Beyond Autism awareness
Why employment is so hard for Autists
I have received much training over the years on how to write a Curriculum Vitae, how to answer interview questions, how to behave in interviews, on and on. All of which was effectively useless, as the tricky bit is keeping jobs, not getting them.
I come across as bright and a quick learner, so the problems start when someone at work thinks that because I learnt everything so easily (or because they’ve heard that I picked everything up really easily) that I can take on more tasks.
I “hyperfocus” on things and I struggle to both work and chat — but now I have more things to learn as well. As I start failing to cope I come across to the person asking me to learn more as rude and unwilling. They retaliate with dissatisfaction, quietly making it known to others that I’m not all that.
I have to guess a bit here, but it seems that some people start wondering if it was all a front I put up, and that I’m really not going to be an asset. Maybe directly, usually more subtly, someone asks me what I’m doing, which I answer ingenuously. Now it looks like what I’m saying and what I’m doing don’t fit.
At this point I get the feeling something’s wrong, which is stres