[ Poll ]:Aspergers:who:Suffer:AnxietyDisorders::who::work::

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-How does this effect aspies when you suffer from anxiety disorder; in relation to finding work and keeping it? Anyone know how this feels from their perspective? Or if you know of someone in this simialar situation? Or if you are having trouble starting work and don't know how to stick with it at all, just because you lose yourself in fear from anxiety. I know i did in my first job interview something i will never forget huh.

If you'd love to pop in a story or too we'd be delighted to hear about it thankyou for your efforts and look forward to hearing you again. And you can put what ever you like in here about anxiety to depression tell us how the whole thing works and what gets you going at work...

Job hunting and job interviews are the biggest problem for me. Once I have a routine for work, things are better for me. It causes me to be too picky about the places I apply, so I end up not submitting applications to enough places to resonably (outside my own head) expect to get hired.

I'm not diagnosed, but I did and still do have trouble with anxiety at work. Most of it is related to worries that the managers do not think I'm doing a good job or working hard, and that they think I'm stupid because I constantly misunderstand them and have to ask a lot of questions (and even then still get things wrong). I couldn't handle full time in retail (physically and emotionally), and I am getting a lot of grief now from my manager over that, too : / .

I don't think my story is particularly helpful - I'm still struggling to work out how best to function full-time in a work environment. My previous record for keeping a job was 8 months until I started my last job in a call centre - I was there for 15 months before signing off sick, and finally resigning three months later. More than 18 months later I still have panic attacks, struggle with depression and become quickly overloaded and anxious when put under pressure, so I'm forced to claim disability.

The last job started out ok - I had a friendly supervisor, and other than the annoyance of dealing with people on the phone all day the job was a no-brainer for me. The problem was how I was expected to conduct myself at work - I was accused of acting 'disturbed' because I paced and stimmed, and needed to be left alone during breaks to regroup. Other stress factors in my life made it harder to handle the stress of work, and at this point I discussed with my supervisor whether I should disclose that I have AS, particularly as at that point I didn't have an official DX. Unfortunately, the management were two faced and 'coming out' meant that my abilities were no longer regarded as highly (I was one of the most skilled members of the team and was looking for promotion to a different role off the phones) - I was now viewed as a problem to the firm as they had to accommodate me (and did they ever make a big deal out of it). As a result of this I became more stressed and started to need time off work. The crunch came when the manager insisted 30 minutes before my shift was due to end that I HAD to work overtime that evening - 'we have bent over backwards to accommodate you, now its your turn' - as though I were being deliberately awkward by being unable to tolerate rotating shifts or a desk away from the natural light from the windows. At this point I was almost 'tipped over' and ready to go home. I did the overtime, went home, and never went back to work. Their loss.

Other issues in various jobs have been - being taken advantage of by managers and co-workers, treated like a child, constantly hassled over minor details, expected to have social skills in line with my general ability/intelligence (can't really point the finger at them for that one), and the whole body language thing.

Work sucks. Anyone know of any jobs going in West Yorkshire - Must have flexible hours, little or no customer contact, autonomy to think for yourself, decent pay? No? Ah well.....

Dunc

Ditto to the above. Futhermore, I have difficulties with the quality of my work. I'm quite perfectionist, but due to the nature of the software I write, testing is a real art form. I find that the deficit in imagination aspect of AS really hits me on the testing front. I just can't imagine how anybody else would use the software. So it works for me and tends to fail for everyone else!! This has put me in quite a difficult situation in several jobs, especially when I get appraisals requiring me to improve quality. How do you explain that you can't, and it's not a matter of just trying hard enough?

I find I work better in environments where the specifications/requirements for any work is given using words and diagrams. In anyone tries to explain verbally what they want me to do then I'm completely hopeless, unless they're very good at making direct/unequivocal statements. Even then I make a lot of mistakes due to misunderstanding.

I actually found that working abroad was a whole lot easier because co-workers tend to put communication difficulties down to the language/culture barrier instead.

Thankfully though, most of my work is quite solitarily so I can usually manage the anxiety levels OK. I still wonder sometimes whether I can keep this up though, I find it so exhausting. So far so good but I suspect there are many who suffer far more greatly than I do.
Saying that though, there has been countless times when I've had to beat a quick retreat to the men's room to hide for a while and decompress. Sometimes even that isn't enough and I get to feeling that I have to desperately leave, like straight away. So far I haven't had any (too obvious) meltdowns at my desk, but I wonder how long that will last?

I generally find the experience of job hunting to be a horrifying prospect.

Just the thought of having to present myself in front of prospective employers...

<---Shudders

Anyways, I've had some pretty frustrating experiences in job hunting.

The biggest one was where I filled out four different forms as part of an application, which took me two hours to do.

My mom took me back to the place where I got from and I went inside and gave my application to a receptionist who took it, looked at it, and as I was leaving, I turned my head to see what she had done with it, and saw her rip it up and throw away.

After that I went to manpower.

You aren't an aspie?

Yes I have anxiety issues with work. With time, perseverence, and familiarity with the job an dother people, the anxiety attacks have become close to non-existent. Things have to get pretty crazy for me to feel taht way now. For a while, though, I was in such a state of panic that I would be shaking, unable to think or function or focus, wanting desperately to run away and hide somewhere quiet. A few times, I went into the bathroom (just one tiolet, no stalls) locked the door, turned the light off, and backed into a corner and curled up for a few minutes. I wasn't gone more than anyone else would be just going to the bathroom, but it was long enough to make me feel a little better able to cope.

There are still days when I flap more or run into the back room for a respite...typically I will do dishes or something else productive just to get away from the people for half an hour.

I have had a lot of personality conflicts at work, and learned quickly not to complain- because everyone might have a problem with the person involved, but once I step forward and say soemthing, they all back off and leave me to take the brunt of it and I get "talked to". So anymore I just gripe a little and try to ignore problem workers as much as possible, which isn't too hard since they tend not to last anyway.

A lot of my aspie traits have been strengths that the others either lack or don't have as much of, and my boss considers me to be a valuble and productive worker (his words).

xanax xanax and MORE xanax.................