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Self-Determined Aspie Looking for Help

Jacks Brain

Jacks Brain

Well-Known Member
I got my first clue that something might be up a few years ago, when a guy I was working with decided to start commenting about how annoying I am. He had a wife who was a nurse, and apparently he was telling her about me and she asked if I had autism. Well I didn't know anything about "autism," except my mother took care of an idiot savant for a while and they said he was autistic. I'm not anything like that, but a few months later I came across an Aspergers video on YouTube. I watched a few of those and I do act a lot like Aspergers people. One of the videomakers said what he would look for as a typical indicator of Aspergers, is a guy who suddenly wakes up at 50 and realizes he has no career. I'm painfully close to that point. I'll be seeking an official diagnosis, although I imagine there is little to no help for Aspies in America.
 
welcome to af.png
 
Hello and welcome! I’d be willing to guess that every person in the world does some things that are annoying to others. Let that not be your hallmark of autism! Time to find out all about yourself in a positive way and meet some folks here that will most likely relate to you and understand.

Let us know if you need any help figuring things out as you settle in.
 
Welcome! I hadn't heard that bit about 50 sans career - that can come from any number of causes. I had a major change of life about every seven years, although I maintained a vocation through several of them.
 
Welcome! I'm not too sure about the career thing either - at least, I'm not convinced this should be seen negatively. I probably could have had a career if the context had been different. But then I realized what I wanted was to do could be achieved through a bunch of channels - never wanted to be locked into one single track.
@Shevek How strange, I've noticed seven-year cycles in my life too!
 
Welcome. As @Rodafina says, here's to finding out about yourself. Try not to have any preconceptions.

Regarding careers. I can see where they are coming from. I have a career, but couldn't hold down any one job for more than a couple of years.
 
Welcome!

Is there something that you would be hoping to get from an diagnosis? I'm not meaning to discourage you, but it can be costly and time consuming (in addition to a potentially long wait list) - so if you're just looking for more information, there's lots of resources available online and in books that you could access regardless of whether you have a diagnosis, that may be helpful in helping you find connections, and finding ways of better supporting yourself.
 
I have never been diagnosed, currently do or never did care, As far as a career is concerned. Did you give yourself starting point? Mine was an education in chemical engineering, which I built on over the years sort of trying to direct my career. My motto has always been fail to plan to fail.
 
Hello everyone, thanks for your replies!

I feel like an official diagnosis is necessary for dealing with employers. I can't go to them with "well I think I have Aspergers and I need you to make these accommodations for me." They need to see the official diagnosis, otherwise it just looks like I'm making things up. I've read that the test is expensive, long, and annoying though. I bet it's not even done in my area either, so those are all points against it.

About the guy who said I was annoying, I would bet he had Aspergers as well, and some other issues on top of that.

I think it was "Autism from the inside" on YouTube who said not having a career at 50 was a sign of Aspergers.
 
You can start a career any time. just need a good starting point plus pick something that's in demand. that you also enjoy. I had to keep reinventing myself to keep my career going. first colour control then aluminum substrates then
appliance coating, then treatment systems, then testing coatings, then plastic substrates, then quality systems, and finally all of them. Now I'm a world class expert on industrial application of coating's did it one piece at a time.
 
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I've "sort of" had a career. I've worked intermittently as an illustrator. In the first half of 2022 I had a fantastic job with a game developer. I thought they had a great strategy for a cryptocurrency based game, but they couldn't find any investors after the FTX scandal. One good thing I'll say for today, Sam Bankman-Fried is in prison where he belongs. He sure changed my life for the worse.
 
My youngest brother wanted to get into the arts when he was in high school saw no future went to college to follow brothers lead. became electrical technologist. ended up fixing phone systems. Travelled world installing and maintaining phone systems, got sick of traveling. Joined air force, more travelling. Dropped back to reserves as no travelling. Now works three days a week as house paid for single hard to get into relationship when travelling. hates going to warm places as he worked there great storyteller been everywhere. middle east places we vacation way up north. Likes he tells me from 30 above to 30 below in one day.
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
My youngest brother wanted to get into the arts when he was in high school saw no future went to college to follow brothers lead. became electrical technologist. ended up fixing phone systems. Travelled world installing and maintaining phone systems, got sick of traveling. Joined air force, more travelling. Dropped back to reserves as no travelling. Now works three days a week as house paid for single hard to get into relationship when travelling. hates going to warm places as he worked there great storyteller been everywhere. middle east places we vacation way up north. Likes he tells me from 30 above to 30 below in one day.
Click to expand...

As far as "the arts" goes, it depends on what he wanted to do and when he was looking. Those can be some of the very best jobs to have, especially if you can do it remotely, which is what I had going. My typical day would be wake up, go to the home office, make something I thought was cool, send it in, and money would magically appear in my PayPal. No one bothered me. I rarely touched my car for six months. It was everything an aspie could dream of.

I've thought I might be able to branch over to graphics arts (putting together brochures and such). I see a lot of offers for those jobs on indeed.com.
 
Like me you have to keep reinventing yourself, it'd lose my job use what I learned for the next position. taught my self the chemistry of zinc phosphate system used this to get position with leading supplier of zinc phosphate. Took courses on making and testing paint to get position at testing lab.
My brother is 10 years younger than me. his main concern now is passing the physicals phones are going to cells so he may have to reinvent himself soon. could be more education. hard to say.
 
The biggest issue I've noticed over the year people reticent to upgrade their education. to slightly change directions
when job loss happens. The piece of paper is not for you but for the employer so they can trust you know what you say you know.
 
Au Naturel said:
Or at 40 or at 60. I never had a career; just scrambling for jobs.
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How did that happen?

I took my first step off the "straight and narrow career path" in my freshman year of college, when I realized that things didn't get better. In fact, the better I did academically, the more people hated me.
 
Jacks Brain said:
How did that happen?

I took my first step off the "straight and narrow career path" in my freshman year of college, when I realized that things didn't get better. In fact, the better I did academically, the more people hated me.
Click to expand...
How did it happen? It was easy!

I suck at social skills. I suck at math beyond advanced algebra. I get bored easily. I lack self-confidence. I never get the interview right. I couldn't network my way into a paper bag.

That's the story of a lot of neurodivergent people. Including some very bright ones.
 
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