The only jobs I've ever had have been customer service type jobs (worked in a shop and on a campsite). My dad got me an interview for an internship with his work which would have been an office job and I even got offered the position, but I turned it down because frankly it seemed like the most horrendous idea in the world to me.

He could never understand why I turned it down, and kept telling me I was 'wasting my life' by doing things that were 'beneath' me. I could never understand why he couldn't just be happy for me and let me do what I wanted to do. I get seriously overwhelmed with just leaving the house, the sensory overload from being outside or in a busy place (such as an office) is really quite painful. For the last few years I haven't had any sort of job at all, my last one I ended up leaving because I was going to get fired if I didn't. My boss had pulled me up several times for 'lack of time keeping', 'too much sick leave', 'not seeming interested'... the list goes on. I honestly tried my best there, I gave every part of me that I could to that job and it still wasn't enough. My doctor had even written to my boss during one of my reviews to try and explain my extended absences were due to serious health problems, but she didn't seem to care. I didn't have my ASD diagnosis back then, but I've had other on going physical and mental health problems for most of my life.


I'm not judging your parenting style, but I would urge caution in being overbearing with punishments as a means to an end. My dad had a similar parenting style, and yes it did get me to go and do things when he told me to. But I didn't enjoy the things I was doing, nor did I feel any kindness towards him for that control style. In fact, I quite hated my dad right up until he got cancer and suddenly he stopped being so controlling and started just accepting things more. I often wish he'd been more like that when I was growing up.