Only 22% of autistic people are in employment

[ofwarren]

Do you work, and if so, what kind of job?
I've worked in admin roles mainly and I qualified as a teaching assistant but I just can't stay in employment without total and utter burn out. The longest job I've had is 2 years and that was before having kids. Since having them, I haven't worked at all. I literally have no capacity to give anything else after looking after them and the home.

I've always worked though mostly self employed. I was a journalist for years, then ran my own sewing business, and now I work for the NHS.
I'm surprised by that figure and think it's skewed by the fact that many autistic people aren't diagnosed.

@zurala

I've always worked though mostly self employed. I was a journalist for years, then ran my own sewing business, and now I work for the NHS. I'm surprised by that figure and think it's skewed by the fact that many autistic people aren't diagnosed.

That's a good point about the undiagnosed. The figure was quoted by the autistic society and they got the data from the ONS.

I've held down my job for 14 years and was diagnosed last summer. I was diagnosed with Asperger's (I know it's all moving towards the ASD diagnosis now), I don't know if that makes any difference? My issue is with social skills rather than burnout.

Forgot to mention, I work in customer service for a big company.

I worked in a florist for 2 weeks. I worked in Next during Christmas for 2 weeks. I worked in Sainsburys for 3 weeks. I worked in an admin role for 3 months.
I then had children.
I'm 34yo, my DC are now 9yo and 10yo, and I still do not work. Before Covid I volunteered once a week for 1.5 hours, but then that was cancelled and now I do nothing.
The problem is I have no idea what I would do. Not only do I have Autism, but I am also an idiot, and I'm pretty much hated by all. I'm pretty sure I may just be the worst human being ever.

@duvetdayforeveryone

I worked in a florist for 2 weeks. I worked in Next during Christmas for 2 weeks. I worked in Sainsburys for 3 weeks. I worked in an admin role for 3 months. I then had children. I'm 34yo, my DC are now 9yo and 10yo, and I still do not work. Before Covid I volunteered once a week for 1.5 hours, but then that was cancelled and now I do nothing. The problem is I have no idea what I would do. Not only do I have Autism, but I am also an idiot, and I'm pretty much hated by all. I'm pretty sure I may just be the worst human being ever.

I totally get that feeling. I've got no transferable skills and would he pretty useless in any work place. You are definitely not the worst human being ever

@ofwarren I'm definitely in top 100 for worst human being.

I used to volunteer in a children's centre, in a stay and play group. The parents would talk at me about their problems/stresses, and I would listen, nod, and not judge them. I'd tell them, "forget about the past and focus on what you can change going forward". Parents used to like the fact that they could tell me anything with no judgement whatsoever.

I have no idea what I'd do now. The children's centre no longer run the group I used to volunteer in.

Is there a job where the main talent needed is to have the ability to not judge people?

ASD and ADHD here.

I’m a STEM student. Prior I was a SAHM. Prior to that I couldn’t hold a job for more than 3 months. Retail, bars, office.

I’m not diagnosed but my daughter is and I share traits with her.

I do a very specialised role that I’m very good at (thank you autistic obsessions - mine is directly related to my work).

I’m very well paid now, having fallen into a role where they let me do my thing because I deliver value for the org but prior to this I was in low paid roles - low grade admin, shop work (which I hated).

It’s scarily low isn’t it, 22% :(

I work now. I did have a job in a library for a while which I loved but I got ill with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. I have no doubt that it was going to full time that caused me to burn out and contributed to how run down I was when I got the flu that triggered it. I am pretty sure I will never work full time again.

I then had a few years not working other than a bit of tuition. But then last October I got a job that I love. It’s for a parent carer charity, only part time but mostly from home, flexible hours and term time only so it’s really good for my needs.

I was open on my application about being autistic/ADHD myself too, and it’s just not an issue at all, it’s an asset if anything - got projects on the go because of my own experiences etc. It’s a very ADHD friendly job too - lots of different tasks, meeting different people, encouraged to take my own initiative etc. Love it. I do shut down a bit after long meetings though. Never be a big earner but happy there and can see myself staying a long time while I study (starting OU degree next month).

@duvetdayforeveryone I can guarantee that as a non judgmental good listener you are totally a fab person not a bad one! Do you know how rare that is? To be able to just sit with other people’s feelings and be that calm presence is a fab skill and one that people often really value and feel grateful for.

Love the name Ofwarren I’m actually rereading THT at the moment! Blessed be the fruit and all that.

I have aspergers and work ft for the nhs. I love my job because it involves barely any human interaction and it focuses on my special interests.

Before this I was in a range of min wage jobs which I never stuck at for more than 6 months before being sacked. I am intelligent, hard working and eager to please so I assumed that the reason I kept getting fired was that I was rubbish at life. Then I got diagnosed and everything fell into place!

I worked for a lot of years, basic waiting/bar work then self employment but in the past few years I haven't been able to. I'm mid 40s now and I don't know how I could tbh. I'm too fat, old and exhausted I couldn't do the small talk required for a customer facing role anymore. That's what killed it for me I think. I just can't do it. I have no education - I was the bad kid who bunked off and dropped out as soon as I could so didn't get any exams. I have tried going back to education but I find processing and giving back what I have learned so difficult. For now I have claiming carets allowance as DH is disabled but realistically we can't live like this long term.

Unemployed currently, huge gaps on my cv which obviously makes it harder and harder as time goes on. Have had a couple of jobs in the past but largely exploitive last one didn't even pay minimum wage.
So I'm in the 88%. Tried to apply for a job recently that was advertised as an autism friendly 3 month internship and advertised on a autism charity website, interview was going to be 3 hours with tests and all sorts for just a 3 month internship, so had to withdraw as I wouldn't be able to cope with that for a first interview.
I probably have to try and start my own business or something but I have no skills

I am now a senior academic (!) (at least that is what my title says) and I have been in STEM all my working life. I did work in a cafe and that was pretty good.

What I have found is job interviews are my kryptonite. It's not that I'm bad at them, generally with a few exceptions feedback is good I just seem to have an effect on HR people that makes them want to employ anyone else. This was a horrible shock on my last time jobseeking when all my other colleagues were getting jobs (we were all being made redundant) but I wasn't despite lots of interviews. It seems they even my best impression of an NT person sucks!

I had effectively been working in a sheltered workshop for the previous 9 years despite being the UK R&D arm of a very large global corporation!

Standard job interviews are a bit of a shitshow but I wonder if we can come up with something better?

Also the number of HR people who have any experience with autistic adults, let alone autistic women is very small indeed.

I was a registered nurse for 28 years, but burned out and can't cope with talking to people now. I do dogwalking and pet care these days. I'm happy working by myself and caring for animals is perfect for me because I love them so much.

I used to work nightshift quite a bit as I liked the peace and quiet. I could never manage full time hours, so worked part time since my mid 30s when my children were young.

I hadn’t heard the 22% figure until this week. It’s depressing. My early CV was a bit eccentric looking, and o often worked below my skill level for a while, but then I found my niche, thank goodness. I can well understand that some people never get the luck or understanding or whatever it is that’s needed to help them find a good fit.

I don't work and haven't for 20 years as I can't cope with it. I did work before that but couldn't keep a job as I was always off sick.

My DH and DD both have autism and work. DH is a scientist and DD a language teacher. They are both doing their special interests as jobs which I guess is why they're ok. I'd be able to work if someone paid me to watch shit tv all day while crocheting socks. But the won't so I have to do it for myself.

I’m what used to be called Aspergers - high IQ, functioning autism.
I had a 36 year career as a hospital doctor, specialising in anaesthesia and critical care, and was the clinical lead for special needs patients in anaesthesia - which included a lot of autistics, unsurprisingly.
I was also widowed with two babies and raised them as a single parent, while working. By the time I retired I was exhausted from the effort of juggling all the demands of patients, an autistic and depressed daughter, an NT daughter, and a household, while grieving my much loved DH.
The only mitigating factor was that anaesthesia is a great career for an autistic - one patient at a time, total focus on monitoring etc in a controlled environment. A lot of my colleagues over the years displayed classic autistic traits too.

@zurala

I've always worked though mostly self employed. I was a journalist for years, then ran my own sewing business, and now I work for the NHS. I'm surprised by that figure and think it's skewed by the fact that many autistic people aren't diagnosed.

Agree, I am in an industry where I suspect a huge proportion of us (inc me) are autistic but undiagnosed. So that statistic means that only people with more obvious autism tend to be unemployed. Which is still ahit tbh

There are so many undiagnosed people that I'm sure the figure is incorrect. All of my family recognise they're autistic but none are diagnosed. (I'm currently on the 2.5 year waiting list for assessment.) We're all employed or were before retirement - my brother and sister work full time, my mum and I work(ed) part time in admin. My dad was self employed for most of his life and then got a job in finance in his 50s. He was the one who struggled the most without reasonable adjustments. At the time though he had no idea he was autistic or why he was finding things so much harder than everyone else. Sadly he had no real support and ended up leaving that job. In my husband's family too we have an engineer, a vicar, a consultant and a teacher (all undiagnosed autistics).

I work but it’s part time for a business owned by my Dad. I have loads of qualifications that I don’t use. I went to university and applied for professional jobs for years, I would get interviews because I had a great CV but always got rejected when they met me in person.

Some employers were diplomatic about rejecting me and said things like we don’t feel any rapport, while others were just honest and said your lack of eye contact is weird, you need to work on smiling and small talk, the way you speak is weird, you said you’d rather not shake hands (touch aversion) and you need to get over that because it’s rude.

So I worked for my Dad to pay the bills while I kept applying for jobs and getting rejected. Then after about five years the interviews started drying up because I had a five year old degree and no relevant work experience since then. On the tenth anniversary of my graduation I just completely gave up applying for jobs because it was obvious nobody was ever going to hire me. And it wasn’t something I could address with further training and experience - it was ME as a person that they didn’t want to hire, and I can’t change that. My Dad only hired me because he’s my Dad, otherwise I’d just be unemployed.

So that statistic means that only people with more obvious autism tend to be unemployed. Which is still ahit tbh sad

I wonder if women’s masking tendency skews the figures along sex lines at all? I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of ND women retire early, or start strong and burn out, or change jobs more, etc., Those are options that have all been more available to women than men until recently, too.