I had two autistic kids and realized that traits had been passed down from me when I learned about AS, I have been a college professor (literature as my screen name and avatar might imply), but I am quite clearly the computer geek of the English department, the person everyone comes to when the can't figure out how to attach a file or opne their e-mail.

If you are wondering how one can do teaching and be an aspie, I would recommend only college. I was disastrous when I tried to work in an elementary or high school. The same problems that made me a bullying victim made me ineffective.

But, in college, it's all about the subject matter, and the subject matter is something that you like. My field (look at the avatar again) is the Renaissance, and particularly Shakespeare, but I also teach developmental English (remediation). Since we are an "open door" institution, we are getting an ever growing number of folks who had IEPs when they were in school. Oddly, I work very well with them. Working with my own kids has taught me to know how much space to give them and when to reign them in. They love me, and they learn. I love them, and I learn.

Last edited by Litguy on 14 May 2008, 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My autistic son does very well working in the library.

Makes sense. Most colleges have their own private little world, structured in such a way that an Aspie could feel comfortable. Professors are stereotyped as being 'eccentric,' so yes, it works. I imagine that a lot of what I refer to as "Perma-Students" (people who stay in college, getting multiple degrees one after another in order to remain in the university system) might be Aspies living comfortably in that sort of setting.

What if you don't know enough about computers or don't have any experience other than setting up your own home computer? Then wouldn't you need a degree? There are a lot of positions out there needing to be filled for Computer Programmers and System Analysts but they all require some kind of degree, or so I thought.

Like myself, one of my best friends is an undiagnosed Aspie, and he got a Master's before he realized he wanted his Master's in Library and Information Science. That sounds not bad, I'm going into Mechatronics, machines are the future anyway.

A suitable job is any one that you are good at, in which you have an interest, and that also permits you to pay your bills. Same for an Aspie as for an NT.

I was wondering if I should bring this up. This is WP. A lot of us (myself included) have sensory difficulties, and your avatar is painful to me, and probably several others as well. Please change it, at least to get rid of the flashing lights.

what you said ..has hurt me ..i'm not angry ... i'm not bad and i dont wanna hurt no one ... that avatar is taken from a cartoon personality called hyunkel .. Hyunkel's parents were killed in a monster attack, but one of the monsters took him in and raised him like a son
but he becomes a fighter for justice ....etc ..you can read his story

http://bestuff.com/stuff/hyunkel


i just feel close to him
i just feel tortued and not ok and to be honest with you .. i hate this life

i'm not evil you can check my youtube vids .. and you can see

www.youtube.com/hiunikel

you need to apology

i'm not evel ...you are making me sad in steriotyping me that way

it is true that i'm strange and not normal .. but i'm not crazy

i'm a smart student and i will never let anyone whoever he is ..to charge me with that kind of steriotypes

then you know , .. if you have a mark on me you can


tell me and i may change ..


by the way i'm a stubborn person

i found working at night was good, as it was dark, less people about generally, and all the others in the office (press accociation, like the US ap) were all pretty mad too.

i LOVER physical labour; that is really great, but daylight is an issue....

oddly, though i have trouble with usual phone conversations conversations, i did ok doing phone based market rsearch- its really structured and you are following a set routine- its not normal communication. though- sitting near people- not good.

im trying to set up come hidously complex home- based design thing at the moment... but its all a bit much this week.

i cant really concentrate for long on things if they dont interest me. if they do, i can go all day without a break for food... its exciting.

animals sounds fantastic! lucky you!! ! i like gogs and shire horses best- dont know if you have shires in the us- they are horse giants, but very gentle, slow and velvetty... the biggest are too wide to ride astride!

You know, none of those things you said justifies the annoying flickering. Keep the character, remove the animation, simple?

This in itself is not very easy to answer but, I prefer to simply state a suitable occupation? is where one in which, all of your skills both social,emotional,mental can work very well within the environment and setting in which you choose to journey into.. (sighs) I've been everything from graveyard shift stock clerk, life insurance mail clerk, janitor, and even restaurant dishwasher however, now I'm working at becoming a certified computer technician something like a Geek Squad Tech support person as such.. I'll simply close with saying choose an occupation where you feel complete comfortable with on all levels..

ProfessorX

As I have stated in other posts, I have a very unlikely aspie job. I am a pastor.

There is no way to say this without sounding like a sappy cliche but, "You can be or do just about anything if you put your mind to it."

I apologize if we've said anything in this thread that may upset you. We're Aspies, and we're rather lacking in social graces. What we were trying to get across is that the flickering on your avatar causes severe discomfort for several of us. Out of consideration for your fellow WPers, please change your avatar to get rid of the flicker. I actually think it's a very nice avatar if you get rid of the flickering.

I read mad scientist on the first page.
Terrific. Company.

Just be sure to get your own castle, on your own hill.
The deformed hunchback servant is mine!

My dream is to be a lighthouse keeper in Ireland somewhere.. Or Maine (though I don't believe you can technically do that in the US anymore)

it hurts my head....