Advice Request... Feeling Completely Lost

[Robby]

Hi Vindexa, love that name btw..I totally relate to you. I live in the south too, and trust me I know how attitudes here can be towards anyone who isn't cookie cutter or who is different. I am an openly gay man, and trust me that's challenging enough lol, and add to that having mild autism, which is very challenging. If I were you, I would find a doctor who deals with autism or mental health issues and make an appointment, let them do diagnostic testing and get a diagnosis! That can only help you! I did the same, I took some tests and they diagnosed me as mildly autistic and high functioning with a math learning disability. I also use a vocational rehab office which helps people with mild or severe disabilities. It's good to have a diagnosis on paper that way if you run into issues with employers not being sympathetic you have that documentation of disability. You remind me of me from what you write, you sound quite high functioning, articulate, and intelligent. I am the same way with learning new unfamiliar things, it's absolutely nothing to do with intelligence, it's simply that we need more time to absorb things and I definitely agree with you about consistency, I like things to be clear, concise, and consistent, for me to pick things up better. I have dealt with this my whole life. When learning something new and unfamiliar, I have to have time and space to pick it up, but once I do, I do it just as good if not better than others! It's just that initial learning period, I have to have familiarity and continuity and repetitive doing to pick it up. Nothing wrong in that at all. It's just challenging in a school or work environment!

I posted about this already, but awhile back I tried doing a receptionist job for a day. It totally sucked, it was way way too much multi tasking, and while the people there were nice, it was just mental overload. I suck at multi tasking, and have terrible short term memory. My long term memory is razor sharp, but the short term memory thing is bad, that's why it usually takes me awhile longer to pick things up. Nothing wrong with that, people just learn differently.

Try to just take some control, find a doctor in your area, maybe set up an appointment, tell him/her your concerns about maybe having a form of autism, and maybe they can test you and diagnose you. Then, you have that on paper as a disability. And also, see if you can find any vocational rehab offices in your area that help people with concerns over employment. Word of advice, don't let them stick you in a really low paying job though, they tend to often want to do that, you just have to stick to your guns if you use that service and let them know you're fully capable. Too often, voc rehab places tend to assume everyone who is autistic are severely handicapped, which is dumb.

What kind of customer service are you doing? If it's too stressful on you, look for other areas. I couldn't do it on a face to face level, that's just too much for me to deal with all day. I agree with you on the job thing, seems so many jobs are just not autism-friendly, or pay way too low to live on. I won't work for less than 10.00 per hour, you just can't live on that. I am getting ready to start a dispatch job where I'll be dealing with people but only over the phone, which hopefully won't be too bad. Just be your own advocate and find the resources that can help you and keep looking for jobs, don't be afraid to think outside the box. I use Indeed.com a lot, and craigslist, just keep an eye out. And try and get that diagnosis it could really help you if you do in fact have autism to have it on paper. Hope my ideas helped

 

[paloftoon]

One thing that might help is to get an actual diagnosis. I know, the prospect may be scary, but doing so can help get the law on your side. Getting a diagnosis means you'll be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. You will still have the option of whether or not to disclose to your employer, but it may make thing easier, as you'll then have documented, medical backing that you need some reasonable accommodations, and refusing to provide them becomes a legal issue. In other words, it gives you ground to stand on, which sounds like something you could use.

Getting an official diagnosis could be too expensive in most cases. It might be possible to get one from your state's OVR and very less likely through your employer. Probably only through a government employer or some small private firm with "outrageously" super good benefits might a process like obtaining the diagnosis have coverage. Anyone know any other outlets that I am not aware of for this route?