Gutcruncher

"Free" schools are a slippery slope to all schools being privatised.

Is there any other relevant charity/organisation you can suggest I approach please? I'm out of options and ideas, many seem to react very badly to hearing the term "Aspergers".

Oh. I was just told to speak to them, by NextStep, after I told them it's not worth them suggesting sham NAS.

They said they wouldn't help in the end when I asked about employment help... As predicted they said go to the NAS (but, again, called it the "Aspergers Society"), at least the phone operator said that. These sham organisations have phone line operators who go bezerk if you mention Aspergers. They (Mencap) have some info on their website about Aspergers but a few web pages aren't useful really.

I was advised to speak to Mencap, as the NAS and their local equivalent (WAS) I've had no luck with ever. Do they help people with AS? I'm worried that like every other similar organisation (and 'disability' charity) will just tell me to go to NAS again, they all seem to do that. What help could they offer, from your experience, if I get that far? (There is a local Mencap drop-in group I could go to but I spoke to the organiser and she said I "wouldn't fit in".)

I don't think I'm a full "Aspie" either, as in I probably have something that crosses over with AS/ASD, or very similar, but Aspergers was an easy, safe, uncontroversial diagnosis to make, so it stuck with me... Perhaps it's something that is not yet a discovered medical condition as such, who knows? I'm never found myself similar to any other "Aspie" I've personally met, to be honest.

Look, I am desperate to earn money. Does anyone know of decent sheltered work opportunities? (Not workfare, but paying work where I can be looked after to cope. I bet relatives several times a week for help like that, but after years, they won't lift a finger.) I have been applying for stuff locally, the response is either no response, or they will say, we don't take people with Aspergers. Mental health organisations regard it as a disability, disability organisations regard it as mental health... There's no hope.

I have to admit that I got support at college and later university (a notetaker with me all the time, someone to see in the learning support department once a week to talk to tutors for me). Obviously I did all the academic work myself, all the essays, exams, everything, but I got help to manage. I need some kind of support to manage the workplace, to be honest. It seems like I will have to source and pay for that support completely privately... Which I won't be able to do without employment, and a decent level of employment at that. So I'm in an impossible situation. Again, I have no idea where I'm meant to get that from. There's only NextSTEP which is free... and they couldn't help (said the usual go to the NAS response) after the two appointments you are allowed. I may "lack direction", but that is because my long-held career ambitions are basically unaffordable or unobtainable, so I have no idea what to do. Yes, there are career questionnaires and tests, but they don't help if they suggest careers which would have required me to have taken completely different qualifications from age 14 onwards... I have been applying here and there but am turned away. I only apply for suitable voluntary work (nothing too 'social', nothing that requires driving, no heavy physical work) but that leads nowhere. I admit that I lack references, which doesn't help, and gets me turned down, as does declaring Aspergers. It's also frustrating as a lot of the local volunteer vacancies are very specific about what skills they require, but those skills they won't provide/train/qualify you in.

I'm not sure what to do. Should I accept that, literally, I'm never going to get any help in any form whatsoever? How will I cope with accepting that?

....

Look I AM: 1.) Applying for basic minimum wage jobs (thats all I apply for at the moment) 2.) i'm not expecting miracles/an ideal job straight away. 3.) in a position where I can't afford new courses/qualifications to acquire new skills

I never ever stated that I thought that a "dream job" would happen. I mean any form of employment. I literally have never worked before, despite wanting to work and always applying for work when expected of me. I am not a refusenik. I would be more employable if my Aspergers disappeared. Otherwise, if you means courses/qualifications, I literally cannot afford to get any more. You don't get them free or cut price if you are on benefits if you already have A-levels or above, as I do (all straight A grades, I'll add ). I apply for "badly paid" jobs. I always have. I apply for the most basic entry level minimum wage jobs and fail to get them. I don't apply for literally "anything" as there are some jobs I wouldn't be capable of doing (e.g. anything involving driving, or a job at anywhere that would require a car journey, as I have epilepsy and thus cannot get a driving licence). I would appreciate it if I was allowed to answer other people here.

I've not been given anyone to support me, I haven't ever. I got learning support at school, college and university, and that was it. If you say to a GP, where do I get help, they say NAS or WAS, who won't help, or send you to "mental health" people who say, Aspergers isn't a mental health condition, or Aspergers is a new condition, we don't know much about it or whether it's "real", or you don't even get that far.

ISTP/ISFP borderline here.

Also, the "learn new skills" bit, I cannot get money or funding for more qualifications. I really want to do that, ideally a Masters. But there is no possible means to finance it.