Aspergers Syndrome/Dyspraxia

ROOSTER_BOOSTER

What jobs do people onm here with aspergers do? Whenever I do physical work i am usually too slow parents blame my aspergers andf dyspraxia is this the route of the problem? or is it a poor diet? I have too many carbs i reckon.

MrandMrsB

Thanks for starting this thread.

You have the same "condition" as Einstein then. You are very fortunate IMHO. Our son has AS and dyspraxia and we also "blame" his slowness on his conditions! He is only slow because instead of concentrating on the job, he is thinking about intellectual things! Is that what you do? Are you better at academic things?

Strange that my son often mentions that carbs make him feel lousy, but then he does stupid things like eating a huge pan of pasta. He has to take probiotics for his gut too - common for people who have AS. Do you take them?

He is on lots of committees, runs local enviro groups, campaigns to help the environment, starts charities - does all kinds of interesting / useful things. Once he is properly settled in his new flat he intends to start some kind of business that he is very secretive about (until he wants a loan from me of course!). It does bother me as people usually take advantage of him, so hope his business partner is straight.

Best wishes, Mrs B.

Savvy_Sue

DS1 works with computers. Needs to have tasks explained carefully or he adopts the 'rabbit caught in headlights' technique because he can't work out what to do. Hasn't been diagnosed with dyspraxia, I always thought he was in his own little world when he was slow rather than uncoordinated. Has a limited diet but it's better than it was!

seven-day-weekend

My son is in retail . He likes retail as the work comes in bite size chunks. He has just moved onto the roast chicken counter at Morrisons, the main thing he finds difficult is cleaning up and closing down at the end of the shift as this has to be done a certain way, in a certain order and depends upon timing, and ordering and sequencing are things he finds difficult. Once he has memorized the sequence he will be OK, but this will take longer than it does for people without AS.

His girlfriend,who is further along the spectrum than he is, is a cleaner.

Peanuckle

My eldest is heavily into computers and programming, mainly because they follow set rules and are predictable (at least that's my opinion of why). He failed his HNC course this year as the final exams involved heavily worded questions that he was unable to pick the pertinent information out of, half a page of waffle hiding a 8 word question in most cases. And support at college is practically non-existent, no mock exams either. He's now looking at apprenticeships within a computing career as we can't find a way to get a different HNC course funded for this year and it's not fair to put him into HND or uni just because he'll get the funding (why will they fund a higher level course than the one you've just failed but not fund a resit or different course at the same level??)

Middle son is doing the headless chicken dance, he doesn't know what he wants to do and finds it hard to apply for a job based on the small description that job adverts have. He also is struggling to cope with the idea that he's not committing himself to a life time doing one particular thing, he's skipping over job vacancies in McDonalds, Asda and Tesco for example as he thinks once he has a job then he's stuck there forever. That's thanks to school careers officers who have drilled it into him that once you choose a career then you're stuck with it

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

I've done most jobs, retail, office & warehouse but my main problems have usually stemmed from working with other people so have never managed to hold a job down for very long.

The longest job I've had was for 18 months when I worked in an office all day by myself which went pear shaped once I had to work with other people.

I didn't find out I have asperger's until I became too ill to work (depression/anxiety) but now I can see it was the reason for my difficulties.

OneYorkshireLass

MrandMrsB wrote: »

. You are very fortunate IMHO,

Do you think everyone with AS is 'fortunate'?

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

Do you think everyone with AS is 'fortunate'?

I have to admit I don't feel very fortunate & would give anything to be normal.

I have absoloutely no control of my emotions despite being 38 years old & can go into a complete meltdown over the slightest thing no matter where I am.

OneYorkshireLass

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

I have to admit I don't feel very fortunate & would give anything to be normal.

Me too. I have heard this before, that we're 'fortunate' or 'lucky'. It makes me quite angry and upset.
I live with my parents at 27 because I have no other option; I do not have a job because employers do not understand me no matter how many times I try to appear 'normal'; I do not lead a normal life of shopping, going out with friends, going to the cinema, eating out etc etc because I cannot cope with the surroundings.
Not everyone with AS has Einstein qualities, some of us have been dealt a pretty rubbish hand.

ikati5

My daughter of 15 has aspergers and we have been looking into the workplace for her when she eventually leaves school, as obviously college is not an option.

I'm not too sure where I read it, could be the aspergers society, maybe a forum somewhere but i have definitely read that there is a programme in place where people with aspergers get work placements in large companies, where they have the support of people who understand their foibles.

Try contacting the aspergers society to see iff they can point you towards this.

Also, I don't believe the term fortunate was used in the literal sense, it was just a positive comment to make you feel better.

OneYorkshireLass

ikati5 wrote: »

My daughter of 15 has aspergers and we have been looking into the workplace for her when she eventually leaves school, as obviously college is not an option.

I'm not too sure where I read it, could be the aspergers society, maybe a forum somewhere but i have definitely read that there is a programme in place where people with aspergers get work placements in large companies, where they have the support of people who understand their foibles.

Try contacting the aspergers society to see iff they can point you towards this.

Also, I don't believe the term fortunate was used in the literal sense, it was just a positive comment to make you feel better.

I can't speak for the person it was aimed at but personally I get sick of hearing it and it makes me even more depressed than I am already.

Don't rule out college for your daughter. Higher Education places usually have better facilities than schools, and the workplace, for meeting special requirements. And for me it was an achievement to have AS/A-levels, and there's loads of other courses to choose from too at all levels. Certainly if she's not into academia then find out all you can about work possibilities.
BT are a company known for employing people with AS. The disability advisor at your local jobcentre will also have suggestions.