Working While Autistic: Thrive in a Career You Love (Adulting While Autistic) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Wendela Whitcomb Marsh, MA, RSD is an award-winning author and CEO of Adult Autism Assessment Services. Having been wife, mother, and employer of autistic adults, Dr. Wendy is uniquely qualified to offer encouragement and optimism to autistic adults. She loves her quiet life in Salem, Oregon, near family.

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If you want a career you love, you’ll need to develop the right skills for the job. Think SPACE: Self Skills, People Skills, Authority Skills, Communication Skills, and Employment Skills. Master these to be on the right path.

SPACE

Self-Skills

The S in SPACE stands for Self-Skills. The self-skills you’ll need to succeed include self-awareness, self-presentation, and self-control.

Self-Awareness

When you have self-awareness, you think about yourself and how others see you. At home, you might do your best thinking if you lean back and prop your feet on the desk. If you sit the same way at work, people might think you’re lazy or disrespectful. One of Temple Grandin’s and Sean Barron’s ten unwritten rules of social relationships is “People Act Differently in Public than They Do in Private.”People with self-awareness skills know the difference and act accordingly. You can develop your self-awareness skills. Consciously ask yourself what other people might think about you based on what you do or say. What kind of a first impression do you make? Do you send signals to show you’re open to conversation, or is your body turned away? If you slouch with your head down and your arms crossed, you might ward people off. This can be useful with strangers on public transportation, but the same posture at work looks uncommunicative, like you’re not a team player. Become more aware of yourself and how others see you; it’s an important skill to develop.

Self-Presentation

Self-presentation is crucial. If you, your clothes, or hair are unkempt, it won’t matter if you’re good at your job. Nobody wants to work next to someone who smells or has hair like a greasy rat’s nest. Even though it doesn’t make sense, when you have good hygiene, people are more open to what you have to say. You might think, “They should listen to me because I’m smart and I have great ideas.” Ideally, yes, but in reality, people seldom respect someone who looks or smells dirty. It’s great to have a personal style, like always wearing a hair bow, or suspenders and a bow tie. Be aware, though, that if your style is too extreme it might put people off. Examples would be wearing clothing that makes political statements, or that looks too much like a costume rather than work apparel.