Therapist says Aspies can't work, should be on disability

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Did half these so-called "therapists" get their masters from the bottom of a cereal box?
They're little more than glorified, overpaid psycologists!

I think it is complete ridiculous for an aspie to try and get on disability! Talk about abusing the system! How could anyone be so self centered? I mean taking the governments money like that! Shame on anyone who uses Asperger's as an excuse to not work!

Get a new therapist.

There are a lot of jobs that aspies can excel at, and some of them are pretty good jobs.

GETTING jobs can be hard, doing them is easier to figure out.

Unfortunately your therapist may be right . It is almost impossible for an autistic to hold down a job because there is so much discrimination. If an autistic can hold down a job they have to work ten times harder and they are not allowed to make mistakes. Rather than giving autistics reasonable accomadations bosses actually hold autistics to a higher standard then they do neurotypicals. Bosses give horrible instructions and will only make clarifications to neurotypicals.
Bosses also love to implement work rules retroactively and blame the autistic for not following the retroactive rules. Bosses think that training autistic workers is a waste of time so an autistic will have to be self taught. Bosses are like snakes and vipers and will write an autistic up for the tiniest infractions. And this is how bosses treat high functioning autistics. Can you imagine what work would be like if you were low functioning and had to use a communication device? Bosses are especially resentfull if an autistic shows any i ntelligence because this threatens the bosses ego.

to a extend your therapist could be right.
being a Aspie i find it difficult to hold onto jobs.
i have changed around 20 jobs in span of 3-4 years.

Now presently im at a new job and i find it hard to handle
the comments passed by my colleagues.
they tease me and mock fun at me
i usually come back home and sit crying for hours
i dont know how long i will continue there.

It really depends on a variety of factors, including how strong your sensory issues and how well you manage the stress of the work place (difficult interpersonal interactions, the cost benefit analysis that allows imperfect product to leave the door, processes that can be perceived as chaos to someone with AS, having to follow stupid orders just to show loyalty, etc). But I would, as many here are, be worried about a therapist that takes failure as a foregone conclusion. I live near Silicon Valley where it is considered common knowledge that tech companies are filled with Aspies. My husband has done just fine making a living as an engineer, even though the types of workplace stresses noted earlier seem to make it best if he can change jobs every four or five years, and occasionally take a full on sabbatical. That sort of thing can be worked in once you realize you need it.

Interviewing is definitely a nightmare for many, but supports can help there, too.

I would never accept an "Aspies can't work" statement, and challenge your therapist to explain himself and why he would give that advice to you.

Union! I've had the same day job for the last 5 years, it pays nothing but keeps me earning and out of the house.... where I tend to fall apart most. This is the longest I've ever held a job, my last bench mark being about a year and a half.

The only difference I can come up with in this position vs. all the others I've had is the lax attitude. It's a shaved money job with reasonably high turn over but if you can do your job adequately , not mouth off to much, know your union reps phone number ; ) it's doable.

I'm a dispatcher, my job consists of sitting at a computer for my shift and informing customers if their delivery will be late and helping the drivers to find residences. Some times I never have to touch the phone.

I've considered disability because of the fact this job pays so little I can not live on my own or support myself and my child.... my employer even encourages people to get on welfare! Grrr! I am not.

For various real reasons, not the Oh that's too hard kind of excuses, I can not go back to school or train to do something else and without a union I would have been dropped the first time I screamed "I can't take this!" and walked out. And my side job is not something most people are proud of or wish to advertise especially when they have children, nothing illegal : ) lol

In my situation it would mean being able to move closer to my bff, who wants me to move closer and wants to help me do better, as well as taking away my fear of be homeless with a young child and losing custody of said child.

For now at least I'm happy to stay employed.

Anyone On disability? Has it helped or hurt?

Not true at all! Some with AS have issues that make it hard or impossible for them to be financially self-supporting (wholly or partly)--but that isn't true for everyone.

It's probebly true for me but not for everyone.

It would be hard getting a job if you were blind - but lots of blind people do.

It would be hard getting a job if you were in a wheelchair - but people in wheelchairs find jobs.

I don't think it's all about the disability. Of course it's harder if you're not 'normal'. But I think it's far worse to slide into social isolation and make 'having a job' some huge terrifying monster of a concept.

There's a guy at my workplace who can't read or write. I think it's likely an IQ issue. But he pushes patients round the hospital, on trolloes and in wheelchairs, can expertly plaster a wrist or ankle, and as long as you give him jobs one at a time, is cheerful and great to work with. He probably could get disability payments, but what would that gain him?

I've had nearly twenty years in the workforce. I've been bullied and harrassed, I've had incredible moments of success, I've laughed and cried and taken work home with me or slunk off early on a sunny day. I've been called in on my days off and sent off on annual leave when I cracked under the stress. I've played cricket down the length of the department on Christmas morning, floored psychotic patients, delivered babies, held the hands of the dying, snatched people back from (almost) certain death. I've talked to Lords and celebrities, addicts and homeless, prisoners and victims.

Of course it's been hard - it's a stream of constant misunderstandings, it requires a level of concentration that can drive me into the ground. But I'm part of it. Part of society, helping make it a better place to be. That's what work is.

And I'm grateful to:
the guy at the tip who takes my bags of empty cat food tins with a grin.
The girl with Down's who stacks the tins on the supermarket shelves
The guys who filled in the ENORMOUS pothole outside my house.
The woman who remembers how I like my coffee at the cafe on the way to work
The paramedics who agreed to do overtime and transfer the sick child to intensive care at another hospital this afternoon
The 70 year old cardiologist who wasn't at all put out by having to ask a 42 year old whippersnapper like me how you fill in the new hospital prescriptions
Our ward aide who quietly collects my coffee mug and washes it up and never tells me I'm really old enough to be doing it myself now
My colleagues who put up with me using words like 'etymology' and my meltdown because people never tear the prescriptions off the pads correctly
The woman in the call centre who sorted me out when I'd booked all the wrong flights, and didn't call me an idiot.
Helpful receptionists who drop everything to fax me the information I need to treat people
Haematologists who call at 2300 to say 'I've been told you're just about to give some prothrombinex. Do you need any help or advice about that?'
The guy at the garage who got a new starter motor for me in 12 hours and fitted it the next day so I could be on-call.
The guy who trimmed my hedge from eleven feet to a neat and tidy eight feet.
The postie who always waves.
The colleague who has nine cats and calls me an amateur because I've only got five.

Whatever job you do, you are part of a system that makes other people's lives better. It's tough interacting with people, but if you don't risk the bad stuff, you don't get the good stuff. No one should be told they can't work, and in even the most menial jobs, as long as you find a group of decent people to work alongside, you'll be able to find rewards.

Go for it!

I do agree that aspies can work though I do agree that it is more difficult. We speak a different language, metaphorically speaking. We often are misunderstood. Unconsciously most of the time.

But it can be done. Might require emigration, but can work (I moved to Ireland for my job, but so far it is good, I have been working here for about 7 months now and I work in a "higher" job now at least temporarily). Is difficult in this economy, but for every one. Requires acting during the interviews but that too is true for everyone.

Sometimes, it is difficult, some people with Asperger's cannot do it, sure, but can be done...