Should people with an ASD work at all or collect a benefit?

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You are very artistic. I think you are very talented. I loved that curtain you did of the tree and the animals, it looked fun and really cute!

It is a postcode-lottery with the DSS (DWP or whatever they're called this week), and in London I have always been left-alone, as the Drs (Oxleas & SLaM, particularly) here are good at writing letters, and there so many punters on welfare in London it's too much of a faff to get them into work. In Kent and Sussex, it's a different story - the Drs there won't write letters for you to present to the DSS for them to exempt you from these work-programmes. It's also a work-ethic and affordability: reaslistically, as the state is paying their rent, then in places such as Lewisham & Lambeth, where the 2-bed amounts are ca £1,100 pcm, it's no-wonder many of them go down the loony / bad back route, as a fart-arsed wage won't cover it, and these psychiatrists just want you out, and tick all the ICD boxes in the book... Hence I have a number of mental problems as well as ASC, and I am incredibly indebted to Greenwich Oxleas for this.

Sussex left me alone, only because of who and where I was registered with, and the inference of that. Others were not so lucky. Kent got me a job and I couldn't cope, and then went back to London and Bexley Oxleas just put 'he last worked in an office and now cannot work. Refer to Mind's Day Services for theraputic activities'.

What is to say people who don't work spend all their time sitting around? I'd lose my mind if I did that....I am not functional enough to work but I do still need to get out of the house and there are activities I take part in and am trying to motivate myself to try doing some volunteering.

I think in most cases there are jobs that everyone can do. But some jobs suit us better than others.

I was kinda lucky in my first job. I didn't work in one of those terrible open plan offices. We had offices that two or three shared. It was a company policy that the average should be two and at most three. I also had a project manager that was very encouraging. He actually invited me to a talk where he told me I did a good job. Sorta like a pep-talk. That motivated me a lot.

Of course there were some annoyances that got worse due to my ASD. I particularly remember that one of the guys in my room had a phone with the volume turned all the way up. So when he took of the thing you talk into, it would produce this ear drum shatteringly loud tone. I never could understand how he could live with that. The guy was really loud. And he used the telephone a lot.

Looking back, I kinda miss the place. Especially since I'm unemployed. But I know there are places where I'll fit in better.

But yeah. I'm quite certain all or almost all of us could find a suitable job.

I find that the approach the "experts" use is completely ineffective. They have the same copy and paste type of cover letter with the same wording that they tell everyone to use. They told me to use that kind of cover letter. I never got any offers for interviews. So, I went online and did some research. I found an article that called those cover letters "copy, paste, personality-free", and they said that you should let your personality show through your cover letter, and basically just write why you want to work with their company. You need to do something that makes you stand out from every other copy/paste cover letter. They also said that since they go through dozens and dozens of resumes and cover letters, if you can do something that will make them laugh or smile, that will make them remember you. So, I decided to let my sense of humour show in my cover letter, and put a joke at the top of the page (It was for a job in the science field, so the joke I put on the page was "a neutron walks into a bar and asks the bartender how much for a beer. The bartender says 'for you? no charge'). I read some of the things on their website that their company does, and told them the things I found interesting that their company does. The very first company I sent that cover letter to called me for an interview. (Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to interview with them because later that same day, they hired someone else).

I don't know how these so-called "experts" manage to keep their jobs when their methods are completely ineffective.

I think that if you can secure a job, you should absolutely work a job. There's so much to learn about everything, and it can be such a rewarding experience both on the job and off, especially for someone with Asperger's, where the sense of self-reliance and accomplishment is a bit harder to come by for us in our modern culture.
This spring, I worked my first job at a large pizza buffet, and I always enjoyed learning about what all goes into running a productive business on the ground level. I learned how to bus tables, how to keep a buffet full, clean and fresh, and how to make small talk with employees and coworkers. I could never work more than 20 hours a week because of school, but I was paying for my own food, gas, etc.,I could fall asleep at night, and I met a great girl there. We had us an amazing relationship for about 3 months.
Yes, work was a challenge and I had to push myself, and I had to keep a thick skin sometimes. There were awkward moments and my managers/coworkers would get on me when I did a poor job at something or worked too slowly, and half of the buffet thought I was gay and made fun of my little quirks, but it was all in good fun, and my girlfriend thought I was adorable.
If you've got something to offer (even if it's just a willingness to learn new skills and get your hands dirty), and you feel like you can deal with the work environment's sounds and smells and demands, I would say that you're cheating yourself by not going out and working.

Personally I couldn't take a taxpayers' check, because I believe that taxation is theft.

Of course we should work! We should do whatever jobs we can that we like or are passionate about, OR whatever job we need to to get by when we have to.

Saying we should just get a diagnosis and use that as an excuse to give up on working at all is a defeatist attitude that I want nothing to do with. I'd rather work and struggle here and there than just give up and declare myself useless and devoid of economic value. F that. I'll just work harder and harder until I can do whatever it is I want to do for a living. Period.

, If someones autism and/or comorbids prevents them from functioning well enough to hold a job....its not using it as an excuse to give up. Its applying for government aid so you have a little bit of something to try and live on since you are unable to get and/or keep employment. I wish people wouldn't just automatically assume someones just using their condition as an excuse not to work.....when usually it actually interferes with their functioning to that extent, actually sort of hard to get approved for disability and what not if your just using it as an excuse and really could go out, get a job and make income if you'd just get off your ass.

Also people who don't have jobs are not useless, and who cares about economic value.....humans want to be worth money? that is disturbing to me for some reason.

Tho OP asked if most people with Autism should work at all.

IMO, any of us that can work, should.

There was a time I could't work when my symptoms were bad. I did something about it because there was no way I was going to accept that as my reality. I never applied for any sort of government benefits because I did not want to feel as though I'd given up and that was my permanent state in life. I did, however, rely on the charity of friends/family for a roof over my head. But then I figured out how to treat myself and be able to function at a higher level than ever in my life and have since been back to work full time plus earning my way in the world.

Not everyone who doesn't earn money is useless, but I'd feel pretty low if I couldn't earn enough to support myself. People want to be self sufficient, whether that meant hunting & gathering, or earning and spending. I could not personally settle for being an economic burden on my friends, family, or society if there was anything I could do about it. So, I kept learning until I figured out what to do about it and have since done it. Now I can earn my way through life and feel good about being able to do so.

I am well aware of what the OP asked...hence why I think my initial response to the thread says something about how it depends on the individual with autism.

Of course if someone can work they should, unless they have another way to get by like going of the grid and being self sufficient or there's communes and what not one could go to there is stuff like that...but yes if someone can work they certainly should not be applying for benefits rather than working. However if one does apply for benefits there is a good chance they legitimately cannot hold a job otherwise its called fraud.

I have tried just dealing with my mental issues myself and getting on with it, just hasn't worked...I was relying on essentially chairity of family for quite a while, even while applying for disability thing is they cannot afford to support me and themselves...and the ones that potentially could would likely be unwilling due to not being close family or too selfish. So yeah Its unlikely my functioning will significantly improve all that soon so that was sort of the option I had...for me that was 'doing something about it' applying for SSI and medicaid. And now I know have a monthly income and medicaid covers my therapy/psych appointments, general doctors appointments and helps with med costs though that's not usually much of an issue to begin with. But basically without that i have even less access to treatment for all this crap which would make it more likely my being unable to function on a job would be permanent. I don't see any of that as giving up, if anything I now have more options in life.

Also I constantly feel low and like a burden over it, but I disagree with that....society and the media likes to pound such ideas into peoples heads. So yes I get those feelings but I do not think I or anyone else in my position is a 'burden' if members of society are considered burdens due to functioning difficulties what has it come to. Why do people think 'working' is the only thing one could do to have any worth as a human being...I just don't get it. Not to mention the vast majority of humans would suck at being 'self sufficient' in the literal meaning usually humans fare much better in groups.

Here is an interesting perspective on this question:

http://www.jamesmw.com/employment.htm

It's quite easy: One need only have interests and hobbies and a sense of self-worth that comes from something other than employment.

brilliant starkid!

thankfuly disability benefits arent automaticaly given to people apart from people with terminal illnesses that have less than six months to live [DLA/PIP].

people who can work with diagnosed ASD,shoud not have benefits but access to specialist support with getting a accomodating job,courses based around jobs,building coping and social and communication skills, confidence etc.

people whose ASD clashes with their ability to work shoud have access to benefits which they do.

am LFA and a student at the david lewis center [a special college, for people with LFA and/or severe complex epilepsy with ID],the course am on is learning small, exotics & farm animal management [as well as having animal therapy] but after a while there is possibility of having a paid job there if are good enough and many people end up getting jobs outside the college at the end of the course.
am a staff of a social services intelectual disability team on their service users panel,whenever they have interviews coming up am asked to come and interview people for all kinds of care jobs for the team;anything from pyschiatrists, to SALTs, to OTs, to community support workers, to autism specialists-am always told that the people getting interviewed find it far more challenging getting interviewed by self rather than the formal interview they have to go through as well.

without even contacting them have now been offered a paid job by a company to train people on autism and intellectual disability,as thanks to word of mouth they have heard of own experiences with LFA and ID and also the knowledge that have of disabilities and of the activism and self advocacy that do.

am completely unemployable in mainstream society and cannot even access sheltered workshops as the UK government shut them all down years ago in the name of 'equality' without understanding they were taking equality away from those of us with LFA, but it is entirely possible for us to work when we have the right attitude,the drive to contribute to society and the right backing behind us in highly secure/ supportive environments.

have seen HFAs on some non disability related forums announce theyre giving up working as soon as they get diagnosed because they automaticaly assume a label imposed on them by the medical community means they cant do anything,have never understood this thinking because all have ever wanted is to prove to people am not NON functioning and am able to contribute to society in some form or another.

I have asked this same question here with a poll and i got mixed responses

My answer is clear NO....Aspies should not work

I am graduate, with computer skills and teachers training course. I was thrown out of a job in 2008 reason
i was told i dont smile, my work is not good enough. My colleagues were actually not doing work, the headmistress
had seen my colleague whiling away time sitting on computer and chatting but she wasnt reprimanded whereas i was asked to leave
since my rapport was anyhow poor with people i didnt get support from anyone.

So for 3 years i was at home and then i decided to start working again. I got a job with a NGO going into slums teaching
the slumkids i was able to do the job but was bullied by colleagues and called names. I kept on going into depression
and had a full blown bipolar type high and low effect which needed medication but still i continued working though the bullying
was getting worser. My colleagues befriended me just to dummp their work on me and use me and once work was done they kicked me
off.

Finally after working hard and doing my best going into slums and teaching the kids everything. One fine day i was lambasted
left and right by our Project Head.

She kept saying that i dont have a smile and atleast i learned to smile after working there. She said i am negative person who hates
the world who is bad at her work, she said I am useless and i was crying inconsolably but she continued with the lambasting.
Moreover she started comparing me to other colleagues saying they are so and so whereas you are a zero.

The insults and humiliation gave me 2 sleepless night i became suicidal i was about to attempt suicide and maybe just thinking of my son i changed my mind.

I couldnt bear the insult and I swear i really worked hard very hard but all she gave me was humiliation.

So without ranting more i will say i wont ever again in my life risk heading to find a job. i wont mind begging on the street
for food but no job please.

One more insult and i will attempt suicide.

I appreciate all your answers. One thing I would like to tell younger people is: I am in my 50s and I hate the fact that I have nearly 30 years of bad memories of looking for work and not getting it and not being able to get help (Here in America most insurance is part of your job) so I was untreated. I live in a community where because of all that looking, there are a lot of people who think I am messed up, even though I am now treated. Had I known of my diagnosis earlier, I would never have chosen a health career which I cannot do because of this condition. I would have looked for jobs that might have been a better fit and possibly had more support if that was possible. In my experiences Aspies should NOT choose careers in health care, food service, and retail (this is even though I wanted to be a salesclerk but the boss said I "could not handle the customers"). I have tried to work in a trade, but again, the people hiring think I "cannot handle it". I have also had the problem of coworkers talking bad things about me (like I pace, look worried, etc) then tell the boss and I get yelled at. But not fired, no, they don't want to pay unemployment so they make it so difficult you leave.

I think I am trying to save people going through that so they don't end up my age and have nothing to look forward to.

Squeaky, you are completely right, work does help you learn a lot of social skills. Hopefully, your work place is generally supportive and your coworkers don't "stab you in the back" and try to get you to quit to drive you out of there.