Can you live independently?

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No.

But none of you who said you do live independently either. It's impossible.

The line between independent and dependent in most people's minds, isn't based on who is independent and who is dependent, it is based on whether the person needs certain kinds of help that are commonplace and unremarked upon, or whether the person also needs kinds of help that are not commonplace.

In other words, an illusion. Everyone is dependent/interdependent, not independent. Independence is a societal lie.

Sure, in the strict sense of the word nobody's 100% independent. That would amount to being completely alone all the time, with complete self-sufficiency, growing your own food, generating your own power, etc. But here, "are you independent" means "do you need significantly more help than most people would, for your general living tasks?" There are degrees of independence.

That said, it's amazing how people can imagine themselves to be totally independent when a moment's reflection would tell them that nobody is. Perhaps that's why so many people think that competition is the solution to our economic woes rather than the problem....dependency expresses itself through co-operation, not through competition, or so I would have thought.

If I had a job, yes.

I need full time care now. Maby not one day.

I'm very independent, but I do forget to do some things if I don't follow a specific schedule. And regardless,I tend to only eat one meal a day since I get busy or forget about the other 2 (or somethimes all).

I find getting food a problem. I am vegetarien. I feel like a hunter gatherer. The roles have reversed. Now meat eaters have food growing everywhere.

I feel the exact same way. I'm a vegetarian as well and along with that have the added problem of if I don't like what's available I won't eat anything at all until I find something that suits my taste. In the end, I'll go without eating more than a little because of how picky I am AND the fact that I don't eat meat combined.

That must be real difficult. I always find my reputation with others further declining when they know that I eat the same things all the time. I would be absolutely delighted to have macaroni cheese every single evening, but for many other people, life is all about variety in food. They always pick up on it.

I'm 28 and still with my parents, though I am here mostly to help with my bedridden mum. Dad was arrested on July 4th, unfortunately, so taking care of the finances, house and her healthcare is now my full responsibility. Not sure how long he's going to be in jail, either.

I don't find it hard, just really annoying and tiring. The thing I find hardest is making phone calls. I hate talking to people/businesses on the phone so much.

I'm planning on enrolling in college soon to get my PTA. Physical therapy always interested me, as the human body is one of my intense interests, especially neurology and orthopaedics. As soon as I am out of college, I'm going to get my own place in Madison, IN. Looking forward to it. I know I can do it, but it'll be tough until I find a nice schedule for myself.

I will be moving to my own apartment soon from my parents' house, but I will have supports in place. Hopefully I'll also get the Autism Waiver soon which would give me staff all day, everyday.

That is my problem, is I forget too eat, and have gone up to a week with no food, about the only time I do cook is when my room mate is on her weekend.

That's my issue. Half the time I just end up snacking on cereal, but if I could eat grilled cheese or soup every night then I'd be perfectly alright with it. In fact, that's what I tend to do at University -- same food, same place, same time, and it's absolutely fantastic!!

LOL I do the same thing. I had leftover pizza and a Pop-Tart for lunch today. Tonight, I'm going to have Campbell's soup and maybe a piece of watermelon for dinner.

i can live independletly, i still need to aquire certain skills most have to do with coping mechanisms, and certain acquired skills to develoup my motor skills such has hand eye coordination for driving

Ohh no that is Karl Marx!! !


"The human being is in the most literal sense a political animal not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can individuate itself only in the midst of society. Production by an isolated individual outside society ... is as much of an absurdity as is the development of language without individuals living together and talking to each other."

Marx, The Grundrisse (1857)

Perhaps living on one's own may be a better term? Though everyone has called the things that I have to work on to achieve that 'independent living skills' so perhaps it could also be taken as degrees of independence.

At this point I could not live on my own. I do not have all of the skills that I need to keep up a house and hold my life together there. I could probably hold a job just as I can cope with school and research but other than that I could not do too much. That said, I am still 16 and have time to gain skills.

Right now I am working on learning things like laundry, dish-washing, meal preparation, how to get things in a store, how to keep my space organized and clean, good hygiene, and so many other things that I cannot live alone without. Still, I cannot always perform those tasks. My abilities vary all of the time. Right now I still need people to walk me through the tasks even when I am at my best. My goal is to be able to do those things without being walked through when I am at my best and with a walk through at other times. So I will be able to live alone with some support.

As far as actually going out and getting things that I need goes that can be difficult. I cannot drive due to sensory processing issues and public transport is difficult. Going into large stores is impossible and small ones are difficult. These are things that cannot be learned for me to do on my own. I am hoping to get a service dog as an adult so that I can actually navigate the world around me. The dog will do things similar to a guide and hearing dog with some other tasks.

I hope that someday I can live on my own with a service dog. If I cannot, I am going to have lots of issues because in Massachusetts the state has no services for autistic adults who are not also mentally ret*d. Only kids.