Last year I was a wreck. My wife left me she moved to florida and left me with my son (Who is also autistic) knowing that soon he would move in with her when she got stabilized. I worked in god awful Call Centers for ten years straight with low page and barely able to support myself.
My son was a mirror of me and I decided to finally see the professionals and I got a firm diagnosis. During this time it was February of 2015. My family and anyone close denied the diagnosis. My mother is a self diagnosisers and believes she can diagnosis everything with her opinion and online quizzes. To me the rejection was harmful to me. Keep in mind my mother and her fellow self diagnosisers who play Dr Mom are the same people who grew up with Jenny McCarthy in the same area whose parents worked at the same Central Steel plant.
I was living in her parents basement with little hope in the world. I felt used and betrayed. Rejecting everyone when I decided to get help for myself it was the best move in the world because I had always listened to these Dr Mom's who know little or nothing about the world. I decided to push myself and get help. I did talk therapy as long as I could until my money ran out. I also signed up for Vocational Rehabilitation through my state. I was denied at first because I look, "normal" and well I had all the paperwork to back me up I was turned away well a single mother walked in after me and was told we don't need anything "YOU GOT IT!" I made a post about it last year and I stopped posting around this time.
After that I decided to pursue legal options and got a legal aide to call up vocational rehab and see why I was rejected when I have the low income, proof of disability on why I was rejected. Needless to say after one call I got another interview in which I was quickly accepted. My only goal was to get into my state's Successful Disability program where they help disabled men and women who have a hard time keeping a job or getting a good and stable job.
In our state we have to take a long computerized two hour test for each and every state job you apply for. Less than 1% of people applying get interviewed or even get hired. I took four tests over the past three months. Eventually I had to skip a few which caused me to get chewed out so I stopped.
I accepted that soon I was going to be homeless, and there wasn't much I could do about it. Which was the worst thing I could of done because almost a year later I got a letter from the state. At first I thought it was a bill or ticket but it was for an interview with an amazing salary attached to it. I went to the interview and the interviewer was an hour late which would cause me to be late for work. I get in an the interview was not a standard interview but my state uses an interview process where they ask questions and cannot respond and we answer.
I thought I blew it but I called EVERY week to check on my application status. What do you know, I got the job! Finally I'd be able to take care of myself, cloth, feed, and house myself. It was a shock.
After recently passing out again due to stress which causes my Low Blood Pressure the Interview changed everything but what changed everything was me sticking up for myself and telling those self diagnosisers to take a hike and getting a professional diagnosis and the help I urgently needed.
I now live on my own have a wonderful job, and a future that seems brighter. So when you got family or people trying to shove an online quiz in your face that they know best but you know you need help and are struggling, let the professions do what do they best and help you. If those who claim they know best can't respect that then let them go and don't look back because they are just holding you back.
19 Jun 2016, 9:49 pm
