Summary & Takeaways:

• Temple advises parents to make sure their autistic children have real structured work experience outside of the family, such as walking a neighbor’s dog at a specific time each day, volunteering at a church, nursing home, or farmers' market.
• Some late-diagnosed autistic people find a career that suits them and they stay with it, but others struggle to find and maintain employment. Temple says to look at the reason you lost job to find the right solutions.
  • If you are consistently late for work because you have time blindness, consider switching from a digital timepiece to an analog clock to visually track time passing.
  • If you are accused of rudeness, ask for specific feedback and consider working with a coach on your communication style on the job.
  • If you have poor hygiene, It’s unlikely that anyone at work will come right out and tell you to use deodorant the way Temple’s boss did when she was young. You’ll need to take care of personal hygiene yourself.
  • Having a new boss is difficult, and many people have done great work under one supervisor only to be fired when someone new is in charge. Temple advises that when a new boss is coming on, you should print out and save at home all of your past evaluations and job reviews as well as a record of all the things you have accomplished successfully in your position.
• Many jobs may be taken over by AI, but jobs that should be safe include high-end hands-on jobs in tech, nursing, and teaching. Unfortunately, approximately 20-30% of entry level programing positions are now being taken over by AI. If you’re a coder, Temple suggests you consider looking for work in cybersecurity or tech for a local hospital, school district, or bank.

Connect with Dr. Grandin:

Dr. Temple Grandin is a Distinguished Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Facilities she has designed for handling livestock are used by many companies around the world. She has also been instrumental in implementing animal welfare auditing programs that are used by McDonalds, Wendy’s, Whole Foods, and other corporations. Temple has appeared on numerous TV shows such as 20/20 and Prime Time. Her books include Thinking in Pictures, Livestock Handling and Transport and The Autistic Brain. Her books Animals in Translation and Visual Thinking have been on the New York Times Bestseller List. Temple was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in September 2017, in 2022 was named a Colorado State University Distinguished Professor, in 2023 was inducted into the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame, and in 2025 was inducted into the Smithsonian National Portrait Museum.

Find Dr. Grandin’s autism books at https://templegrandin.com/

Her livestock books are at https://grandin.com/

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Wendela Whitcomb Marsh's books

Episode Summary:

In this episode of the Amplifying Autism Podcast, Jennifer talked about her journey of learning about herself as a late-diagnosed autistic woman. As a doctoral-level social worker, she was aware of the lack of research available to help professionals working with children, teens, and adults with high support needs. Jennifer believes that everyone who struggles with anxiety and other strong emotions deserves therapy that is designed for their unique strengths and challenges. That’s why she wrote, What’s Your Anxiety Level? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Neurodivergent Children and Teens with Co-Occurring Anxiety Disorder.

Takeaways:

• People with high support needs can benefit from modified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which has been designed for them.
• Autistic people do not lack empathy. That is a myth. Some have different,
extreme, or hyper-empathy, like Greta Thunberg who cares so deeply about the world.
• If you have recently learned that you are autistic, or you think you might be,
Jennifer suggests that you find someone who is neurodiversity-affirming and who understands masking to work with you on processing your new diagnosis. You deserve to be understood.

Connect with Dr. Jennifer Cook:

Jennifer Cork, LCSW, DSW, Certified Autism Specialist (CAS), ADHD-CCSP, (she/her) is an autistic doctor of social work and a licensed clinical social worker. She specializes in the treatment of neurodivergent individuals who also have other mental health conditions, including people with high support needs. Dr. Cork is the author of What’s Your Anxiety Level? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Neurodivergent Children and Teens with Co-Occurring Anxiety Disorders. She is a dedicated advocate whose passions include increasing mental health awareness and access to mental healthcare for the neurodivergent community. She is also the mom, spouse, and sister of some awesome neurodivergent humans.

• Visit her website at https://www.drjennifercork.com/

• Purchase her book here.

Listen to this episode:

Thank you for joining us in this informative conversation with Dr. Jennifer Cork. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this with your friends who might be interested. Your support helps us reach more late-diagnosed autistic adults, those who care about them, and everyone who has wondered if they might be autistic themselves.

https://wendelawhitcombmarsh.com/

https://www.instagram.com/adultingwhileautistic

https://www.instagram.com/wendela.w.marsh

Wendela Whitcomb Marsh's books