Autistic benefits/ support services where you live?

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Does your state/ country have good Autistic Spectrum Benefits?

Missouri offers $850 a month for AS disability. However, it is really hard to get and even a standard diagnosis wont cut it. The only reason I was eligible is because I was diagnosed with AS out of the army and I have three other disability-eligible conditions.

I've been trying to find some but the majority of programs I've found are targeted toward families whose children are diagnosed. It's very rare to find a program strictly for autistic adults and even rarer to find programs for adults who were only just recently diagnosed.

I just found out I am eligible for both help in job placement and free college tuition assistance from the state (Kentucky). I was told that there are federal benefits (through Social Security) for mental disorders but that they are very difficult to get.

Any Apsies on here in the US get federal benefits through SSI or something else?

In terms of money, yes. I can get more on welfare here than in most other countries, as an AS diagnosed, but in terms of resources other than welfare it's atrocious. Nothing which is individually suited, just ret*d groups where everyone is stereotyped. I would die before I went to something like that.

yes, many of us have died, without even the choice to go to something like that. Mentally challenged people fall through the cracks all the time. Living on the streets is very difficult. Having a mental imparement makes it just that much more trying and dangerous. Life can be held very cheaply when you are liability to the state and society.

The UK benefits system is not based upon diagnosis but how well you cope in life. Of course, having a diagnosis helped convince people you can't cope. Anyway, it is enough to live on if they think you are severely struggling enough. When I was assessed I'd just gone through the most major psychological breakdown I've ever had, hence I'm earning more money than I've ever had previously, despite having had plenty of jobs in the past. Something tells me it'll go down when I'm reassessed.

Israel - I just found out today that even if I'm diagnosed with Asperger's, I won't get financial help from Social Security unless I've been unemployed for a very long time. It means that, even if I'm fired all the time, as long as I'm able to find a new job each time within a year or two, however menial the job is, they won't help.

Do you guys have to show that you've been unemployed for a long time, or is AS enough reason to get monthly financial help?

From what am see,the UK has great benefits and services for people anywhere on the spectrum-providing happen to live in the right area.
am say that because ask a member like outlier who does need the support,and will see how non existant it can be.
but in Manchester,and other 'big' areas,there's a lot of it.

for anyone who is considered on the MR spectrum,and low functioning [besides having autism],are put with the learning disability team,which opens up team pysch,speech therapist,OT etc home visits with hardly any waiting time,a social worker,residential care if needed-or a weaker type of supported living,there's day services-which includes social services day centres,or can get social worker to fund a place at a private day centre-such as the national autistic society or mencap which have so much more to do than the council ran ones [it's nothing more than being dumped there and being desperate till home time].

Aspies are unfairly by default turned away from the learning disability team but it may depend on borough [am think most,if not all of them have changed to this way now-due to cuts in funding],because they look at the AS criteria of 'no MR and significant self help problems',the only way they can get accepted easily enough into social services is via one of the other teams-mental health being the only likely one if they have a MH problem as well as the other teams are for physical,sensory [blind/VI,deaf/HI] and elderly services.

There's the National Autistic Society,which has a huge range of services,and they can appeal to anyone on the spectrum-from mild to profound,in any section of life can think of.
The hard part is fighting for funding,especially if it's for something that the council also provides,such as care services,because they think their LD residential care and supported living is suitable,when it's not for people on the spectrum.
Their day services needs a lot of funding,but thats quite easy to be awarded for people who aren't living in residential care or supported living.

There's other Autistic organisations such as Fairfields [a new org,for severely affected,of all ages] and Autism Initiatives-whom say they're for the spectrum,which isn't fully true as have been assessed by them before and was told too high needs for their services,they're one people should check out if in the NW area of UK and fairly HF upwards,again,funding is needed though.

HFAs/Aspies who need some support,whether to get out and about or for in the home,should get an assessment off social services and see if they award any hours of care,as that can pay for a DP staff [direct payment] or agency staff.
Get the NAS involved and even local MP if they're refusing for an unfair reason.

All people on the spectrum [no matter the label] who get DLA are able to apply for a national travel pass which allows them to travel all over the country for free if remember correctly,but the criteria differs in each borough,some only give it to people with physical disabilities.

Another travel benefit-spectrumers who get DLA [usually that is the criteria] can apply for a pass with ring and ride,or whatever their local disability transport is called,which goes from door to door,and is helpful for those who can't cope well or at all with mainstream public transport.

As for benefits,am dont get incapacity benefit [which is for people who have worked],but get income support [think thats the UK version of SSI] with all the usual components/severe disability and enhanced...high rate care/high rate mobility in DLA,the HR mobility got am onto motability [which gets a brand new car through them every three years,but they take all the mobility component to pay for it],am also get a blue badge.
One of the worst things about getting high rate mobility and a blue badge is the amount of ignorance of even disabled people in this country,who wrongly inform others that only people with physical disabilities get and need HRM and a blue badge,they completely miss out two criteria which am was awarded it under [severe behavioral difficulties/severe mental impairment],
have never understood how people can so easily judge others situations as un needing of a HRM/BB because they're not
a wheel chair user,they don't understand even a tiny bit of the problems and life threatening situations people without physical problems get HRM for.
sorry for long post [night meds].

I thought Israel was built on socialist values.

Anyway, here an AS diagnosis is enough. There are three different instances dealing with sick-pay, unemployment and social security. The one dealing with sick-pay deals with those who are recommended by their psychiatrist to get what's called "pre-time pension". They evaluate the case and if approved you get those benefits for life and they can't be canceled as long as you have the diagnosis and don't work. If you start working they can cancel the payments however.

Unemployment is different. People who are unemployed are forced to keep seeking new jobs all the time, if they don't they won't get compensated for the time they are unemployed.

Social security is a third and this is mostly for people without handicaps who are below the poverty mark. The "lower classes". People who get money from those need to go on regular meetings and keep records of what the money is used for.

These three instances are independent of each other and do not overlap each other's work in any way, which is so nice if you have AS because you don't have to deal with the social security which violates your private life and hands out the money to the drug addicts and somalian mothers of twelve. If you have AS here there's no one who will have authority over your life just because you get monthly payments.

Also, the authorities are more generous the further north you live in Sweden. The major city areas in central/northeastern Sweden are like utopias with clear pine forests growing within the cities, fresh air, rivers so clean you can drink straight from them, modern minimalistic architecture and communities mostly centered around sports activities. Southern Sweden on the other hand has a lot of immigration, higher rates of social problems, pollution and a more strained budget since in Malmö alone, a huge part of the population is living on government money. If you can stand the lack of pulse, big-city atmosphere, high-end boutiques and trendy places and people, as well as the somewhat more homogenous population and the really harsh winters, northern Sweden is much better overall than the south because it's more of a "socialist paradise".

It's the same here. I was going to apply for what you call pre-time pension or sick-pay, but as long as I can find a job now and then they don't give it. I'd have to be unemployed for a long time to get it.

I also thought this was a socialist country. But I think it's somewhere in-between Swedish socialism and USA capitalism. Not that I know much about economy, though.