Wednesday, 29 December 2010

• Being Prepared and Mature Autism

  

  
  

  One of my joys in life is reading Amalia Starr’s Autisable Blog, her latest touched on the need to be prepared and it started me thinking about my own efforts to be prepared. I do not like surprises (unless I’m expecting them) and I hate being faced with situations I cannot handle. I allowed my income to drop by £1000 pa because I once found myself in a situation for which I was unprepared and the manager who should have supported me refused to give any assistance, I just gave up doing that work and the extra – useful income – that went with it.

  More recently we moved to a new workplace. I am not good with change. Before the move I found out all the buses that went anywhere near our new workplace. I also tried several alternative routes to work and timed them. I found out where the post boxes were on the various routes I might take – I always do this in case I have letters to post – and where I could buy my newspaper on my way. This tends to be my procedure for every job I’ve had, I always try to reconnoitre before I have to start. 

   

  In my comment to Amalia Starr I told her what I keep in my jacket pockets:torch, multi-blade penknife, monocular, pens, pencils, smart phone, iPod loaded with films & music, spectacles, prescription sun-glasses, bus pass, money, cinema pass, diary, several notebooks, umbrella, yoyo, spinning top, keys, door entry pass for my work, mints, pain killers, indigestion tablets. My trousers have ten pockets most of which have either flaps or zips in which I can carry my wallet, change, mobile phone (except when it’s in my jacket), ear plugs, decongestant inhalers, tablets, receipts, ticket stubs, handkerchief etc. I also carry a rucksack – actually several depending on the purpose for the day – for work this contains essentials: my food, flask of tea, a selection of reading materials, phone chargers, batteries, pens, hand-wash, toilet tissues, fan, pain killers, indigestion tablets, rain cape, umbrella and so on…I think I’ve said enough to give you the general idea. I keep a spare door key round my neck.

  When I get to work I have to – I do mean “have to” – prepare my work-station. I have to first clean it, then get the chair I like, an electric fan, my footrest, I have to place my paperwork and spare book on the left, just beyond them my pen pot and my coffee bag next to which will sit my cup of coffee when I have made it, my puzzles tuck under the key board for spare moments, my water is to my right, my rucksack sits on a chair to my left. Once this is done I can work.

  I think it is fair to say that my life relies on preparation to function whether I’m working or going to the cinema, cooking or going to bed, I need to have everything in place and in order that’s what makes me appear so relaxed.

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