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What do you do for a living?

jsilver256 said:
That seems like a very difficult position for autism, how do you do it?
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Suffer LOL. Medication.

But really, I don't think I have a wise or useful answer for you. Although, as I said that, the ridiculous amount of passion I have for the issue is likely what does it. I was abused and neglected as a child and CPS helped me and my family. Now I need to do it for others, whether it kills me or not.

You're right, though, I struggle in countless ways that none of my coworkers struggle with. I try not to bring attention to myself as far as my superiors go so I hold my tongue frequently, which you may be surprised to hear I am capable of doing.
 
Forest Cat said:
That sounds great. I have always been very interested in horticulture and one of my dream jobs is landscape architect. Shaping the landscape.
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I started the architecture path but switched to design because it’s more plant oriented. I like to design with plants.
 
Meowser18 said:
I started the architecture path but switched to design because it’s more plant oriented. I like to design with plants.
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I think I would like to be a professional landscape design architect horticulturist. Just roll everything into one thing, that's as good as it gets. :)
 
GypsyMoth said:
Your job must require a high degree of compassion. I'm sorry for the loss of your friends/patients.
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I don’t interact with the residents that much but I do get used to seeing their faces. Death just goes with the territory of working in a nursing home. It’s just a bit bizarre how many residents we’ve lost within the past two weeks. Four on one unit alone in only a week.
 
Captain Jigglypuff said:
I don’t interact with the residents that much but I do get used to seeing their faces. Death just goes with the territory of working in a nursing home. It’s just a bit bizarre how many residents we’ve lost within the past two weeks. Four on one unit alone in only a week.
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The leading edge baby boomers are just turning eighty this year so expect many deaths this year as lot of celebrities
such as rock music stars will be lost. eighty is a inflection point.
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
The leading edge baby boomers are just turning eighty this year so expect many deaths this year as lot of celebrities
such as rock music stars will be lost. eighty is a inflection point.
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Yet Keith Richards keeps defying death despite all of the drugs and being hit in the head by a coconut….
 
He just turned 80 probability he made this was 50% every additional year he has a probability dying of around 1%.
I guess there is a very remote chance he could live too 118.
 

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I have been parenting and care-giving as my main role for some years now, in between being too unwell to function (severe burn out, long COVID, that sort of thing) but I have a small paid job coming up tomorrow! It's in the mental health support service sector, giving input to improve a service I receive support from. It's the kind of work I'm passionate about.

About 12-13 years ago I trained as a Mental Health Peer Support Worker, and I did quite a lot of unpaid work in systems reform from that vantage point, while I tried to get a paid position and I ended up giving up eventually and went back to uni.

So I feel I'm coming full circle, back doing a little work that I really want to do more of and finally getting something financial for it.

I have a few projects on the slow burn, but parenting and grandparenting and even daughtering (my mum has Parkinsons) has been my priority, when I can function, these last few years (I have 2 sons with schizophrenia, one who also has ASD2-3, and youngest son has complex issues resulting from Autism and trauma too). I also have a live-in best friend who has a brain injury and (I believe) the same kind of brain as mine (ASD, ADHD&complexPTSD) that I give a lot of care and energy to, as he does me.

Now that my youngest son doesn't need me as much, nor does my oldest son, and my second born is in a supported accommodation share house, my daughter's are managing ok with their babies, and my brother is well enough to help with our Ma, I am going to be working on building my marketable skills and marketing my developed skills as I am currently surviving on my disability pension (after rent, it is very small) and working is something I've always enjoyed, paid or unpaid, when I'm able. Having ASD2 means I'm not always able, though.
 
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Fino said:
Suffer LOL. Medication.

But really, I don't think I have a wise or useful answer for you. Although, as I said that, the ridiculous amount of passion I have for the issue is likely what does it. I was abused and neglected as a child and CPS helped me and my family. Now I need to do it for others, whether it kills me or not.

You're right, though, I struggle in countless ways that none of my coworkers struggle with. I try not to bring attention to myself as far as my superiors go so I hold my tongue frequently, which you may be surprised to hear I am capable of doing.
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For years I was a caseworker for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That could be pretty tough, and I didn't have to deal with being on-call, appearing in court, or seeing horrific things on a regular basis. What you do is really hard, to say the least.
 
Mr. Stevens said:
For years I was a caseworker for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That could be pretty tough, and I didn't have to deal with being on-call, appearing in court, or seeing horrific things on a regular basis. What you do is really hard, to say the least.
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Yes, it's more horrific than anyone can imagine if they haven't seen it themselves. It's traumatic.
 
Right now...I'm living from savings and my lasts job liquidation/settlement since they fired me 7 months ago...

I'm an electronic engineer
 
I've started working as a Peer Worker and Autistic Advocate. It's in a systemic reform capacity. To help improve the "Mental Health" support services. I put mental health in quotation marks because I think it's a bit of a misnomer as most people receiving mental health support are dealing with physiological issues and "Mental Health" is really more social-emotional support needs needing to be met, in this context. "Peer Work" is specific to Mental health, in this context, but, I'm very keen to get active in the specifically Autism advocacy and AuDHD and ADHD too, as I'm very impacted by my ADHD, as well, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

It's consultant work that draws on our "lived experience," of struggling a lot and of attempting to get help and navigate the world of support services and how that can be improved with our, the participants and recipients, input. I love it. I'm very passionate about wanting to help and wanting what help people are receiving, to be improved by as much information that I can add into the system to make it more effective and empowering for the people seeking help.
 
Neri said:
I love it. I'm very passionate about wanting to help and wanting what help people are receiving, to be improved by as much information that I can add into the system to make it more effective and empowering for the people seeking help.
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There's been a lot of consultation going on in SA lately and I've been involved with some of that. It does give a sense of satisfaction helping on a project that seems worthwhile. At the moment the state government's trying to develop a series of strategies and policies that will provide a better quality of life for autistic people.

https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/draftautismstrategy
 
Outdated said:
There's been a lot of consultation going on in SA lately and I've been involved with some of that. It does give a sense of satisfaction helping on a project that seems worthwhile. At the moment the state government's trying to develop a series of strategies and policies that will provide a better quality of life for autistic people.

https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/draftautismstrategy
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It's a positive trend, I think. And only just the start, in some ways. I'm getting the sense that, perhaps "Autistic people broke the NDIS" as I've heard that so many of are seeking support that their wanting to make a separate support system, just for us Autists. I am still waiting for NDIS to call ma about my plan, they are woefully behind because they are in the process of changing the entire system and I can't help wondering if that's because of how many Autistic people are clamoring for assistance and it's overwhelmed them.

I worked with Wellways yesterday, who I receive support from. They are great, in my book, because they are very "Peer friendly" and the forum was led by a Peer Worker who is diagnosed with OCD and ADHD and PTSD and he was great; very passionate, like me, about tweaking things to make them more empowering and uplifting and supporting us to self advocate and join the "Peer revolution" as I like to call it. I told him I'd trained but didn't finish my Peer Worker course, he said "You haven't finished it YET". Maybe he's right. Maybe I'll go back and get my Peer Worker creds, but, I don't feel inclined that way, at this point. I think I'm great at in without learning how to be a beaurocrat. I'm more of an activist/artist/Peer support person already and I don't want to get bogged down in an office job.
 
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