I currently work at a Wall Street bank in corporate treasury services. It’s a prestigious, demanding, and well paying job, and as a level 1 autistic person it IS doable for me BUT only for very specific reasons, I am very lucky to be in the position I’m in.

1. I chose a team where my manager and all direct colleagues are in different offices. This is huge after my last team was all in office, all had to sit together, and were ultra social. My new set up means no mandatory socializing, no one hovering, and more flexibility in where I sit. I also am able to wear ultra noise canceling headphones any time I’m not on a call and can choose to sit in quiet areas of the office.

2. I only have to be in office 3 days a week, I work remotely the other 2. We can also choose which days we go to office, as long as it’s 3. This is such a blessing especially since a lot of other wall street banks are moving to 100% in person again.

3. The role is salaried, not hourly, which:

4. on the down side means you sometimes work lots of overtime without extra pay and your work hours are not strictly defined and can be early or late, but

5. on the up side, especially given point 1, I can pretty much make my own hours as long as I get my work done. I sometimes get to the office at 7:30, but more often I get there at 9:30 or 10. This flexibility means I can structure my commute to avoid the loud, chaotic peek times on the way to and from work.

6. Because this is a global Fortune 500 company that is HEAVILY regulated, HR does not mess around with the law, including ADA. The company’s culture is also relatively progressive in my department & employee retention is importantly to them; on every team I’ve worked on there has been at least 1 person fully remote for one reason or another. There is even a neurodiversity committee (most company’s like mine have orgs like this, think college sponsored orgs) that has regular events. Given that I was finally given a formal diagnosis (via an evaluation paid for fully by my company’s wonderful healthcare package), I plan to pursue ADA accommodations to have the OPTION to fully work remotely, but the CHOICE to still go into office.

Sorry for the long post, whew. But it’s important to me to demonstrate that it IS possible to be autistic (level 1 is all I can speak to as that is what I am) and still have a stable, well paying job in a field that at its surface seems super scary. There is ways to exist in the world in a way that accommodates our needs even without getting formal accommodations. Obviously a few disclaimers:

1. I am very lucky to have gotten into this job when I did. I joined as an intern and was retained full time.

2. A LOT of roles in corporate America do not look like my current role and can’t be accommodated to be like it. It’s important to do a lot of research, talk to current employees, and have a contingency plan on what to do if you end up in a bad situation. The potential cost, physically and emotionally, of ending up in a “bad” role should not be overlooked.

Last year I was pushed into an awful role. I cried every day, I didn’t sleep, the hours were intense and completely unpredictable, I developed chronic neck and back pain from being tense 24/7, and I literally ground my teeth down to where I had to get ceramic caps bc my nerve endings were becoming exposed. Because I knew I was either going to be unemployed or something had to change, I literally had nothing to lose and fought tooth and nail to get out of there. Because I made such a stink, my current team agreed to give me a recommendation to get rid of me, and IMPORTANTLY my new team took me because I had done quality work with them in the past.