I’m a Working Autistic and it’s Nerve-Wracking

Zoey Giesberg, MSW

Last May, I walked across the USC campus for the last time. This wasn’t for any classes or any particular school-related check-up – it was a graduation ceremony. After four long years, I have received my diploma and can now call myself a legitimate social worker. I’m no longer a student, but an official Master in Social Work.

And I got extremely lucky post-graduation. FACT has been generous enough to offer me a job post-graduation. I’m doing the same work as I did as an intern, but now I’m an official employee to help FACT grow as an organization. Not everyone gets a job right out of grad school, so I’m eternally grateful that FACT would give me a chance to kickstart my career as a macro-based social worker.

So why am I so nervous about it?

Well, it’s pretty simple once I think about it – it’s a major life change.

As I wrote in the January newsletter, autistic people generally have difficulty dealing with change. Throw in a wrench into an established routine and autistic people have a hard time dealing with it. It’s unsettling to realize that things won’t be the same as they were previously established. And it takes a long time to get used to things being different than before.

All of that is especially challenging as I’m now facing my biggest challenge yet: working as a professional. Work life isn’t exactly new to me – I’ve done office work for my father as a teen, worked in retail as a sales associate and interned at various organizations. But there’s a world of difference between those jobs and working in a bigger setting where I’m getting paid for major heavy lifting. My previous jobs were either part-time/on-call or institutionalized learning experiences. Now I have greater responsibilities where one minor screw-up could impact my entire career. And that scares the heck out of me.

The worst part of my professional anxiousness is that I know I really shouldn’t be this scared of this particular work environment. FACT has been nothing but wonderful to me in providing accommodations and support. They’ve known from the get-go that I’m autistic and need a bit more guidance than the average person. They’re always open to my questions and willing to provide direction. And most importantly, I feel accepted by FACT because they respect my work, my perspective, and me as a person. I’m really blessed in that way – not every autistic person is that lucky to be this accepted in any environment.

At the end of the day, I just need to remember that things are going to be okay. Change is inevitable and that’s all right.

My advice from January still stands – make autistic people feel comfortable with change by ensuring it’s not the end of the world and support them through the changes. And in the case of a major shift like from childhood to adulthood and school to work, that support and reassurance is more critical than any other transition. And that exact transition is what I’ll cover next month: how autistic kids become autistic adults.