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.

Done all that. Waste of time. Sent in a circle, organisation X says go away, organisation Y is where you get help. Organisation Y sends you back to organisation X and suggests organisation Z as an alternative, organisation Z sends you back to X and Y. It's no good at all ever contacting social services. I wrote to my MP asking what to do, the NAS and Wessex Autistic Society won't help, explaining that they won't help, neither will social services which will be needed to fund NAS or WAS. The MP just wrote back with contact details for NAS and WAS, obviously hadn't understood/read my letter. I can't cope with self employment. I tried that once and had a breakdown and was sectioned, was inside nearly six months. I will never try self employment again unless I have one-to-one constant supervision and help, as otherwise I will end up in hospital again. That was a living hell, so violent, so unsafe, I never want to risk that happening again. I cannot use a phone or organise myself and have no "skills" so I cannot manage self employment. I need employment where I am constantly looked after, and most importantly, know what I'm doing when. I have massive problems knowing what to do when, I can't manage without that sort of help. I applied for DLA and got turned down. I had CAB fill out my forms. They put "personality disorder" as my problem on the forms, saying that is what Aspergers is, but I know it isn't. But that's what they put down and how the form went off. I had to see a doctor 6 months later, to see if I could walk and hear properly etc, and was rejected. You can't get DLA is you have Aspergers if they check you for physical problems. (Yes it was DLA, Disability Living Allowance).

I'm just sitting in front of my computer all alone again, it's not a "special" day for me. Can't even go out for a walk as it's loud outside, full of aggressive drunks. How I hate Christmas and alcohol.

Sorry to ask this at Christmas time. I should be thinking of that, but Christmas is meaningless to me, I don't have the income to enjoy it, and the condition affects me so much, no amount of frivolous festivities can distract me from that. Basically, I have been turned away from social services and mental health services for the six and a half years since I left university. I have had literally no support since then. I haven't worked because I am not able to unsupported, and honestly 99.9% of employers would consider me unemployable because of my label, so the competitive market mechanisms for getting employment bars me from work. I have tried self employment but it is far far too stressful, I had a breakdown and haven't recovered years later. (I also have no "skills" as I am an academic person.) I need help getting supported work, but actual work with a paying wage, not workfare slavery. As I can't get social services help or support or funding, I don't know where or how to get hold of this. I may have to pay out privately to get support, but I'd need to be working in the first place to afford that, and it'd have to be a decent job with a decent (stable) income. What can I do? Short of winning the Lottery, how can I get the money together?

I found the side effects of any and all of them (and I have been on at least 5) were far worse than what it was meant to "treat". The withdrawal effects from taking the dose a few hours late, and the hormone imbalance problems (hair loss, extreme mood swings), are just horrific.

Remploy farm people for exploitative 'workfare' placements. They are an awful organisation, they have no interest in getting you into mainstream employment than pays the minimum wage. Worse, they have NO understanding of AS/ASD, or what AS/ASD causes in terms of limitations in the workplace, for example think retail jobs in a busy environment are suitable.

The trouble with mixing with other "Aspies" is that it seems impossible for them to communicate, they talk about private interests and themselves and little else. Try talking about employment situations and how to improve them, they can't comprehend that not everyone's life situations are completely identical, and that what they did (parents supplying employment, etc) you may not be able to. The lack of even the most basic levels of empathy in other "Aspies" I found shocking. I honestly have never felt more alienated in my life meeting up with fellow "Aspies". It seems worse to me than sitting home alone with no one there to talk to, which I what I do anyway. To think there are people with the same problem as you, but can't; communicate with you, and can be very nasty and unpleasant, that is terrifying to experience and contemplate.

I got suggested going to a "social group" too but that is not going to help me. The help I need is in issues like employment, pressingly so in employment, and sitting in with people who can't hold a social conversation won't help that.

I did see the local CMHT but they didn't want to see me for more than an initial meeting because they said, we don't know about Aspergers, we don't know if it actually exists as it's a new condition, and you are learning disabled rather than mental illness. Even saw the CMHT psychiatrist he said "you're on your own" (literally in those words), wouldn't see me for follow ups. Hejust suggested working for my parents which isn;t an option.

I don't think there's much help at all for adults. NAS have always told me to go away as I 1.) don't have social services funding (direct payments etc) 2.) can't afford their services out of pocket and 3.) live nowhere near there geographical areas.

Look, the problem is NOT because I don't know about the existence of such jobs, it is because I CAN'T GET THEM. I have no work experience, work history or references to use. I have had my last job interview in 2006. Also I cannot drive (epilepsy) so retails jobs I'm not able to get to to do. I don't think I could handle the social aspect I can't even cope going to shops