Young Adults With Autism More Likely To Be Unemployed

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Yeah yeah, and then in my case I know I pushed myself harder than I should have...refused to acknowledge some of my difficulties/issues and it wasn't until failing time and time again doing that, that I finally acknowledged maybe my mental health issues and potential autism spectrum disorder combined to cause some disability that was interfering with my ability to function. For me acknowledging that was a positive turning point, since now I am able to get help I need and have potential to become employable or maybe come up with self employment ideas eventually while having support and some financial assistance. But I am not letting autism speak or doctors or anyone define who I am or telling me how to be...I get the help I need from the system and work on my own goals while defining myself. I also don't mean to blindly trust that because some random person on the internet did something a certain way I can do it that way.


If I kept trying the other way I don't know that I'd still be here to type this.....perhaps what you post comes from what attitudes have helped you most, but just wanted to point out its not always simply a case of 'not trying hard enough' or letting the condition define or hold us back that has led to chronic unemployment as that is not always the case.

You mean to tell me that...people with a disability tend to be...disabled?!?!?!?!?!

What shocking front page news!

Next theyre gonna tell us that sick people tend to be less healthy than well people, and that the obese tend to be overweight, and that bachelors tend to be single!

Phah! The next thing you know, they'll be telling us that whites are light skinned, and that blacks are dark skinned!

It's a great motivational block there, but reality is quite different for the majority of people on the spectrum. I don't know how many jobs and social groups I've been asked to leave from for "not fitting in" or being "difficult". One job there was a meeting and everyone was supposed to give opinions, I gave my honest opinion and the boss said "it's not a joke, what do you really think" I explained that was my legitimate opinion, he fired me immediately. What I learned is that I was supposed to reword one of the other three opinions to make it sound original. A few years later I was in another situation pretty much the same, and I reworded someone else's opinion and got complained at for not paying attention and copying someone else's. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The second job I also got written up for talking to a coworker, so I just went to my desk and kept doing my job for two weeks, not talking to anybody and eventually got fired for being too anti-social for the work environment. Stuff like that has happened repeatedly in my life, in any new situation I hope it won't happen but assume it will just to emotionally prepare for the inevitable.

I'm 34 now, I've been around the block enough to know that any situation I get into will not last long, and it's not a self fulfilling prophecy, I work hard when I work and hope for the best, but I also know it's going to be very very temporary. It's not even discouragement anymore in my case, it's a complete philosophical change: no one wants my labor so I'll spend that labor doing things I enjoy like hydroponic gardening and composing music. I'll most likely be poor and possibly even destitute at some point, but I'll invest my time in self growth activities and feel content that I've been as productive with my skill set as I can. If society doesn't like my skill set, or social skills, or what have you, they can make their judgement, at this point I really don't care. I'm starting to view the NT world as a pretty maladjusted dystopia anyhow: 1. get a job 2. work that job 1/2 of your waking day 3. go buy shiny trinkets with your paycheck 4. go compare your shiny trinkets to other people's and see who has more shiny trinkets. 5. if you have a good set of trinkets you go to the bar and show them off to get a female to follow you home. 6. use her body and ditch her to the curb then beat your chest and say "I so manly". I'd say that's some pretty shallow s**t right there and I don't really see much satisfaction in it.

I never disputed that. In fact I've used a similar argument myself on several occasions, because you're right that in certain contexts - employment outcomes being one such - neurotypical privilege is of significantly greater magnitude than male privilege or white privilege.

Honestly your comment read to me as a snarky "Check your own privilege, feminists!" type thing. And that I'm totally fine with, applaud it even, because ableism (I personally consider neurotypical privilege to be a subset of able privilege - don't intend to offend anyone by doing that, if it does please let me know and I'll stop) is absolutely an issue within feminism. In fact I'd go so far as to say that, as an autistic white person who is read as male (I'm genderqueer if anyone asks, but who'd want to bother talking to that guy?), I don't really trust feminists, unless they're also autistic and/or they're anarchists. Liberal feminists tend to have a hard time wrapping their minds around an autistic white boy being a victim of state-sponsored human trafficking.

But your comment - the first one, and also the quotation marks around the word privileged - also read as casting doubt on the very concepts of white privilege and male privilege. That's an interpretation, no idea if it's what you intended at all, but it's an interpretation that fits. And no feminist is going to check their neurotypical privilege for someone who won't acknowledge their own. Though I don't think that was your intent.

I just wonder when society as a whole will view difference as a good thing. There's a whole lot of stuff I'm being exposed to such as lies that media spread, schools turning downhill, as well as other things. All because I've bothered to look into other things. One of the things I've been working on is trying to learn another language and building my finances so I can get the heck out of the U.S while I still can. And your re right about the dystopia part, as I've noticed as of nowdays jobs don't want anyone to be different. Look at the schools today. Look what people are doing to each other in other cities and how it ends up on the news. And if you go to a Mcdonalds, the workers there sound unhappy and miserable. They don't smile like they used to. The really bad part about society today is that they've been brainwashed so much into thinking that being normal means go out and buy things, and show them off to get accepted into their cliques which is really not a true social life. Having a social life means go out and have adventures with people you really care about, sharing the good and bad times together,living. What's the point of having a social life in this crappy time if all people care about is trinkets? That's why I was hoping to motivate you all and that way you can stand up to this crap that the NT's are pulling. The stuff that's going on makes no sense at all and the fact that people are too judgemental about every little thing is nonsense. I never meant to offend anyone here and I'm sorry if I did. I was atleast hoping that there could be a way to beat society's so called norms. I just hope that one day it will be different.

I don't like to use the word privilige, because I don't think it's an appropriate word to use for "being treated with the respect that every person deserves". It makes it seem like it's something extra, added on to how we're supposed to treat each other.

The point I was making is, for all the talk about intersectionality, there's very little focus on how it actually plays out, and hardly any quantitative data. Probably because it's still tied to feminism, and so people tend to view things through the lens of gender, thus destroying it's usefulness (for example, I seem to remember the life outcomes for black males are worse than those of black females in some places - I don't think feminism is a useful way of looking at situations like that). So I prefer to go with intersectional equalism, with a focus on hard data about people's actual lives.

Can't say I'd disagree much beyond saying that "intersectional egalitarianism" is IMO a more elegant label than "intersectional equalism". Plus the mathematician in me rankles at using the word "equal" for anything other than well-defined isomorphisms. Also I personally haven't thrown the feminist baby out with the liberal bathwater but I find it very understandable.

Intersectionality is a problem begging for topological data analysis.

Do priests molest little boys?
Does Spike Lee not like white people?
Is George Bush an idiot?
Do police like authority?

ok I'm done.

Whether or not I actually have autism, I am probably a textbook case of being overqualified without a job.

I have severe difficulty with interviews, severe difficulties with motivation, and difficultites with common sense. IE sometimes things that are simple for others are very very difficult for me.

I would consider it a miracle if i could get a job at cvs. It's extremely difficult actually. You've got to put yourself out there like a pinhead and sell your soul to the devil.

I don't necessarily think this is a young adult things. I think it is widespread. I know for me I am easily shaken with certain things that happen at my job. I just want to put my things down and run out.

Yeah selling your soul to the devil isn't much fun, nor is being a pinhead-- the crudeness of modern life sucks.

I have to agree 100% with your experience. I'm very lucky if I can hold down a job for more than a year. If I can get a rare job where I have just the right handler and I have almost no interaction with people required it works out great. but sooner or later the situation changes and someone else moves in and it all quickly turns into s**t and I'm out the door looking for work again. I do produce good work but my defects always outweigh my contributions no matter how large.

Many people who are under 40 are vastly overqualified for jobs such as retail, food services, entertainment services (parks, theaters etc...) etc... due to the rapid increase in requirements to gain entry level jobs, internships and other careers jobs.
Most internships even unpaid require 2+ years of INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE and in many cases asinine requirements such as certification (which most require you to have X amount of hours of industry experience to get it).

Entry level jobs in most fields require 3+ years of INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE, years of experience in the software the company's uses (this requires you to know all the software in existence and their modified combinations).

Most slightly higher jobs requires 5+ years of INDUSTRY EXPERIENCES, certifications, other requirements, and specific degrees (field and level).

Many IT jobs require an HDI, which is a degree in computer interfaces which just was created a few years ago, long after I was past the half way mark with my degree.

General work experience no longer counts for anything really, and you are looked down upon for getting a low end job such as retail, Starbucks Barista, etc... because it shows the employer that you aren't serious about your career path and/or inept at it.

I can do good interviews, but it depends on the person interviewing me.
If I get a good person, who isn't trying to pull stuff then I do quite well.
But then I have to explain why I didn't have an internship or career based job since summer of 2011.
Well to be fair there was very few internships posted and those which were posted required a huge amount of requirements as posted above.
The Dean of my school at the time had to shut down his internship program due to companies refusing to hire college students for internship, because they could get way more experienced career people who would willingly take those internships.

Like I've posted in other threads, I had an interview in December where the head of IT wanted a recent college graduate (less than 2 years out), who had a few years of Enterprise Software experience!
The problem with this is, you cannot get this software experience as an intern and/or in first few years of your career due to the sensitivity of the software to businesses.
The software is extremely expensive to get ahold of that most mid and small size businesses cannot afford to buy it.

I had to explain why I was even at the interview, if I didn't have the experience...!

Though the two recruiters loved me and thought I was good fit for the company.

Sorry if I've posted this before in this thread!

Hopefully my Thursday phone interview with a startup goes well.

I've had other interviews with even General Motors IT, where I was expected to know all the software they use without being trained or needing an adjusting period! Yet they send all their people to an 8 week paid course to teach you GM history and culture.

My Interviews generally are about why I lack more internships and career experience outside of school projects and occasional paid short term gigs.
They also ask my why I don't know their particular version of software, which in most cases is a proprietary modification or out right built in house...



Yeah unemployment is still quite high for those under 40 in the industrial nations, including the U.S.
There is still a huge lack of internships and entry level jobs for most people causing them to get other gigs or remained unemployed.

Though as I have posted above, I've been told by career people and corporate people that it is better to be unemployed than do low level non career jobs, because of the stigma those jobs have in the career world.

I've been applying at retails since I graduated high school and was only hired once at KB Toys for a holiday season in 2006. The customers loved me though the job took a huge amount out of me due to the social nature and dealing with new people.

Though I did well at getting all three internships.

I know plenty of NTs my age who also cannot get hired because of the current market and many of them are less skilled as me. Many of the less skilled NTs also got career jobs while the more skilled NTs and rest haven't been or are having trouble getting hired.

I lucked into my current job. Normally I have a lot of trouble keeping or even getting a job because I don't have good skills.

I'm getting worried. I supposedly got a job at Wally world but haven't heard back since the drug test and I'm scared because I took an Ativan the night before and it hadn't been prescribed to me.