Would you use your state Development Disablities Services?

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I qualify for my state's MR/DD services (as they called it). Would you use your state's DD service if you qualify? Or are you independent and not dependent?

As you know, all Aspies are not created equal. Some of us need more life skills than the others who are already independent. I have don't have the full support of my family. My brothers and sister reject me. I have one elderly parent alive. I have trouble keeping jobs and I have tried to live on my own and failed.

I don't qualify right now becasue i haven't been officially diagnosed. I don't really know what services they offer, but I could really use some assistance on how to organize my life, how to appropriately socialize and how to make friends. I would also like to have an advocte for me to help me with things such as my sons school and IEP.

They can help you with all of those things and more. And more important to help you keep your job. They have social skill classes as well. If you need help for your child, they can do that too.
You should go to your state's BVR to get diagnosed. There are very few services for Autism and people with ASD in many states. So you should use the free services what your state have to offer you.

The only issue I have with the state services departments is that they are trained or used to dealing with people with AS. They are used to either people with physical disabilities and getting them into workplaces through changes in furniture or building or people with developmental disabilities where they using put them to work in easy to do jobs such as corporate mail delivery. Even if I was eligible, they never would have been able to help me.

Yes, that was true in my past. I was a mail clerk, but being in my twenties that was just a transition job. The job didn't work for me because the woman I worked for a jerk. Just because you start as mail clerk doesn't mean you'll always be one. You can get more job skills by attending night school at a community college then you can transfer to a different apartment. I knew this one young lady who started as mail clerk and worked her way to assistant supervisor of the mail room then transferred into a different department.

I think what demeus is getting at is that the MR/DD departments are of no use to people who have higher aspirations in the first place. Why start out in the mail room if you have a Bachelor of Commerce? Or any sort of University degree?

MR/DD departments are used to dealing with people who don't even have Grade 12, or even Grade 9. Of course they're going to focus on getting grunt jobs for people who use their services, because they assume that it's all they can handle. Would you go to the MR/DD department, and ask if they can set you up with an Accounting firm? They might assume that you're talking about cleaning the bathrooms, or something.

Fact is, if you're mildly disabled and looking for something "more" than the most menial of jobs, you're expected to go it alone. Even blind, deaf, or paraplegic people often find it more useful to find work on their own, rather than rely on these government agencies.

if MR/DD means overall support services,yes- am a full time service user of social services [learning disability team and their ld residential services-and also a specialist autism support service from the NAS;full time service user of them as well,the NAS act as advocates for self and also train LD staff on autism and how to work with self],think SS is the same thing as MR/DD services.

I just want to be able to go back to college. I had to drop out due to extreem lack of support.

No, you missed the whole point. What I meant was that people with no skills or higher education, should take one of these low skills job and take night classes to move up in the organization. If you already have a college degree, why would you need services?
Besides, everyone has to start somewhere. You're not going to start off in high paying job right off the bat.
Another thing, some MR/DD offer what is called job try out. You can refuse any job that you want; most people with disabilities don't realize that. BVR (Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation) counselor can huff and puff but they can't not make you take the job. You have that power under the law.

[quote]I just want to be able to go back to college. I had to drop out due to extreem lack of support. /quote]

You should apply for services at your local Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation services. There you can get diagnose for free to see if you really do have AS. And they will help you through college, but you have to have good grades, too.

I personally only need government to get out of my way and punish those who cheat me. I think the adversity I've faced has helped me be a better worker and more prepared to move along. Some things I don't get (like office politics) but I don't try and just keep moving along.

School has been my most difficult challenge. When I don't have an interest there exists like zero motivation to do the work. Even more sad is, with the exception of accounting, I am intellectually capable of doing well in every subject I've come across. I'll finish school if it's the last thing I do, but it's gonna be one hell of a road.

Would? I do. It has varied... Sometimes I use my case worker a lot and other times not for half a year +... and housing I use everyday. The job I have is from these services so just sign up if you qualify it has saved me more times than I care to admit...

I'd probably use it, if I have to, if something happens, god forbid.

But even if a person has no work history and Grade 12, it might still be better for them to try and get those low-skill jobs on their own. The problem with going through MR/DD is that employers see the "MR" part, and honestly assume that the person is intellectually impaired. Or is "hopeless" enough to need agencies like that. You might be able to be set up with a job (because usually the company gets some sort of 'benefit' for hiring you), but because you have that stigma of "coming from MR/DD" the chances of advancement are much lower than a person who acquired that job on their own.

Employees that don't "have anything wrong with them" are more likely to be promoted, simply because the employers estimate their abilities to be higher than the people who DO "have something wrong with them".

My ex-boyfriend was set up with the Canadian equivalent of that program, and they just kind of shuffled him through three different "work trial" periods (all unpaid). They automatically assumed that he was mentally challenged, and after they realized that he wasn't, started treating him a little better. But at the end of the day, they just wanted a month of free labour. He didn't get anything out of it.

I've been going to my state's BVR (not called BVR in all places) since around last May & they've helped me immensely. In fact, I'll be starting college for the first time in three days (January 20) because of them. I'm terrified, but now, for the first time in my life, I have the opportunity to become a librarian, which is what I've always wanted. They helped me all through the process of getting ready for school. They were going to pay for my tuition, but since I got a grant, they didn't have to. They're even paying for bus passes each month to get me to & from school, since I can't afford it myself. (I've never had a job , so I have no income.) The only problem I've had is that my caseworker can be pretty mean at times, but I still knew that going to her was going to benefit my future, so I kept going. The BVR can help anyone who has any type of disability.

Sorry for all that rambling.

What I'd like to know is, when you say that "You should go to your states BVR to get diagnosed," what can they diagnose someone with or what is the process. Can they diagnose for someone or help someone get a diagnosis of Asperger's? I'd just really like to know because I have no way of knowing how to be tested or diagnosed for it & if BVR can help me do that, that would be great.

What if you don't tell your employer that have you AS? There is a stigma having any forms of Autism, right now. You are not entitle to any fair treatment under the American Disabilities Act. You would be called weird, and maybe not get an interview because you can't look a person in the eye.
There's a law in the U.S that says the employee can not ask you about your disabilities.
If I try to get a job without any help from a government agency, I could get fired at anytime.
Even if I told them I had AS, how are they going to understand what it is when I just learn of it myself, ether way you lose.
Anyway, it is up to my BVR bureau vocational rehabilitation consular to recommend what kind of jobs I can do through a process called: Work Evaluation. They evaluate your skills what you can or can not do. I will NOT take a low wage job working in a mindless factor like a drone, that's for sure.

That's very true, there is a stigma regarding all forms of ASD. That's why I have a strict non-disclosure policy. But if you're set up with a job through MR/DD, or any other disability agency, then they WILL know about it. Or at least have an idea.

Thing is, disability legislation doesn't protect ASDs as well as most disabilities, when it comes to employment. If a job, at any point in the job description says that it requires "Excellent Interpersonal and Communication Skills", then they can legally screen out anyone who they believe to be lacking in that area. ASDs are often first on the 'chopping block'. About 99% of jobs require at least some degree of interpersonal and communication skills. If you disclose an ASD, they can immediately disregard your application. And it's perfectly legal. It would be the equivalent of a blind person applying to be a welder, or a paraplegic applying to be a firefighter. It sucks, but that's what most people honestly believe about people with ASDs.