If you aren't getting work, how are you coping financially?

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I'm on benifits. The only ones who want to give me a job are scammers who want to trick me into money laundering for them.

To be honest I don't think it's the employers that are the problem - after all they don't know we're aspie until we tell them, and many of us can manage in a work environment, even with team work...the problem I know I have (and I'm sure others do too) is interviews where they can see there is something not quite right but then it's not like we can tell them.

THEY would be the government - in general if you're not upper middle class, white, and 'normal' physically/mentally/neurologically you cannot contribute to society. In the UK benefits are not suited to people on the spectrum, they can stop my benefits whenever the hell they like because, for example, I can't phone employment agencies because I'm an aspie and struggle using a phone, this means I'm not following my job seekers agreement. But I can't go onto disability benefits either because I don't have a physical or mental disability, neurological conditions are totally overlooked by the benefit system, and so I just can't score high enough to get onto disability benefits...then consider people like us may need additional support back into work...which we can't get unless on disability benefits...disability benefits that to many employers means 'useless'.

I think unemployment for those of us on the spectrum is a trap, certain aspects of autism/asperger's make it difficult for us to look for work or obtain a job, we are 'too disabled' for normal benefits but 'not disabled enough' for disability benefits, so either way we get no support, it's catch 22...and just to add to the problem often many of us see our social skills decline and face regression while unemployed.

SSDI, plus a federal employee disability retirement.

I sell homemade soap and freelance photography and I started a paper route. I'm delivering newspapers part-time. These are all good hours so I can keep looking and interviewing for serious full-time work while continuing to volunteer at church and my kids' schools. Hopefully I'll get a seasonal photo gig shooting youth sports. That would be fun.

My husband hasn't been working since the neck surgery. Before that, we both worked on his business, which is IT for businesses. It did well but I knew by last November that this wasn't going to pan out in the long-term. It took the neck surgery to convince my stubborn husband of the same. In the meanwhile, the self-employment allowed us to finesse our way into a low-income housing community - where a bunch of my kids' friends live so they think this is fantastic - and we socked away enough savings to keep us going comfortably with the reduced bills. I tried food stamps for a month. They gave us $900. Who eats $900 worth of food in a month?! I'm really uncomfortable with public assistance so I got the paper delivery job just to say that we don't need food stamps. I'm fine with other people receiving public assistance. Just not me. I can work.

Anyway, my husband has a job lined up after his neck brace is off. That's 4 weeks. He's still looking for a better deal but this job that's waiting is a sure thing. His new employment with verifiable income will disqualify us for this low-income place when our lease comes up for renewal, so I'm looking for a different place to move during the summer so we're ready and moving isn't a rushed event. The tax return money should help some with that expense since I want movers (or removalists depending on which continent you're on)... not just a U-Haul truck and a couple friends.

That's how we're getting by.

But I'll tell you what's aggravating me. My daughter's father and step-mother are POS. They're heavy on the parental alienation. Now, they've decided that my husband and I are too poor and cannot afford our children. They tried to give us $100 of groceries after telling everyone who would listen that they had to buy this for us because we couldn't afford food. I politely declined. Then the step-mother threw a hissy fit at anyone who would listen about how I'm too proud of accept help when it's needed. We don't need their dang help! God... the government will give us $900 for food if that was an issue! Sheesh! If anything they need it more than we do. We own our cars and have reduced rent and utilities, whereas they have a $500 car payment, $1000 rent and have to pay utilities for 1200sqft every month. Santa brought my kids a Wii for Christmas and my aspie son got a Nintendo DSi XL for his birthday... not really purchases I'd make if we couldn't afford food. You know?

I know they've been talking about us because nobody is their friend. People talk to me constantly about what these people are saying about my daughter and my family. I knew about the food before it was offered to me. I don't normally talk about money. My dad taught me that it's tacky. It just makes me so mad when people are lying about me. It puts me on the defensive and then I end up over-sharing and being tacky because I want people to know the truth. I figured it was better to be tacky and talk about it here to release the tension than it was to print out bank statements and beat my ex and his wife over the head with them.