Homeless guy I know has Autism

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Hello. This is long and the only point of my posting here is for two reasons:

#1 To figure out if the homeless man may be eligible for disability benefits (we are in Florida)

#2 To get a feel for if his lack of effort in every facet of his life is related most closely to being a lazy, having autism, being depressed or something else.

I have been helping a homeless man out for a year and a half. It started out with small gestures of kindness - buying him a meal, spending time with him, buying him a phone etc. At different periods of time I would let him stay with me for a week or two. We became friends. I genuinely enjoyed his company. His name is Doug. Ive always liked this name after watching the Doug cartoon on Nickolodeon.

Dougs history is his story to tell but its unlikely anyone here will ever meet him so ill cliffs it later in this story. Before that I should say I was friends with a man with Aspergers for 15 years. This man never worked, his parents were wealthy and took care of him and he died at 40 of severe alcoholism. I have a theory that he drank because of sensory overload symptoms of the aspergers and it allowed him to socialize more smoothly. When i say severe alcoholism Imagine someone hiding vodka in a water bottle and sipping it from the time they wake up. He was confirmed as having Aspergers, i would characterize him as medium to high functioning, never worked not sure he could have as breaking routine for him would cause meltdowns and tantrums. I lived with him for several years.

Doug is definitely on the spectrum but hides it incredibly well. Most people cant figure out why hes homeless. He does not do drugs or alcohol at all. I am not a doctor but imoDoug is high functioning aspergers and severe ADD. Im not going to list every single instance of his autistic behavior lets just say the only reason i can even tell is the 15 years knowing the other man. Dougs very high functioning and can out trivia game anyone i know. Hes not dumb but its apparent he has a learning disability which again imo is most likely ADD and Aspergers. One of the better examples I can give is the time I took him to the gym to workout. I let him know id be giving him instructions and doing the same workout with him. "Hey Doug come here ill show you how to bicep curl". He proceeds to go flip on a tv to watch the baseball game, gets on a treadmill for 5 minutes, gets off that gets on a random leg machine doing the exercise wrong, gets on some other random machine, no real plan no structure basically the biggest diking around fest youve ever seen in your life sampling different exercises like it was a dessert buffet and doing nothing that would constitute a workout or that could ever impact the bodys cardiovascular, respiratory, or muscular systems in a positive way in any way shape or form ever even if he did this workout on a continuous loop for 10 hours a day for infinity years, all while ignoring my directions. Now picture him doing this anytime concentration has been involved - when i bought him the phone and we had to activate it, when i would take him to gov offices to fill out paperwork, etc

This is getting long so ill try to hurry up and give more detailed responses if people are curious. Doug is 60 years old. He has had many factors working against him that steered him towards homelessness. He was one of the first white kids to go to the desegregated black school and was bullied. Single mother. Dad was an alcoholic that abandoned the family. Held jobs in his 20s working at a pizza shop, publix, giving tennis lessons. The tennis lessons bring into question what type of autism or aspergers he has. Im not an expert on this subject but i thought good hand-eye coordination was the exception with these. He hasnt worked for 30 years. Ages 30 to 60 off and on homelessness and mostly unemployed. Mother recognizes he cant hold a job, takes him in at different times. The last 10 years of her life if you ask him she had ahlzheimers and he did the right thing taking care of her. If you ask his sister he mooched off her and used her for food and a place to live. His sister had him cut out of the will. He probably would not be homeless if this hadnt happened. He has had many painful events in his life.

Ok back to my original two questions

#1 he hasnt worked in the last 20 years. His autism (or whatever learning disability he has) is very hard to pick up on because hes articulate and smart. Does he stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting put on disability?

#2 I helped him get numerous documents needed to finally get him an id card. Everyone that knows him has said he will not work. After investing many hours and days into helping him i asked him to go activate food stamps at the government agency across town. I said he could take his bicycle or i would pay for bus pass. He flat out refuses unless i drive him. At this point i made it pretty clear how disappointed and frustrated i am. We actually had a falling out over this but reconciled after i told him "i dont know if you're the laziest lerson i know or if this is your learning disability. No one knows - in fact only you know". To get an obamaphone he has to prove he is on food stamps. From there he can apply for jobs. The phone i bought him he doesnt have minutes and just uses it to look at porn and play games all day every day. I have zero faith he will ever work a job. If I dont help him he will never get any other free federal services activated. I need to really understand from the perspective of people that really understand autism and aspergers that this is not his fault, that he does need someone to go with him every step of the way, sit with him while he fills out applications etc. Because frankly if hes just lazy i dont want to bother with this anymore beyond having conversations and buying him an occasional meal.

Sorry kinda long but again the two questions are all im looking for help with.

If he has less then $2,000 in assets which it sounds like he does he is eligible for SSI.

He has to prove that he has an eligible disability, though.

Don't be hard on him, it may be an executive functioning issue.

If he works, in most cases he has to deal with people all day every day, this can be hard at the best of times, but if people are creul to him then it's made even worse.

Lazy has nothing to do with it...maybe its psychological distress?

We do live in a world right now where compassion and understanding is limited.

He may never be able to cope with conventional employment....but is there something unconventional he could do instead? Anything?

Think outside of the box.

It’s really hard to get SSI without a detailed medical history. They want to see that someone is seeking treatment (like therapy, rehabilitation, and medication) and wants to get better.

Your homeless friend's situation is not unique. I've met quite a few homeless people over the years who, for one stupid reason or another, absolutely refuse to get themselves together.

One guy said he doesn't get SSI/SSDI because he has no ID. I asked him why. He said he can't prove who he is as all his papers were lost. I told him there are agencies like DSHS that will help him but he has to go to them. He flatly refuses, preferring to remain homeless and without Federal aid.

There's a guy on here who I told him how and where to get an Obamaphone. He's never worked on it. I've told that same guy how and where to get his high school transcripts. He's never worked on that, either. I've told this same guy how and where to get subsidize housing but he's never worked on that, either. Finally, I've told him how and where to contact people in his area that are trained to help the elderly, disabled and homeless. He's failed to act on that, too. After a while, you do have to wash your hands of your assistance because, obviously, you're just wasting time.

Of course one can get better despite having autism; one cannot be cured of autism, though.

I've known I was eccentric since I read Dr. David Weeks' book several years ago.
I recently read two books by Temple Grandin and in one she says that eccentricity is the same as Asperger's, so...
I've been legally homeless since December of 1984, when I moved into the first of three vans that I have lived in (sometimes down by a river:-), based on HHS's definition thereof.
Is there anyone else here with a similar or same "alternative" lifestyle?

What is a "bender?"
How does one reply directly here without quoting?

A 'bender' is a tent (Br. slang).

To reply without quoting, just click the 'Reply' button at the bottom of the page.

How do I direct a reply to the poster to whom I want it go without quoting. Maybe I'm being too Aspie?:-)

Use the 'PM' button at the lower left of the post. That will open a window to the "Private Message" service. You type in the subject, the name of the member, and the message you want to send. Then click the 'Submit' button.