At the moment, I am fed up

Post Reply New Topic

I am going to use this space to vent because I am in tears because I am so tired of

1. People discover that though we look normal, they find out we are autistic and underestimate what we can or cannot do. One minute we have potential and then the next minute, they shove us to the side for others
2. Organizations that preach against the high rates of unemployment and underemployment of people on the spectrum and yet they exploit certain people while offering them false promises
3. Family members and other people who tell us we can't do this or that but patronize is with "I don't know why you are so upset because you do such a good job doing this or that." Yet, they wonder why there are people on the spectrum who have issues managing their emotions and sometimes engage in violent behaviors.

yeah i have had similar experiences.
1 the most.
2 quite a lot but not from organisations that are trying to help those with autism, just organisations in general offering false promises.
The number of 'help wanted' ads in windows and news reports of so many available jobs leads to:
related to 3:, but if someone cant find a job their family could label them as lazy,sponging or other negative label.

On number 2: I was a client at an autism center and happened to be working on my associates degree. They knew that I wanted to be a mentor and a counselor to others on the spectrum. They made a a couple false promises to start a mentor program but gaslighting me in front of other people.

I eventually caught on called them on the carpet for lying to me and stopped accepting their services.

Their reasons? They want me to stay on so they could get paid

yes getting 'help' from an institution is difficult unfortunately. Also difficult to get help from individuals

I've personally experienced this a lot. Primarily as an adolescent, and thankfully not as much now, as I know how to tune out such 'noise'. It was the usual following questions from people:

"Have you read [Insert book involving Autistic character here]?"
"Have you seen [Insert Film/TV series involving Autistic character here]?"

And my personal 'favourite':

"Have you heard of [Insert famous person here]? They were Autistic, and look at what they went on to do!"

I don't for a second discredit whoever's cited or their achievements. But instead of the mantra; "If I/they can do it, so can you!", I much prefer "I can't believe I did that." A shame though that ironically our needs are negated in the process in favour of praising others, and using that as motivation.



Very much this. I end up in the following cycle:

- Enrolled into employment programme.
- Asked about my skills and hobbies.
- Show them, and they are amazed and offer me a job at said company.
- Eventually peters out, and they play hot and cold with me.
- Am signposted to another employment programme.
- See the first point.



This is well-intentioned. Attempts to encourage on what has been achieved so far, but is usually delivered in a ham-fisted manner. In my personal experience, this sentence; alongside "Don't be silly or so hard on yourself." and what I wrote further up, all go hand in hand.

Just know you're not alone with such feelings of helplessness and exasperation with it all, if that's any comfort.

I believe that I am capable of a lot more, I just feel like people don't want to deal with things like the meltdowns and some of the other autistic traits.