How come people with Aspergers can't work ?

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People are aware of it, and projects have been started around the world.

I know it may be difficult and, yes, ideally there should be someone who would help you do this, but how come you and others here can't find something you can do (and even enjoy) where you don't have to deal with customers, fellow employees, equipment, or even bosses? Why can't you find something you can do strictly on your own, where you don't have to deal with the rest of the population? Just get up every day , do your thing, and therefore not have to rely on the taxpayers for a government check.

Can you please name some jobs where you don't have to interact with anyone (apart from the boss on the odd occasion) at all?

Well first off, the general unemployment rate is 10% (or maybe it's like 9.2% and we've "saved" 83798329 jobs according to Obama) so 10% of all working age people are receiving unemployment benefits, which is not even the REAL employment stats, we're actually closer to Great Depression stats, as the Great Depression stats were 20-30%, but that wasn't a count of people with benefits. Then general, ie, not counting mental disorders, etc, teenage unemployment rates are like 20%, too, ie people my age who've not held jobs long enough for unemployment checks. So as far as "pull yourself up by the bootstraps and work" kinda thing, you know, it's not even an ASD problem, it's a massive national problem at this point.

So besides the competition there is for most jobs nowadays, there's the ASD problem. You ever fill out any job applications for major firms lately? Go fill one out for like, Autozone. They have psychiatric evaluations on them now. Questions like "Me and my friends go out a lot." "I like shooting guns." 70 question psych evals. Hundred questions about specific social skills needed for said job. So if you fail the psych eval, your application doesn't even go to the stores, thus you have no chance for the manager to even see your application. So first lesson, BS like hell through the psych eval things. But, even if it is a paper application without that sort of thing, when I heard through the grapevine why a place wouldn't hire me, it's just like "Oh, well, he seemed weird, he seemed freaky." So it's not even a matter of working, my work capacity and endurance are pretty awesome.

And as far as "staying in back" well, that's not as possible anymore. Since USA decided we'd take the easy route out without thinking of the future of our country, there's no manufacturing going on here really. Or very little. That's probably why ASD wasn't diagnosed until about...now. You don't need good social skills to work in a factory really. And most people worked actually doing stuff, not service jobs. Now our entire economy is a service economy, and that even chokes out the introverted "NTs." The other problem too, not just related to service jobs is networking. All jobs I've gotten only from knowing someone at the job, not from filling out a random application. ASD people for the most part are bad at networking.

Anyway, I'll work again...when I'm ready and know I can handle a job well. I don't want people forcing me to work, go to school, etc, when I know I'll fail at it, just because of other people's notions of what I should or should not be doing with my life.

Well it kinda helps if someone will hire....not to mention in my case its not just dealing with customers or other employees that would be an issue, that would just be the main problem. If there is a job available I could be hired for that I could handle I'd do it, but it does not seem there is much of that available. And you know what the 'tax payers' can go screw themselves if they are going to look at people like garbage for not being able to function well enough for this stupid society.

Same with me. One job = my father talked to my cousin and got me a job. Another job = my brother had worked at that company for +10 years, and they actually told me after the interview that if it were'nt for my brother, I would never have gotten the job. Yet another job = A friend who was very well liked at his job recommended me. Yet another another job = My mom, dad and brother all knew the employer, so I was just handed the job.

I'd like to find something like that to do but I haven't found anything yet. I'd like to make things at home and sell them but I haven't figured out what I could make yet.

Do you have any suggestions?

It's not like we've not been looking. I've managed to have multiple different people who's job it is to help people with Asperger's tell me they can't work with me. I now am working with the agency my case worker finds the best for autistic people and the person I'm working with there isn't being very helpful either, but she's been better than any of the others so far.

My therapist's thought is that the most likely way that I'll get employment is to get on SSI, to volunteer in places to figure out how I can function in them and if I can, and to prove my worth through volunteering once I don't have to worry about money constantly. Then to volunteer until they realize they want to pay me. (She really wants me to work in a school for autistic children tutoring twice exceptional students)

If I get a government check it doesn't mean I'll want to stay on it forever. It doesn't mean I'll give up trying. It means that I'll be able to possibly stop having my relationship with my parents be getting worse because of my dependency on them, that my mental health will be able to get better, that I'll have a backup plan, that I'll be able to be much more self-dependent (except for the government). And if I get a government check then I'll make sure that I give back more work to the community than money I get out, on my own time, places, and abilities, in ways I can control that I can't in employment situations.

It's not actually a good thing to have to do this. It's not being lazy. It's not trying not to work. It's just better than the alternatives.

I only had two jobs. One was a paper route and I just called and left my name and number and when there was a route in my area available they called me. A paper route would be unrealistic for me now because these days at least where I live most are done by adults with cars, not someone walking around carrying papers in a bag.

The other job was because my friend worked there. They must have been really desperate because they hired me without me having to fill out an application or do an interview.

Going off of that, this is another problem of modern American societies. As far as I understand it, in most other countries, you can pretty much get up and sell anything you want on the road or whatever. But USA is a land of permits and regulations, not quite the "Land of the Free" by any stretch anymore. This is a country where kids get the police taking down their lemonade stands and fining them. Dare I say it, things look more "free" in Putin's Russia now, who'd have thought you'd see the day when we'd be the bad guys. Anyway... That's a problem, as in "the old days" one could just...sell stuff. Nowadays, online is an avenue for selling stuff, so that offsets it somewhat, but online has logistical problems of it's own.



To a point, I'm pretty creative, and will find a way to make my own money legally without a job, but I do need a job for some startup money to get the ball rolling. But most people simply aren't that creative or adaptable, and those traits are not encouraged in our society. Being apart of the "machine" is, if you're creative and adaptable, you're not a valued "worker" and you're not part of the machine. In a way, I feel it's just a semi-capitalist version of the Soviet system, they wanted good "workers" not individuals, and this is what America has come to.

Yeah you pretty much hit the nailed it with that..very good points.

Yay Sweetleaf is happy with something I posted for once.

Well it's all true.

Why don't you go online, and check out the many (probably thousands by now) websites devoted to helping people make money without a regular job? Just be entrepeneurial, persistent, dedicated, and hard working, and something should turn up. Yes, I know, it's a whole lot easier said than done, but i have read and heard so many success stories over the years to know that one simply can't give up, accept a government check, and just stare at the walls all day.
There should be opportunities all over the place, including the underground economy if necessary. For example, young men should be eager to seek jobs out in North Dakota. I have read that one can start out at $100,000 a year out there. Don't whine about your life. Just go out there, give it all you have, and work to achieve your goals !

What many people lack is how do I put this, momentum. Bad decisions and negativity in your life pile up, and the more it piles, the harder it is to break free from the consequences of them. I'm not saying they're really "at fault" per se, but they're the ones taking the consequences from things that happen. You need a lot of momentum to break out of destructive cycles.

And as far as the millions of sites, well, you need to research things. Many sites are basically scams. There's no "free lunch" in life, and if things seem too good to be true, they usually are. That said, you don't have to do things the way everyone else does them. But doing things differently requires actual thought process, which you're ingrained not to have since preschool.

Last edited by 1000Knives on 12 Jul 2012, 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well Sweet, you have much higher standards for people than I do. I wouldn't even bother asking them to live up to that standard, right as it may be. We are awash in a sea of moral primitives. All I ask is for them to be self-consistent. Bugging others about not having jobs without being prepared to offer a job, is expecting someone else to provide jobs - and expecting someone else to provide things is supposedly the principle they claim to be upholding. So it's a self-contradiction, as well as hypocritical.

Nothing that contradicts itself can be logical or rational.



Quite true.



Yes there is an irony there. It's motivated by emotion and ideological rhetoric - not careful consideration. The person who refuses to get benefits while being unable to work, using their ideology as an excuse to not apply or try at all and preferring to leech off their spouse or parents when they could easily relieve them, is the true parasite. I have nothing but contempt for this sort. If SSI helps you to be independant and helps relieve individuals of bearing the entire burden of supporting you all by themselves, it is the right thing to do - your duty to your parents.