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Working with autism

12 replies

ToxicChristmas · 24/07/2024 17:49

As the mum of an autistic 16 year who has just left school and will be going off to college in September (2 year course but can stay at college until he is 25 funded) I wondered if anyone can share their experience of having a career while having autism?
DS is academically very capable. Where I think he is going to struggle is communication and social interaction. He won't speak to anyone new and he is difficult to understand when he does speak (very quiet, mumbles). He can't cope with crowds or groups of new people and would need support. He would really like to work and have a career eventually which I obviously strongly support. I suppose WFH would be a option?
I totally understand autism is a vast spectrum and what will work for some won't work for others. I suppose I'm just looking for some positive stories...I really want DS to have the life he hopes for. Thank you in advance!

OP posts:
Sirzy · 24/07/2024 17:51

Have you look at supported internships? I have been researching for DS and a few places locally are now helping with these and having very good results and people are properly supported to get into workplaces right for them.

ToxicChristmas · 24/07/2024 18:00

Sirzy · 24/07/2024 17:51

Have you look at supported internships? I have been researching for DS and a few places locally are now helping with these and having very good results and people are properly supported to get into workplaces right for them.

I haven't yet, but I definitely will!

OP posts:
Putf · 24/07/2024 18:09

I struggled for a lot of years, I’d recommend going for autism friendly jobs/internships to begin with ambitious about autism and other charities work with companies to help people into roles and they often post wfh ones, so it’s good to keep an eye out.
wfh and now freelance were the two things that helped me. What kind of roles do you think he’d be good at/interested in?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

ToxicChristmas · 24/07/2024 18:14

Putf · 24/07/2024 18:09

I struggled for a lot of years, I’d recommend going for autism friendly jobs/internships to begin with ambitious about autism and other charities work with companies to help people into roles and they often post wfh ones, so it’s good to keep an eye out.
wfh and now freelance were the two things that helped me. What kind of roles do you think he’d be good at/interested in?

Thank you. He would be very good at anything computer related. He is exceptionally talented at anything IT from coding and programming to gaming. He can touch type and his typing speed is incredible. Much better than mine even after years and years of admin work. He lives and breathes computers!!!

OP posts:
Putf · 24/07/2024 18:19

He should start working on a portfolio, if he hasn't already, on github is good. If he struggles with talking to people, a conventional way of getting a job via interviews is going to be impossible really (same) so having a back history of regular commits and people being able to look at his code, will really help out for the future. If he's into all things computer related, it also helps out with freelance, there are freelance sites, where you can get coding jobs without talking to anyone, just typing, while they're not great pay, as you're competing with people all over the world, again its great for a cv or a portfolio and as you climb up and get more, you can start charging more type thing.

ToxicChristmas · 24/07/2024 18:24

Putf · 24/07/2024 18:19

He should start working on a portfolio, if he hasn't already, on github is good. If he struggles with talking to people, a conventional way of getting a job via interviews is going to be impossible really (same) so having a back history of regular commits and people being able to look at his code, will really help out for the future. If he's into all things computer related, it also helps out with freelance, there are freelance sites, where you can get coding jobs without talking to anyone, just typing, while they're not great pay, as you're competing with people all over the world, again its great for a cv or a portfolio and as you climb up and get more, you can start charging more type thing.

Thank you, this is great advice.

OP posts:
owladventure · 24/07/2024 18:49

I would check out the employment support services from the National Autistic Society.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment

Also, Access to Work may fund work coaching or a support worker:

https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work

The picture might look different by the time he finishes his course. And if it takes him a bit longer than his peers to be ready to move into the workplace, that's ok - it doesn't mean he never will.

Employment

Here youll find advice for autistic people on looking for a job, as well as information for autistic people in work.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment

Biancobianca · 24/07/2024 18:51

Access to Work can help in various ways. One of my top recommendations is to invest in a very good pair of active noise cancelling headphones or earbuds in the workplace. I only discovered this in my 40s when I was utterly desperate at not being able to concentrate in the office.

Beth216 · 24/07/2024 19:37

There are a lot of degree apprenticeships in Software Engineering/Comp Sci that might appeal. In my experience the best way of working out who is clued up and supportive of ASD is to ask if they provide interview questions in advance to ASD candidates. Many who are supposedly disability confident are clearly just ticking boxes and can't seem to offer anything apart from extra time (not much use in a 90 minute interview!). DS had an appointment with an Occupational Health company after he got his apprenticeship place and was recommended noise cancelling headphones and requested a quiet space for breaks.

You say your DS won't speak to anyone new - but everyone he's ever met was new at some point. Do you mean he needs time to get used to new people and then after some time of being around them he is able to speak to them? DS is like this and really struggled to make friends at Secondary school because of the constant changing of subjects/classes. I'd really encourage him though to work on his social skills at College particularly within his comp sci group as he's hopefully going to spend quite a lot of time with them and have quite a lot in common. It's a subject he's really confident in so he might be able to help others out which is a good way of getting to know them. Smell steps and gently pushing himself out of his comfort zone if at all possible - college is quite a different experience to school and he might find his confidence really grows there. (I'm assuming he's doing something computer sciency).

Things I would recommend that he can put on a CV/uni/apprenticeship application: EPQ if college offers it, NEA if he is doing comp sci A-level, Git hub with his own projects/games, any courses he has done on Unity/Youtube/Codecamp/Udemy etc ie Unity Junior Programmer, build his own website or make one using wordpress (or both), learn how to make apps and make a couple of simple ones.

If he can do some volunteering ie helping out with an after school computer club at his old school then that sort of thing is brilliant - he may be more confident helping out younger kids and it's a low pressure situation as there's a teacher running it. The other thing all interviews ask about is a time you've worked in a group - get him to get involved in any group project offered at collage that he can, even if he barely speaks to anyone or the project is a bit of a disaster it doesn't matter because there's lots to talk about (what you'd do differently next time for example).

Finally I'd really recommend him starting his own youtube channel, it will get him practising talking and presenting without actually having to talk to 'real' people. He can do it on his favourite subject or on one of his comp sci projects. It's another great thing to put on a CV - viewing numbers are irrelevant and he doesn't have to give out the name of the channel, he can just say he has a channel and has made a series of videos on x subject.

DS was way out of his depth with interviews - absolutely terrified - and we spent an incredible amount of time going through the sort of questions that might be asked, the STAR method of answering, writing out answers, thinking about what was the best thing he'd done to answer each question, practicing answering the questions out loud alone, practising with me asking and him answering.....

There is likely to be a lot of rejection though so that is something to keep in mind. DS probably applied to about 20 places, for probably about 10 he was rejected straight away, for 5 or so he had to do an online interview/personality tests and was rejected by several after that, he got through to several face to face interviews and then got rejected by a few after that. He finally got lucky and found the perfect one for him. He had uni as a back up so for every rejection I reminded him that it didn't matter as he had other options and that the process was really, really good experience anyway. His confidence in doing interviews definitely improved the more he did.

Good luck to him! It's so much harder when you have ASD. I had many years of worrying and wondering how on earth DS was going to ever get a job when his communication skills were so poor. PM me if you want to ask anything else.

ToxicChristmas · 24/07/2024 19:46

Beth216 · 24/07/2024 19:37

There are a lot of degree apprenticeships in Software Engineering/Comp Sci that might appeal. In my experience the best way of working out who is clued up and supportive of ASD is to ask if they provide interview questions in advance to ASD candidates. Many who are supposedly disability confident are clearly just ticking boxes and can't seem to offer anything apart from extra time (not much use in a 90 minute interview!). DS had an appointment with an Occupational Health company after he got his apprenticeship place and was recommended noise cancelling headphones and requested a quiet space for breaks.

You say your DS won't speak to anyone new - but everyone he's ever met was new at some point. Do you mean he needs time to get used to new people and then after some time of being around them he is able to speak to them? DS is like this and really struggled to make friends at Secondary school because of the constant changing of subjects/classes. I'd really encourage him though to work on his social skills at College particularly within his comp sci group as he's hopefully going to spend quite a lot of time with them and have quite a lot in common. It's a subject he's really confident in so he might be able to help others out which is a good way of getting to know them. Smell steps and gently pushing himself out of his comfort zone if at all possible - college is quite a different experience to school and he might find his confidence really grows there. (I'm assuming he's doing something computer sciency).

Things I would recommend that he can put on a CV/uni/apprenticeship application: EPQ if college offers it, NEA if he is doing comp sci A-level, Git hub with his own projects/games, any courses he has done on Unity/Youtube/Codecamp/Udemy etc ie Unity Junior Programmer, build his own website or make one using wordpress (or both), learn how to make apps and make a couple of simple ones.

If he can do some volunteering ie helping out with an after school computer club at his old school then that sort of thing is brilliant - he may be more confident helping out younger kids and it's a low pressure situation as there's a teacher running it. The other thing all interviews ask about is a time you've worked in a group - get him to get involved in any group project offered at collage that he can, even if he barely speaks to anyone or the project is a bit of a disaster it doesn't matter because there's lots to talk about (what you'd do differently next time for example).

Finally I'd really recommend him starting his own youtube channel, it will get him practising talking and presenting without actually having to talk to 'real' people. He can do it on his favourite subject or on one of his comp sci projects. It's another great thing to put on a CV - viewing numbers are irrelevant and he doesn't have to give out the name of the channel, he can just say he has a channel and has made a series of videos on x subject.

DS was way out of his depth with interviews - absolutely terrified - and we spent an incredible amount of time going through the sort of questions that might be asked, the STAR method of answering, writing out answers, thinking about what was the best thing he'd done to answer each question, practicing answering the questions out loud alone, practising with me asking and him answering.....

There is likely to be a lot of rejection though so that is something to keep in mind. DS probably applied to about 20 places, for probably about 10 he was rejected straight away, for 5 or so he had to do an online interview/personality tests and was rejected by several after that, he got through to several face to face interviews and then got rejected by a few after that. He finally got lucky and found the perfect one for him. He had uni as a back up so for every rejection I reminded him that it didn't matter as he had other options and that the process was really, really good experience anyway. His confidence in doing interviews definitely improved the more he did.

Good luck to him! It's so much harder when you have ASD. I had many years of worrying and wondering how on earth DS was going to ever get a job when his communication skills were so poor. PM me if you want to ask anything else.

Thank you this is great and very useful.
Unfortunately, DS struggles greatly with speaking, especially to those who are new, but also with people he does know. Even his own grandparents. He almost gets "stuck". There are very few he will speak with (me, DH, sibling and two support workers) which is what troubles me about him being able to cope with work. It's great to hear your experience, I'm going to do some research and keep this thread handy to refer back to.

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