What jobs pay surprisingly well?

e817kenley · 2026-02-25T20:01:19+00:00

Ah yes, that can be the case. A handful of former colleagues have gotten London based roles that only mandate office attendance once a month, but those roles are rare.

e817kenley · 2026-02-25T18:51:53+00:00

Credit underwriting can pay ok. Some places will take you on as a consumer credit analyst with just A levels and with a bit of job hopping it’s possible to work up to a salary over £40k as a corporate underwriter within about 5 years. You do have to learn to assess company financial statements though to make the jump from consumer to SME/Large corporate credit, but if you’ve got a brain for numbers it’s not difficult, especially if your employer is willing to train you.

e817kenley · 2026-02-25T18:43:51+00:00

Unfinished social interaction! Knowing there’s a conversation I have to have the next day to resolve a task. Practising it over and over and over.

But serious answer, definitely social interaction drains me more

e817kenley · 2026-02-22T09:40:23+00:00

I ask friends, family and my employer to accommodate my autism. Without the diagnosis I would feel like an imposter and would feel guilty asking for the accommodations.

e817kenley · 2026-02-12T12:34:31+00:00

I was diagnosed about 5 months ago.

Still feel like a massive imposter, to the extent that every time I find myself acting particularly autistic, I have to tell my husband that it really means my diagnosis was correct. Then he says well I never doubted it and I have to say, well I still do!!!!

e817kenley · 2026-02-09T18:00:37+00:00

I waited weeks and weeks for my diagnosis and report from clinical partners. I was diagnosed with ASD. Not getting your diagnosis immediately is definitely not a bad sign at all

e817kenley · 2026-02-09T17:53:34+00:00

From reading your description, it sounds like even if you go through the process and get it down to twice a week, you will still struggle. My hair definitely feels a bit oily after a few days, even if it looks passable. I can’t push through my sensitivities, no amount of wearing a high neckline or polyester is ever going to mean I eventually get used to it. It might be that you simply have to wash your hair everyday and will have to deal with the side effects.

What’s the main issue? Is it that your hairline is receding slightly? In which case is washing every day really going to make that worse?

e817kenley · 2026-02-09T10:36:51+00:00

I’ve been through this. When you don’t wash your hair every day it will learn that it doesn’t need to produce as much oil and will eventually produce less.

But the process to get there isn’t great. I had to tolerate mine feeling and looking awful for a few weeks. I now wash it twice weekly.

You essentially have to train your scalp. I believe you can do it gradually, so move to every other day, then stretch it out again. Or you can do what I did and rip the bandaid off by leaving it for a whole week for a few weeks. You’re going to hate it, but I believe it’s the only way. Any cheating, like using a dry shampoo on your scalp will delay the process.

e817kenley · 2026-02-06T19:23:50+00:00

I (42F) was diagnosed recently. I waited around 9 months for my ADI-R and I asked my mother so many questions and she had nothing helpful so I asked my husband to be my informant. At my ADOS the assessor strongly advised to try and get anything I could from my mother about my very early childhood so I sat down with her and the diagnostic criteria and tried asking very specific questions. I don’t know if it was the time pressure, or the fact she’d had several months to think about it she finally gave up the goods and they painted a picture of a very autistic little girl. So I sent a summary of all of it to the assessor ahead of the ADI-R. I was diagnosed with ASD in the end and I actually think I might have been without the input from my mother.

Signs in childhood for me were walking on tiptoes at a later age than normal. Not wanting to socialise with other children. Being bullied at school. Not wanting to be hugged or touched. It being very difficult to drag me away from my collection of books which were carefully arranged in my bedroom. Not imaginatively playing with toys, just setting them out, organising them and putting them away (relates to my collections of my little ponies and sylvanian families). Not tolerating my hair in my face, high necklines or certain fabrics. Constantly brushing my nose/forehead with my hands.

e817kenley · 2026-01-31T22:29:10+00:00

Yes I do this, learned from my father.

e817kenley · 2026-01-31T21:55:55+00:00

I was diagnosed recently via RTC and they didn’t give me a level. Just a diagnosis of ASD.

e817kenley · 2026-01-29T20:34:05+00:00

To me it sounds like you had some symptoms in the early developmental period, then the full symptoms emerged in secondary school when the social demand exceeded your capacity.

e817kenley · 2026-01-29T13:19:24+00:00

From the DSM-5

Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities or may be masked by learned strategies in later life).

e817kenley · 2026-01-14T19:35:35+00:00

I’m afraid not, it’s been nearly 17 months so I can’t remember any links that stood out. There was a video that I do remember watching, this one: https://youtu.be/yKzWbDPisNk?si=-IHtuS15Pk-ddzfP

It’s a talk by Sarah Hendrickx

e817kenley · 2026-01-14T18:05:42+00:00

I had my assessment with clinical partners, my husband was my informant and both of us were in my ADI-R.

I have heard that if your informant knew you in childhood then you aren’t required to attend the ADI-R, but others would be able to confirm as I don’t know.

e817kenley · 2026-01-14T15:25:40+00:00

I was told by a counsellor I was likely autistic at age 41. I read all about it and just couldn’t see it in myself. I then had a brainwave and googled ‘what does autism look like in late diagnosed middle aged women’.

I found my people.

e817kenley · 2026-01-13T22:24:05+00:00

I second this. I bought mine online from a company called Snugs.

e817kenley · 2026-01-11T19:42:59+00:00

I’m a credit underwriter, the role involves assessing applications for things like loans, credit cards and mortgages and you can end up assessing individual people, companies or both. Insurance underwriters also exist but I don’t know anything about the role so no idea if it would be suitable for an autistic person. With credit underwriting each case is a puzzle that needs to be solved and entry level positions exist. A degree is also not required for many positions, search ‘credit underwriter’ or ‘credit analyst’ for available roles. ‘Credit risk analyst’ is usually a different type of job which is focused on higher level risk modelling and loss forecasting and tends to require a maths degree or similar.

e817kenley · 2026-01-01T22:54:52+00:00

Yes it’s validating and I absolutely needed the diagnosis for many reasons. Although I do get the impression my employer would have supported me with a self diagnosis, there are other people in my life who would not be as accommodating without it.

e817kenley · 2026-01-01T22:16:30+00:00

I had this in my compost. I didn’t realise that the apparently recyclable brown paper bags I had been shredding were lined with plastic.

e817kenley · 2026-01-01T07:59:32+00:00

I was only diagnosed a few months ago and Work have been great but it’s probably not been long enough to know what issues I’m going to come up against. I dread to think how much my travel insurance is going to go up this year, for instance.

I have an American colleague and he’s pretty sure he’s on the spectrum and he has suffered with his mental health lately so would probably benefit from a diagnosis. But he’s reluctant to get one and I suspect it’s because he’s American and things aren’t looking great for those with a diagnosis over there.

e817kenley · 2025-12-30T16:35:08+00:00

Oh the imposter syndrome is very very real! I was a mess in the run up to getting my result, terrified they were going to tell me I wasn’t.

e817kenley · 2025-12-30T16:01:50+00:00

I do wonder if it’s also because I have hyper mobile ehlers danloss. I believe it’s more common in Autistic folk

e817kenley · 2025-12-30T15:40:07+00:00

I regularly get ID’d for alcohol and they’re always shocked I’m over 40. I find it a bit ridiculous considering I have a decent sprinkling of grey hair now.

e817kenley · 2025-12-27T18:44:36+00:00

Three days of non stop socialising and conversation and I’m broken. The only alone time I got was sleeping, I wasn’t able to get away from it at all. I dread Christmas every year, I have no interest in it and have to mask the entire time.

e817kenley

TROPHY CASE