hey. quick disclaimer: this post isn’t for job advices or recommendations, but mostly about dealing with being disabled & unemployed.
sometimes i feel pathetic i can’t find a job. and even more: i’ve never really had a job. volunteering, trading? yes, plenty of times. but the job? like, never. nothing about money, even if freelance. not even mentioning something “official”.
sometimes i even lie to people i have a job. without details or vaguely. or about job i am technically did: art or coding or gamedev for fun or trade. i feel ashamed of being like this. i feel like a burden for my partner i live with.
genuinely, i want to have work. i’m not idealistic about this, nor pessimistic. i’m not going to work in places i can’t hadle at all (social). but i really want to work. like, i already know how commissions work. i have some desires of creating something & being payed for it. or even go to the army (Ukrainian moment).
but i can’t right now. i’m already 24 y.o., and i feel like there is something wrong with me.
is there anybody with the same problems? or maybe, someone who’s dealing with it better than i am? i am open for advice or just listen to your experience.
thanks for reading.
Sadly, unemployment among autistic individuals is really high (vaguely remember a 80% statistic)… Though, specific fields can have extremely high prevelence of autistic people (again vaguely remember a statistic about 20% of software engineers being autistic).
We are living in a world where our needs are ignored (if not mocked) and our super valuable skills are underutilized… You should remember that you can only control your behavior, it’s not entirely your fault you cannot find a job. We are not broken, the world is.
I know you are not looking for tips, but I am going to give you one anyway… Make your special interests your career. Not only will you get to spend much more time on them, you will also find more people to share your passion. Additionally, the time and effort you have spent in them will make you a high value hire.
32% of autistic people are employed.
Which is wild to me because every autistic person I know is employed. (Some in tech, some in soul destroying call centre jobs; but everyone works). Most of them are AuADHD though and stats for ADHD are much better (70% employed)