Aspies are hard workers

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aspies could never be lazy right?

Last edited by Decepticon on 23 Jun 2010, 2:25 am, edited 2 times in total.

My mind is lazy, not my body.

Do you want to scub toilets and smile for the NTs? Maybe they'll pat you on the head and say atta boy before they leave the store. Most of them work very few hours and are on ssi or some other program. If I was on SSI/disability I would at least get some kind of BS part time job. Gots to make that money.

not lazy, we just want to keep our dignity intact XD

An employer probably wouldn't have a problem hiring someone mentally ret*d for menial labor. People will think, oh, nice, they hire these poor people!

Autistic is a different story. It's the social aspect that mostly holds back. No one wants to hire someone that doesn't smile or respond appropriately but otherwise looks normal. It's a bad image, I'm told.

I don't have a job, but it's not by choice. I really want to work (especially at a book or video store), but my parents won't let me. I'm on SSI and if I got a job, it would be voided. If that got voided, Medicaid would stop paying for my medications, which would cost around $800 every month.

Towards the end of next year, when I turn 21, I'm going to get re-evaluated to see if I still qualify for SSI. If I don't, then my mom says I can go to work. I really hope that happens, because I'm tired of always using my parents' money. It makes me ashamed of myself.

In the USA no one gets govt. assistance not to work just because they have an ASD dx. You have to prove inability to work. So if you're not wealthy or disabled or have some other arrangement you're going to be working.

As far as jobs like that, it depends -- would you be able to sweep a floor that's already been swept just to have a job? And how about if it effectively pays you nothing? Those folks you're talking about may not be aware that their earnings are being subtracted from their SSI (don't assume they're self-supporting from those jobs). Being easier to fool may have more to do with such jobs than laziness. I suppose that's a debatable POV, though.

As with anything, I think every case has to be considered on its own merits. I'm sure there are lazy Aspies, but based on what I've seen on this and other forums, I don't think it's a fair generalization.

I haven't worked now for five years. But I did work for most of the thirty years before that. I tried very, VERY hard to forge careers at some of the companies I worked for, and failed miserably at all of them. The one thing in common with every job I held for any decent length of time, then either quit or was fired from, was burn out. Burn out from constantly faking it, putting on airs, and trying to be something and someone I though everyone expected of me. But it wasn't me. It never was.

You can only fake it for so long. I left my last job five years ago, and within months returned to an older job temporarily before starting college online at home. I finished college last December. Now, I'm fast running out of money, and may have to return to work, and it scares the hell out of me. I'm nearly fifty years old now. What the hell am I going to do?

What I studied for? Well, that's another tangled story. Suffice to say there aren't any jobs for what I studied around here. You may ask why I chose something for which there is no work. Fair question. I chose a subject I love. I know myself well enough now to know that if I'm not doing what I love, I won't last long at it. What's the point of working for two or three years at something, only to have to change it up. That's what I've already done for thirty five years, and I have NOTHING to show for any of it. The way I look at it, what I've been doing wasn't working. Oh sure, it paid the bills for the time being, but that's about all it did.

So what now? I went into this college thing all pumped up with positive attitude, and did very well. Maintained a 4.0 average, and even was won an award for my work. One of only three.

Now, reality is rushing up on me getting ready to hit me in the face. And I don't know if I can handle it anymore. I'm tired. I'm sick. I can't function for the first three to five hours of every day. I have debilitating IBS, and can't work at all, even on my computers until it settles.

I FEEL disabled. So much so that I am going to look into seeing my doctors about being put on disability. I don't like the idea. I hate the idea. But there are so many things just going to hell with me, I'm not so sure I can pull out of this. Working with people, even just coworkers, stresses me out, making the IBS worse. I've never been able, though I've tried, to find a way to make a living at home working alone. Even if I did find a way, it would have to be on the computer (what else is there to do at home?), and I can't type for s**t. I've been typing for YEARS, yet my average is still only about twenty words a minute. My productivity is unpredictable. I don't know from one day to the next how much I can produce. Not a very good scenario for self employment.

What it all ads up to is that for the first time in my life, I'm saying, "I can't. I just can't do this anymore."

Does that make me lazy? I don't think so. I think I'm just being realistic. Maybe there's treatment that will help with some of the problems I have now that will help me get back to productive work. I don't know. I do know that I try to get things done every day, no matter what. But the things I can manage lately don't pay bills.

So no, I don't think it makes me lazy to look into disability. I think it makes me realistic. But, I can only speak for myself.

If someone with AS doesn't work, it's usually because they either did not pass the interview process or got fired.

The general public understands mental retardation and those who are afflicted by such a condition are usually given menial tasks, which they are supervised at and are usually quite content with those task. They are expected to not understand things, work slowly, and mess up.

People with AS, however, tend to be of average to high average intelligence. The average human suffers from various forms of faulty logic.

This faulty logic leads people to believe that if a person is intelligent, and does not present with any outward immediate issues, then they should be perfectly capable of performing certain tasks.

The general public understands little of how the mind works, much less that it can work in different ways.

For example, most people consider a task such as opening a door simple, and a task such as drawing a perfect picture from memory, or calculating large numbers in ones head, complex.

If this were true, why is it that many individuals with head injuries suddenly have difficulty opening doors but find they can calculate large numbers in their head?

The answer is, neither task is more complicated than the other. Each requires neurological wiring/programing.

It is more relevant for a human to open a door than calculate complex numbers or perform many of these seemingly complex "savant" tasks, so evolution has has chosen that our brain dedicate itself more to the former.

There is no simple and no complex. Simple and complex are an illusion created by that which we are geared for and that which we aren't so much so.

So perhaps it should be simple for me to follow a long line of verbal directions from a boss, but I'm not geared for it so I would get fired.

Oh, I also want to say I don't think most aspies are lazy. I'm described as hard-working if I understand the directions.

Here is my cycle, I get a job...make it through the stressful newness of the first month...I know my job pretty well at this point...I go to work and do my job every day...then, something starts happening in my head...this translates to my body...and before I realize it...I'm screwing stuff up...not making quota consistently anymore...boss is down my throat...stress builds...I start coming up with reasons to miss work...leaving early...or calling in...work goes even more downhill plus I'm not there regularly...I'm on the boss' "list" by this point...I know I'm about to be fired, but can't change my behavior and don't care about my boss' pissyness really...just want him to leave me the hell alone! So, I either quit or get fired.

I'm 31..this happens every time I get a job. I've had...ballpark...about....10-15 jobs since 16 y.o....with several unemployment vacations that varied from 6 mo. to 2 years-ish.

I've started and stopped college twice. Do real great for a while, then something always seems to f*ck it all up. First time, I made it one semester...second time I made it two years. There was a ten year span between those two times though.

So, I honestly don't think I'm lazy...I think my brain is holding my body hostage.

Every employer I've ever had has described me as hard working...the problem is is that I can't seem to keep the job.

Last edited by Decepticon on 23 Jun 2010, 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

I work part-time, and i'm even out around people.. I don't "smile for the customers," though. I'm surprised i got hired, and even more surprised that i've been working there for two years.. Sometimes coworkers are extremely frustrating, and other people always expect me to know what to do in all kinds of situations when i don't because no one's explained it well enough. Then as soon as i get used to doing something, they add something else or change their expectations. It's a struggle and i have a really hard time, so i can see why a lot of people with AS don't want to work. The only reason i really wanted to work in the first place was so that i could pay for my special interest. I've done okay though. A lot of people at work have gotten annoyed at me or dislike me for whatever reason, but i'm the only one who's been in the electronics department there ever since we opened. Everyone else either moved, changed departments, quit, or got fired. This is also better than other jobs i could be doing, like fast food or whatever.

If I may put my opinion out there, most jobs require at least a little bit of social skills. Aspies might feel burnt out from socializing and thusly don't have enough energy to do the job.

Currently I don't work outside the home, but I work all day long at a frenetic pace.

Like this:

I try to prioritize (and I've been a bit unwell for a while & never so good at dealing, though I did hold it together somewhat until a year or five ago) so 90% of my life is run on an emergency basis. Like, I'll pay the bills in the order of final disconnection notice IF I remember to do it. Late fees always. Cell phones are currently cut off for the whole family. At least this time, I don't have the money so there's my excuse - last time our phones were shut off, I could have paid it without any financial struggle but forgot to do it.

I can spend $150 in the supermarket and there won't be any food --- there's food, but it doesn't go together or the kids suddenly don't like that kind, or it's produce & gets rotten or whatever. Nothing to make a meal out of - always missing a crucial part. Run back to the store often for one item and come home with $50 worth of food, also unconnected (ie you can't cook anything w/o getting more ingredients). Which I forget to get. There were 3 lbs of butter in my fridge this morning. No bread! No milk! None of the dog's favorite food (picky dog....) and nothing snacky b/c it's all been eaten the second it comes in the house.

I have a huge collection of unopened mail -- mostly bills, or collection notices, and often from times when I did have the money to pay them but didn't get around to looking at them till I came home and the light switch didn't put the lights on.... There are a lot of people and other entities that owe me money, and with a near-zero balance in my account right now I actually need the money really badly. But they probably think they got away w/not paying b/c I have not yet taken the steps to make them pay it. (They don't want to.) I'm not taking it personally sigh --- I get that people just see me as someone it's OK to F with. (metaphorically, in most instances.) In one of the cases I have to go to court to face a bully ex-landlord (rented from him for 2.5 months and got ripped off for almost $3000, and I have the paperwork to prove it).

Even though it's not a lot of money "in real life" it's a lot to me, can't imagine facing the guy really, so I'll probably get a lawyer on a contingency thing if I can. After my last experience in court, I don't mind giving a big cut to somebody who goes to court all the time to take care of other people's issues. Better than me going in alone & messing it up - it's risky, b/c maybe the judge would say I owe them money (which is totally untrue and plus, I don't even have it to pay).

Next thing you know it's later than I need to leave to get to X place on time, so I have to drive faster than I'd rather, in an effort to catch up.

Today I didn't eat a bite until 6pm because of running to catch up with my life, yesterday was about the same (and I didn't like what I made so barely ate any of it). I have food issues, I guess. Actually, it's not a guess.

There are a couple employees with down syndrome in some stores I go to. They seem to have pretty simple jobs, though. And their supervisors are arrogant kids still in high school. I wouldn't last a week.

Haven't worked at a job for almost two years. My income is half what it was when I worked - less than half. Yet I'm not allowed to work b/c my doctor won't let me. Thats not due to AS though - it's a physical injury, but that was just the straw that broke the camel's back (metaphor, a cliche at one time & maybe still). I'm not even diagnosed with AS and chances are, will never be. My diagnoses include ADHD (inattentive); depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, also a mysterious collection of symptoms they would like to call fibromyalgia so they could put me on the expensive drug Lyrica, side effect city - and for what - I don't have that disorder in the first place. I don't meet the diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia (which I pointed out and the doctor conceded I was right) but I have the diagnosis regardless. Yes, from that same doctor (and another one too, but she isn't pushing drugs on me, as she knows I have weird reactions to meds esp. ones that the pharma companies admit that they have no idea how the drug works or why it does what it does, or who it will do what to.....)

I should go to sleep, really. I might not even remember this in the morning. Waiting for my xanax to put me out --- hoping I get the chance to lie down before it does, maybe I'll just do that now. Don't want to wake up sitting in a chair, realizing that I'm just about to spill vitamin water (that was still in my hand when I fell asleep) into my keyboard (which was in a vulnerable position to accept spills). Then the birds start singing. I don't sleep well before they do -- thus it's difficult to get going in the morning.

No one wants me to work for them anyway, and I have a good resume (I've had some OK jobs & can make them look better on a resume, even while being totally honest). I feel bad for people who can't break in w/o experience. That even happened to my daughter and she is as NT as they come (so to speak). Finally she got a job for the summer, so at least she has something to put on a resume.

I've gotten a couple or three waitress jobs because the first one, I said I had waitressed every summer in college in another state (basically a lie). Then after I got fired from that one, I had two jobs to say I had (although one was untrue) and after I got fired from THAT one, I had two jobs to put on my resume truthfully and dropped the untrue one. It served me fairly well, though. I don't like to lie --- but I had to eat, and there were only restaurant jobs available. Yes I stink at it, but whatever.