My mother was neutral, and my dad was very negative. He was always very disappointed in me. My father’s most common question was, “When are you ever going to wake up and start acting like a normal human being?” There was no knowledge of autism, etc. I was just a dumb, disappointing kid.
Ultimately, I feel that I was “saved” by being a withdrawn loner - I believe I was “saved” by my autism. I tried to have as little to do with my father as possible. I loved my alone time. I was also “saved” by my obsessive passion for electronic circuits. I was always in trouble for dragging home old TV’s and radios from the dump to salvage parts for my designs. I was also always in trouble at school for drawing schematics instead of paying attention in class. But I did (and still do) have a learning disability. I am slow to understand and the teaches all went too fast. So, I did not do well in school, feeling lucky to make a “D”. As such, most of my education took place after school. I was basically self-taught from college textbooks at the library.
But as it turned out, with no college or degree, I still achieved my childhood dream of being an electronics design engineer. This happened, not by plan, or by goal or even a dream, but by taking the closest job to my passion that I could get – a repair or assembly technician. I tried college, but not only was there no money for tuition but, again I was too slow.
With each job, I would suggest improvements for circuits, and often had to prove the improvement. With each proof, my boss was very impressed with such a novel idea and I would get promoted which lead to better and better jobs. Eventually, I landed a job as a prototype technician at a contract electronics design lab. After many novel design improvement suggestions, my boss wanted me to do the final edits of all the engineer's designs. After a few years, I was finally promoted to Senior Design Engineer – my “impossible” childhood dream.
So, while it would have been great if I had gotten support from my parents, I guess it is not an absolute requirement. I would just say to cultivate and follow your passion. That is what Aspies excel at.
