does anyone know of any autism specific "job agencies&q

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i really need to know as i'm finishing my degree course this year and am thinking of what i can do next year. it would be good to know if anyone knows of organisations that have helped them into work (taking their AS into serious consideration). (i live in the UK)

i'm 27 and feel that time is moving on and can't waste any more of it. I suppose it's not a really good idea to b***h behind people's backs BUT: i didn't rate Prospects in London that well as an organisation who are supposed to get high functioning people back into work. Does anyone know of alternative solutions. Inclidently, I think that the problem with Prospects is they don't want to be seen as stressing us out (subsequently "sending us into a meltdown"). But the flip side of this is that they're trying to create an illusion that everything's OK in the world of work. when in actual fact there's a lot of herdels out there, which they're not warning us about.

It's a similar story at my university as well: As soon as people get wind of my condition, they start being strangely "nice" and giving me praise for projects for things that are really quite elementary tasks.

Any help would be appreciated. I haven't had an official job for as far as i can remember. i feel desperate to get a job but at thesame time too apprehensive of being in a position of responsibility (well this is just to portray how out of touch i've been with work)

The employment services agency "Remploy" < http://www.remploy.co.uk/ > helps people with "disabilities" (including Asperger's Syndrome) find and keep employment, and they have branches in many of the major cities in the UK. I have never dealt with them, but I know that several of my co-workers originally obtained their jobs via Remploy.

There are local autism spectrum employment specialists as well, depending on where you live. These tend to be tiny projects which have little-to-no internet presence because they get their referrals from somewhere else. For example, there are three in Sheffield - JobSteps (whose main referral source is the local JobCentre network), the Supported Employment Project (who get a lot of their referrals from the local college) and Bridges (whose clientele are mainly referred by local GPs, and some have related disabilities). London, being bigger, probably has even more projects, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're any better-publicised.

I'd advise you to ask "What organisations in the area can help people with disabilities find employment?" Ask this of:

- your university careers centre (even if they've been patronising up to this point, they may be more use when faced with a question they can answer with certainty)
- the university's disability department
- Prospects (you might not like them but if they know of groups that can continue their work in a way that helps you better, everyone is being done a favour)
- your GP (and any other staff you see regarding any aspect of autism)
- your local JobCentre (even if you're not registered with them yet, they might be some help)
- Remploy (worth a try in themselves, but also they may be able to refer you to another organisation).
- anyone else who works with people with autism or anything even slightly similar you know.

Once you find out what provision is available, find out the requirements for joining and then meet them/wait until you meet them. Sometimes it's a long waiting game. Unfortunately you will find that saccharine positivity is pretty rife in the employment sector right now, even for organisations helping neurotypicals. The rationale is to stop people feeling down, but that works better on some people than others.