Autistic Disorganisation

During an annual review at a previous job, my team leader made me aware of my disorganisation. My desk was generally messy and I didn't seem to have any system for organising my work. I was surprised. Nobody had ever mentioned it before (I had been working about five years). Maybe people had thought it but never said anything.

The company had a library and she suggested I get out a book about organisation. I got a book out about right and left brain thinkers. After taking the tests in the book I came out as a predominantly right brain thinker, hence the messy desk. The left side of the brain is supposed to be responsible for logical thinking, language and detail. The right side of our brain is creative, it sees the bigger picture, it is visual. Left brain people (the majority of people in my office - it was an accountancy firm) tend to be very well organised and tidy. Right brain people are not.

Looking back I wish I'd thought more about what my team leader had said. The psychologists report on me says that many individuals with ASD suffer from additional dyspraxia-like symptoms, disorganisation being one example. Nothing I read about right brain thinkers suggested there might be another cause for my disorganisation though. The book after all was written for NT people.

The categorisation of people into left and right brain thinkers seems a gross generalisation. It didn't help me understand myself any better. I am logical and I am good at details, which should make me a left brain thinker, however I have problems with language. I am certainly creative as well (I went to art college), but I can't see the bigger picture and I have difficulty visualising. We used to do a lot of these exercises in a creative writing class I took, I never got much from them, usually I just saw darkness. Bizarrely I dream a lot, and in colour too (maybe there's a different part of the brain that?). From this you would assume I was a left brained person. I think my autism must have been distorted the results.

I have recently added that I have autism to my CV. It was difficult finding a way to include it without making myself sound unemployable. I put it under 'Skills and Strengths' near the top. I think I need to read up on dyspraxia as well, although probably not a good idea to put that in my CV.