Good Jobs for Autistic People?

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I have struggled with keeping jobs before. It seems like every job I have had has failed in some way, shape or form. I have trouble understanding and remembering directions, and am overwhelmed by cash registers. Due to this, I have frequently been fired or quit, and have never worked at one place longer than a month. It also seems that the longer I work, the more autistic I feel, in that eventually I would start coming home and immediately stim and cry and be overall hysterical for hours. Frankly, there's a part of me that just doesn't want to work at all after what I've been through, and yet my friends and family constantly tell me how lazy I am for not getting a job. They think I'm capable, but I'm less certain.

I did at one point work for a company called Aspiritech, which is a "nonprofit company for people who are autistic to do software testing"...or rather, I did a "unpaid training" for them for a month, in which I tested software. At first I found the environment very nice and supportive, but when they suddenly pulled me aside to tell me that they were dropping me, and not giving me the job, without any prior feedback whatsoever, my friends suggested that Aspiritech is probably a scam. No legitimate company has you work for them without pay.

I just don't know what to do. I don't want my friends to think I'm a failure, and Disability Income isn't a living wage here. What do I do?

No simple answer to your question given the range of individual differences on the spectrum, apart from "play to your strengths". The four tables in this link are set out in terms of different strength profiles, and knowing which best matches yourself may be a starting point:

https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/Choo ... s-Syndrome

In my experience, software testing is a good field for autistics to work in (i myself am).
Among testing companies, autism/aspergers is seen as a benefit even, so you might try finding other companies in that field

My favorite job was working as a delivery driver...this just suited me to a tee. But you have to really like driving and I know many autistic people don't drive or can't drive.

I also liked working in a cash office. Maybe a bookkeeping or data entry job? Payroll processing?

Stocking, especially overnight stocking, or maybe hanging shelf tags and price signs which is usually done overnight in grocery stores. Merchandising or resets, where you work on projects at different stores for a third party company - with some of those you get to work independently.

If you work in retail, at most places they are going to want to put you on a register at some point...unless you are hired for a specific thing that excludes that, or else tell them up front when they interview you that you just don't want to do it. When you leave that possibility open then they might expect to be able to pull you away from whatever you are doing at any time to put you on a register. That in and of itself can be nerve wracking, just knowing they might pull you away from doing something else at any time, even if it rarely happens. You really have to just tell them up front if you are not willing to run a cash register, and believe me many neurotypical people say the same thing so there is no need to get into specifics or disclose a disability to justify it. If they are not okay with that at the time they hire you then it probably won't be a good place to work anyway. I mean I would not try to go along with it just to get hired somewhere.

Try to change your perspective from thinking that every job has failed. Look at each one as being an experience that helped you find out what you can and can't do, what kind of environment you like or not and so on. I went through a time in my early 20s where I had a string of 2-month jobs and I just couldn't stand to stay at any place longer than that. One thing I figured out is you don't do yourself any favors if you go into the next job feeling like every other one was a failure. Interviewers can pick up on that and see you as someone to take advantage of, which can lead to feeling like you have to quit again so it becomes a vicious cycle. It can be hard to negotiate when you don't have a solid work history, but it's important because it sets the tone for how things go. Unpaid training can be okay if it helps you learn a new skill, but ultimately you deserve to get paid for your work. A job should be a situation of mutual benefit, and the ones that don't work out, for one reason or another were simply not right for you.