nearly 100 customers in all. Weekly collections for the papers got to be onerous, so I converted to a monthly system, where I collected customer payments a month in advance and reduced my time knocking on doors by 75%.
I Won a Trip to Disney World from My Paper Route
Sometimes there were contests, whereupon getting a certain number of “starts” (new customers), a paperboy could win a prize, such as a free trip to Disney World. A free trip to Disney World for finding only 20 new customers seemed like a great deal. After exhausting possibilities for new customers within my paper route territory, I reached out to other parts of my neighborhood and soon had almost twice the number of “starts” required. I gave some of my starts to a friend of mine, who was also a paperboy, and we went to Disney World together and had a great time. I also got my brother involved in the newspaper route, and he helped to deliver papers, as well. Currently, I know that newspaper delivery jobs for youth are becoming rare. However, possible employment substitutes that combine the need to do a job well on a regular basis and other aspects of running a business on a child-sized scale include dog walking, babysitting, and lawn care.
Bicycles had become a very strong interest for me at this time, so I began repairing bicycles at an hourly rate of a dollar above minimum wage. As described earlier, my parents insisted that if I wanted a “grown-up” bicycle, I would have to earn my own money to pay for it.
Working in a Restaurant Was Sensorially Overwhelming
My first “real” job was working as a busboy at a steakhouse when I was about 15 years old. This was a horrible job. Back then, it did not occur to me that autism had anything to do with the problems I faced. However, now I realize that the conditions of a noisy, busy restaurant were sensorially overwhelming, causing me to shut down and work slowly. The managers certainly did not like that. As a result, I realized that I needed to find a different job. However, I would not leave even a bad job before finding another one first. Fortunately, I saw situations like this one as learning experiences that drove me to find more suitable employment, rather than wallowing in self-pity and remaining in ill-fitting jobs. In this case, I decided to look for a position as a bicycle mechanic.
Being a bicycle mechanic was a dream job to me, since fixing, designing, and assembling bicycles was my passion. My interest and skill with bicycles got to a point where I was able to disassemble a bike down to the ball bearings and build it back up again. I also taught myself how to lace together a bicycle wheel from a hub, a collection of spokes, and a rim. This was a valued skill in a bicycle mechanic, and demonstrating that I could build a wheel got me at least one job.
Dorm-Room Bike Repair and Tutoring Business
To get a bicycle repair job, I would ride my custom-made bicycle to a bike shop and strike up a conversation with one of the mechanics or the manager himself. After talking with the manager, I would ask if he needed a mechanic. My bicycle was my portfolio. By having something concrete to talk about, instead of making small talk, I was able to gain the manager’s attention and get a job.
I was employed at a number of shops and eventually worked my way up to managing these shops. In my late teens and early 20s, my grandfather offered to help set me up with my own bicycle shop. However, I already had a sense of what was needed to run a successful shop, and I preferred to focus my energies on higher education.
Knowing what I know about autism and sensory issues, I realize now that fixing bicycles in the back of the shop allowed me to better regulate my interactions with others in a way that suited me. Additionally, my interactions with other shop employees and customers related to my special interest in bicycles.
I received my two undergraduate degrees in (a) music education and (b) accounting and information systems at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In looking for employment to raise money for tuition and other expenses, it made much more sense to use my bicycle repair skills rather than work in a minimum-wage work-study job in the noisy dining commons or in another position at the university.
My solution was to open my own bicycle shop…right in my dorm room. I set my repair prices at two-thirds what the local bicycle shop charged, and I plastered the campus with simple, hand-written signs photocopied onto orange Day-Glo card stock. Soon, I had a dozen or more bicycles to fix on any given Saturday. I could spend half a day repairing bicycles and make more than I would have during a week of employment in a work-study position.
My dorm room was perfect for bicycle repair. The cinderblock walls had a metal lip at the top for hanging pictures. I used that lip to hang a bicycle rack that was designed to be strapped to a car trunk. Then I placed a 4-foot length of wood across the “legs” of the bicycle rack and had a great shelf on which to place my tools while I worked.
One day, one of the bicyclists I hung around with at the university mentioned that there was a bicycle trade show in New York—bicycle nerd heaven! In finding out more about the trade show, I learned that only owners of bicycle shops were allowed to attend, as opposed to customers or interested people. As a result, I generated business cards and stationery and gave five of my friends “positions,” such as repair manager, sales manager, and chief mechanic. Properly credentialed, we piled into the car I got from my grandfather, drove to New York City, and got into the show.
All was well and good with repairing bicycles in my dorm room, and at least I didn’t think my roommate had a problem with all the bicycles I kept in our room. However, my older (wiser) sister thought differently and made me promise to have no more than one bicycle on my side of the room at a time.
I found that tutoring was another good way to make money in college. After learning that I could do well in statistics, I decided to help other students who had difficulty in this area. I tutored in other subjects, as well, including accounting, computers, and music theory. Because I was an accounting major and had an interest in taxes, I began doing simple tax returns in undergraduate school.
After graduating with my bachelor degrees, I interviewed for jobs in accounting firms without success. Finally, the school career counselor referred me to an outside placement consultant, who found me a position in a medium-sized accounting firm where they audited mutual funds. Since I had an interest in mutual funds, this seemed to be a good idea.
A Sensory Nightmare at an Accounting Firm
Getting to work on the first day was a sensory nightmare. Again, this came at a time when I knew nothing about how autism affected me in any way. It took getting up at 5:15 in the morning to arrive at work on time at 8 o’clock. Returning home meant reversing the process and having dinner at about 8 or 9 in the evening. This was way too much travel time.
The second day on the job, I neatly folded up my suit (which was another sensory violation with the binding jacket and tie), rode my bicycle, and got to work in less than 45 minutes! Within days, I had arranged with the superintendent of the building to store my bicycle. I kept a selection of business clothes in the basement, where I changed into appropriate work attire before taking the elevator up to the office.
Shortly thereafter, the personnel director pulled me aside and indicated that I was seen entering the building without a suit and that it would be better if I took public transportation. I also had difficulties blending in with the other accountants.
After 3 months, I was let go from that position. The director of personnel said, “Perhaps you have a disability you have not disclosed. It’s just not working out.” It never occurred to me at that point that difficulties I’d had with autism as a child played any role.
Within another 3 months, I found another job at a bank, working as a portfolio accountant. Because the organization
