Autism Is Not An Excuse To Do Nothing

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That cute little animal - can anyone tell what it is yet?

In my state it's called Vocational Rehab.

They helped me get my ADHD diagnosis in college. They set me up with an appointment and it was paid for which was good since my parents insurance didn't cover the evaluation. I didn't get any help beyond that.

I went back once when I was around 23 to see if they could help me find a job. I wanted help FINDING a job not to get out of working. But the guy I talked to acted like it was the other way around. And he flat denied that my ADHD might cause any problems with finding or keeping a job. Tried to convince me that I needed to be on an anti-depressant. It was very insulting and I could tell I wasn't going to get anything useful there, so I just walked out after a few minutes. I had a job interview the same day, and luckily got the job, so I was like hell yeah, I can get a job on my own so who needs their stupid BS.

Last year when I was beyond frustrated with my current job, I went there to ask about getting help finding another job. They were much nicer and this time I spoke to someone with a lot more understanding about ADHD. But basically they told me they can't do anything to help disabled people with job placement. They can assist if you need help filling out an application and that sort of thing, and help you figure out what kind of work you might be good at, but you still have to do all the actual job searching on your own, just like anyone else. And they can step in to intervene if you have problems at a job due to your disability (called a "job save") but that's about it.

The counselor told me that I had better just try to hang on to my current job since I already have some tenure with it, and really made it sound like I would be in a much worse situation if I tried to find something else (which unfortunately is probably true). He told me some "horror" stories about other people with ADHD who quit their jobs and ended up worse off.

And just like the guy I spoke to years ago, he tried to convince me I should be on medication. In fact he basically gave me an ultimatum that I would HAVE to try medication first before they would do anything for me. And then if it didn't help to call them back and let them know. So I have a strong impression that they are somehow instructed not to do anything for people who aren't on some kind of medication.

@dianthus - yes, it worries me that people with no medical qualifications are in a position to make judgements over medication and deny things on your behalf.

This is starting to happen in the UK. Don't know if it has ever happened, but the Welfare Office can stop your payments here if you refuse to take medication. Mind you, it's a British thing to pass very nasty laws and never use them, but keep the laws in reserve to modify the behaviour of people that aren't liked.

The Welfare Office can also stop the money of addicts who refuse treatment. This might not be so good for the people who live near the addicts, but fine and dandy for the gang of gallivanting frat boys that run UK GOVT PLC.

These trends are very similar here, and extending the tentacles of mass social control by government bodies deeper and deeper into the fabric of everyday life eg:

-refusing benefits to parents who don't vaccinate their children (I don't oppose vaccination, I oppose this response to it though because there are better non-coercive ways of addressing the need for some vaccinations - but that's a side issue)
(starving children and driving their parents into complete poverty is not the way to improve vaccination rates)
-refusing benefits to parents who don't enrol their children in pre-school (there can be many reasons for this not happening,
and starving children is not the way to improve it)
-refusing benefits to people judged as "resistant" which includes drug addiction and even those in drug addiction programmes

In some cases there are people who do play the system, though that minority is being misrepresented by the politicians as a vast majority to justify these appalling neo-liberal policies. Child poverty measures are skyrocketing here and charities are collapsing under the weight of increased need - people who simply do not have enough money to feed their families even basics. New Zealand is a relatively expensive country to live in anyway, so the suffering because of these policies is enormous. Even right wing charities like the Salvation Army are repeatedly saying this is an inhumane disgrace.

New Zealand is also a relatively wealthy country with many natural resources, so it is a double disgrace. The neo-liberal experiment of the past 30 years has had appalling outcomes. I think it will change at the next election however (2017) as the middle class - the majority of voters - have also had a gutsful of it now.

There is vocational rehabilitation in the USA to try and get you into minimum wage job. From what I saw It is a "one size fits all" with no accommodations for autistic needs. Autism is just another disability. Support groups are there if you live in certain areas especially near population centers but that is private. One is wholly autistic run. Many have to rely on Autism Speaks for funding. In many areas there is zero support outside of the internet.

Yes, yes. yes - very similar points in UK. In fact, NZ may be a little further down the neoliberal path than the UK.

We are at breaking point - the current neo-liberal crony-capitalism government is trying to wash its hands of any social responsibility whatsoever apart from health and pensions for the elderly. They are even trying to privatise the primary education system by gradually replacing it with privately run charter schools which means any idiot can run them (don't have to be trained teachers) and push any agenda they want, eg fundamentalism etc. Learn from us what NOT to do...

It seems to be different from state to state... and our states seem to be complete opposites.

In my state, they don't give out evaluations. I tried to get the evaluation through them because a member on here suggested I do that and I found they don't do evaluations. They did give me a list of places where to get evaluations all of which cost between $2000 and $5000 without insurance. What they do is assign priorities to people. Those who are considered less functioning get placed on the waiting list in front of those who are higher functioning. If you are not diagnosed, you are placed at the bottom of the list and are expected to have gotten yourself a valid diagnosis before they will give you any service, but you can be placed on the list. They actually told me that they'd call to update me on my status in the list in 12 months to see if I'd like to be taken off the list or continue waiting. The services they do provide is comprehensive job training, university assistance (including financial), job interview and job application training, driving school, and they are coordinated with several of the larger employers in the area to expedite employment.

So, I attempted to seek evaluation through my college. So I tried to get an appointment with a school counselor and although he can't give evaluations he arranged an evaluation through a nearby medical school medical school in my area that has a research department focused on autistic adults and they have far cheaper ($100) and more comprehensive evaluation. For some odd reason the government program didn't know about this evaluation program but my community college did.
Sadly, approaching the school counselor was rather rough as the counselor immediately wanted me to drop my classes until I have been evaluated. The counselor also had a strong push for medications.

Maybe a thread for people to post links to mentor initiatives that are ASD friendly would be useful..

Maybe this belongs in the Politics section?

The Republicans have been trying to get rid or cut back on senior supports but have failed because seniors vote more often and have powerful lobbying groups in there favor.



Charter schools are a big movement here. An unusual alliance between Republicans and poor minorities who believe a racist public employee unions are putting them down.

Speaking of pensions only the older people and unionized (American unions membership declines kind of have them anymore. Related to above, public employee unions are under scathing attack because they have benefits particularly pensions the most taxpayers paying them don't have anymore. The media is always publishing name and picture and pension of some public employee collecting a huge pension or scamming disability. And I am taking about "progressive" New York. Scott Walker presidential campaign is pretty much based on his taking on and beating the public employee unions in Wisconson http://www.npr.org/2015/03/11/392373328/targeting-unions-right-to-work-movement-bolstered-by-wisconsin

Making a choice to do nothing, is still making a choice to do something.

She probably means: Drop the loser attitude!

"Life comes in beer cans."

That is something I can agree with... and I don't like beer.

I agree that life comes in cans of cat food.

Catfood saves me from being eaten alive by resident feline.

I wonder if the blog post would be more well-received if it said Autism Is Not An Eggscuse To Do Nothinks.