My Dream Job (And Why I Can't Do It)

As a kid the career I always wanted was to be an RSPCA inspector. I've always loved animals, which I gather is something that a lot of autistics have in common. In fact, I've always preferred animals over people and I wanted to do anything I could to help look after and protect them. So I left school with a career as an RSPCA inspector firmly in mind and went straight into college for 4 years to end up with a Foundation Degree in Animal Management. After I left college it became apparent that the kind of job I was looking for in the long run was almost nowhere to be seen in my local area, so in the end I settled for a while in retail (and hated it) before transitioning into office work.

It wasn't until I discovered that I might be autistic that I started to think about whether I would have actually been able to do the job as an RSPCA inspector even though realistically the boat on chasing that dream was already long gone. As I started to learn more about autism, and therefore myself, I started to look at myself side by side against the requirements of an inspector and slowly realised that even if I managed to find that job or similar jobs available I most likely wouldn't have been able to do it. When I was younger the only thing that I thought might have been an issue was that I'm not a strong swimmer. I can swim but not very well, so I wouldn't be the ideal candidate for rescuing animals out at sea. Rescuing animals is pretty much the only thing people think of when they think about what an RSPCA inspector does, but there's so much more to it than that.

Because of my autism I struggle to interact with other humans and I have little to no interpersonal skills. People skills are an absolute must for the job because while it's all well and good going around saving animals' lives it also means that I would come across some hostile owners/keepers of said animals. I'm absolutely useless at negotiations and this would be a key skill that I'd need if I was to successfully and safely rescue animals from abusive, neglectful or otherwise hostile people. As well as dealing with owners I'd need to liaise with police from time to time as well as any other relevant authorities, managers, event organisers and so on.

Executive functioning would have caused me some issues when it comes to all the paperwork and general organisation that I'd be responsible for. Add this to the long and unsociable hours and it'd soon turn into a minefield! Obviously I wouldn't have thought of this when I was a kid but these days I've got kids of my own that need me so that's another reason that it wouldn't work. It was bad enough when I used to work in the office because I used to set off to work before they were even awake, and then by the time I got home I'd be able to spend maybe an hour with them - or 2 if I was lucky - before their bed time. Those were set hours that I was working at the time, so the varying hours of an inspector would cause chaos with our family.

When you apply to be an RSPCA inspector there's always the possibility of being posted somewhere far away meaning you might have to relocate to take on the job. I didn't think this would be an issue growing up, but again as I learned more about myself (particularly in the last couple of years) I've started to realise that I'm not as independent as I first thought I was, so thinking about it these days I really don't know if I would have been able to manage relocating had I applied and got the job before I met Sarah and settled down.

If you asked me today what my dream job would be I'd say pro wrestler. In fact, I wouldn't even be that bothered if I did it as a career, it's just something I want to do regardless of how far or how serious I get with it. I did look for a wrestling school when I was in my early 20's and used to go to the gym 5 times a week, but I couldn't find one near me and that's my biggest regret these days. Over the last few years I've started going to independent British wrestling shows quite a bit, and the main promotion that I follow does training classes in Leeds. It's just typical that when I finally find one that I could go to it's too late because my life has changed so much so I no longer have the time or the money to commit to it.