Autistic Trauma: What It Is and How to Help - Marcy Willard PhD
marcywillardphd.com
A new understanding of autistic trauma has emerged in the research. Dr. Tasha Oswald's presentation on autistic trauma at a recent conference provided invaluable insights into the often-overlooked experiences of autistic individuals. As a psychologist in the autism field, I was struck by her emphasis on moving beyond the medical model and embracing a neurodiversity-affirming approach. Here’s a look at the recent research on autistic trauma treatment, based on the important work of Dr. Oswald.

So I’ve been thinking about how unhinged I’ve been over the past several months around employment and society, and I’m wondering if I’m having a trauma reaction from all the bad times I’ve had with employment.

I’ve been fired from I’d say half the jobs I’ve ever had. In my chosen field and trained field, I have never once had a job I looked forward to going to. My last job experience was really, really, horrible, despite having an advanced degree and a language skill, I was kept making coffee because I didn’t cajole and get along with the power structure and made the mistake of publically criticizing.

It’s hard for me to even write about without getting upset, yet, if I want to make a living, I have to keep applying to these jobs for which I keep bombing the interview, for which, if I ever get the job, I will probably have to deal with unethical egotistical backstabbing morons every day until I get fired or rage quit (like the last job).

In the meantime, I can’t go to therapy, because therapy is the field I’m in and I’d estimate the percentage of therapists who can actually talk to me without immediately getting defensive is about 1%, which throws me back to the Daniel Mackler quote, “It is easier to become a good therapist than to find one,” which leads me here because I’m wondering what:

a) experiences y’all have had for autistic burnout and
b) anything you tried to help you through it and
c) any resources you’d find helpful.

I also think that I’m sour on employment specifically because it is basically the ony time I’m forced to interact with people on a regular basis, which makes me think autism might be the key to this current trauma. I’ve tried socializing in meetups and other venues, and it always fizzled, but it never ends horribly the way work does.

  • AdaleiM@lemmy.world
    17·
    6 days ago

    I’ve been doing retail since high school and I never seemed to get anywhere. I’m good at working but not good with the schmoozing, so they always kept me at like a shift supervisor level. Anyway I blew up and rage quit my last job and wound up driving an Amazon truck. Holy shit it’s night and day. I get a route, I run it. My coworkers all seem to be like me, so we get along for the 20 minutes we see each other every day. If you can afford it, try something that doesn’t involve being face to face with people all the time, it’s seriously saving my sanity (at least until I get run through the meat grinder and have to quit)

    • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip
      6·
      6 days ago

      Prepare yourself for when your training period ends. Delivering Amazon packages is a great gig right up until then. I don’t know the exact extent as to how much they increase your daily package load when the training period ends, but it seemed like they damn near doubled it. It went from a great job to a nightmare overnight.

      • AdaleiM@lemmy.world
        3·
        5 days ago

        I’ve been doing this since January, I’m well out of nursery routes. What I do now is way easier than what I trained on. 220 stops in downtown to <90 in the middle of nowhere

        • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip
          1·
          5 days ago

          Nice! I’m glad you got a good route. I’ve heard that a person’s experience with Amazon delivery is almost entirely dependent on your DSP. Mine was awful.

          Having a route with higher drive time between stops is a great time to listen to music/podcasts.

          • AdaleiM@lemmy.world
            2·
            5 days ago

            Oh yeah, driving through some really nice scenery in a rented van with Android Auto is sooooo nice! My DSP figured out if I stay on a route I get faster so I don’t get moved around a whole lot, love it

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.worksOP
      2·
      5 days ago

      Amazon is a grind, I heard, I think their turnover is close to 100%. How long have the people you’ve been working with been there?

      But I here you. I landed as an ancillary to a tech job and was having a good time with my co-workers finally. It was the people here that were like, “Yeah, tech? All those people you got along with were probably on the spectrum.” And true! Of course, the management included absolutely none of us, and they were all the type of people to chat in the backoffice and enjoy their prize trips to Disneyworld with other employees…

      My problem with driving jobs specifically is that I hate driving and I I hate cars, and if I’'m ever in a bad mood and driving a company vehicle, I might get careless.

      • AdaleiM@lemmy.world
        2·
        5 days ago

        Yeah, if you don’t like driving it wouldn’t work out I guess 😕 The turnover where I work isn’t tooooooooo bad but we do have a lot of newbies that don’t finish their first week. It helps that we’re a super rural station so it’s not nearly as bad as you hear coming from the big cities.