State Vocational Rehabilitation Programs - Do they help?

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Since we're on the subject of disability benefits for people with Asperger's I was wondering if signing up for Vocational Rehabilitation Services in my state can help me.

Though I fear I may not not qualify anyway because I'm already well educated but I suffer from severe depression and suffer from emotional distress in every past work environment I've been in. Even sitting in the breakroom becomes emotionally and socially stressful on me. I would like to see if such programs can help me work on those issues so I can at the very least feel confident about filling in a job application without freaking out over the details demanded of me.

Or should I just cut my losses. My parents would kill me if I went on government assistance. But I dont know how to go around them and apply for it without them knowing (should I qualify that is).

No. Sorrry you're having difficulties, raisedbyignorance, and you do seem to have great qualifications and more! I'm certain you'll find something suitable soon enough. I know that's not much comfort right now since out-of-work-ness is painfully hard. Aspies do have trouble with interviews, etc.

About DVR: One of the worst experiences of my entire life, ever. Never again. I had had a M.S. plus additional research (Now I'm in a PhD programme, but nevermind). DVR is not geared, at all, for AS. I met one of the stupidest bigots in my life; a DVR counsellor from Hades who was abusive and condescending. For but one instance of her sheer ignorance, she asked me "Do you want to live in the Autistic world, or the "real world?" " I told her, in no uncertain terms, she could shove it hard. I took more rot from her than you could know. Unfortunately, when a client [victim] enters through the door of DVR, "they" assume you are to be rehabiliated. They have every right to then wreck your life as you know it. There is no recourse or accountability for these Nazis. I personally met with the DVR Director for the State of AK and I won that fight. I have enemies too. Bring it on, DVR. I'm out to get you.

I know that sounds grim, but trust that I earned the distinction The Therapist Slayer the hard way. And proud of it.

I know there are other ways for you and you're probably stronger than what you know (and far stronger than any nutty DVR "counsellor"). Instead, you might ask a trusted friend/mentor about employment application processes and you ought to be able to circumvent the usual verbal interview, if necessary. Hang in there.

I have spoken to people in the US who have reported, both good and bad experiences with them, dependent on the individual counsellor they were assigned to. My experiences with similar programs in Australia has been the same. I have had some absolutely horrid workers, but have now found an absolute gem, and am finally getting some real help.

While there role is rehabilitation, that does not necessarily mean they are obsessed with "fixing" you. The blind cannot be fixed, the phsycially disabelled cannot be fixed, the Deaf cannot be fixed. But that does not mean that they cannot be assisted by the right person to find ways to make their life more tolerable, and to learn some skills that will enable them to live in the non disabled world more easily. That is all I ask of the workers that are assisting me.

Regardless of profession, industry or training, there are good people and bad people in every single field. If you get the right person first off, you are lucky, but to say that there would never be a single person in the whole department of any value and with the slightest bit of sympathy to be able to support people on the spectrum would be wrong.

The fact that you can work but that you have immense difficulties doing so would from all that I know of, enable you to apply for services. Whether they will be of any value to you, is only something that be assessed once you are assigned to an individual worker. While I do not know if it is possible, the way that I found the current worker I have is via word of mouth, I asked a whole lot of professionals in different fields what they knew about the said agency and whether they knew of any decent staff in the service in a specific location. That consistently bought up a specific name and my psychologist called them to see if I could be referred directly to her and she agreed to that and put through all the paperwork so that I would be assigned to her. She has said that there are people she works with that she likes and others that think they know everything and are focussed purely on meeting targets, without any consideration to the actual needs of the individaul person.

There may however be other ways to get the support and assistance that you require without going through them, but that would be something that you would need to explore.

I agree.

A few years ago, when I was facing a layoff, I applied for OVR in my state. I met with the staff person I was assigned to and, about ten minutes into the meeting, he told me point-blank that he was not knowledgeable enough to help me and would be retiring in a few months, which I suppose meant he could not see the point of learning new things and educating himself about AS at that point in his career. Since he couldn't or wouldn't help me himself, he referred me to a private agency for vocational services, but OVR footed the bill for it.

I was put-off by that experience, but the person at the other agency sat me down, tried to get to know me and listened to me tell her what I needed. This was great, not only because she took the time to try to help me, but also because the way in which she did it forced me to learn how to explain my needs to other people and advocate for myself. (This was only about a year after I was 'officially' diagosed, so I'd never really done that before.) It turned out to be good practice for doing the same thing with my boss, once I did find a job.

I work in social services and call tell you from personal experience that no case manager, social worker, councelor, etc. you will ever encounter will be a mind-reader. We are just people, too. I genuinely care about those I work with, but have a heavy workload (as does everyone else) and the people who get the best results out of me are the ones who are (a) persistent, (b) willling to work with me/meet me halfway and (c) willing to clearly explain what they need or want.

The point I'm trying to make is that in order to get something from someone, you have to give something. And, a lot of time you'll need to give someone a little education about who you are and what you need. It's unfair because people on the Spectrum tend to have difficulty expressing themselves and sometimes lack the confidence to be enough of a 'squeaky wheel' to get what they want, but unfortunately that is often the way it works.

Yes, and good replies. I ought to point out that the one I was "assigned" (later she lost her position, obviously) certifiably had at least mental health issues. I honestly had the worst-case-scenario from an uneducated DVR woman with extraordinarily bad judgement.

However, I'd be very leery of DVR in general. blueroses - that's a wonderful post and you certainly hit the right-match. I do believe there are other alternatives to DVR as their job is to rehabilitate Certainly, you don't need to be rehabiliated! Instead, you might need support, encouragement, a bit of confidence, and maybe one with experience and compassion to offer those tricks & tips, such as the one blueroses had. You'll do great, I know.

At the suggestion of my psychologist I wrote down what I thought were all of my issues that would effect me in the workplace and what I wanted and felt that the agency could support me with. Doing this meant that I did not have to try to explain things verbally, which is something I find incredibly diffuclt.

LabPet I hear what you say about "rehabilitation" but tell me any disability that can be rehabilitated. The fact is none can be cured or fixed or whatever, but that does not mean that you cannot find resources out there to support you, and all the people I know on the spectrum do require some level of professional support. My psychologist is not trying to fix me, but she is allowing me a chance to work out what the hell is happening in the world around me and unfortunately I do need to pay someone to help me with that.

I have had some absolutely horrible workers and it did take me a good 5 years before I was willing to try again, in a new area, at a different agency and I was able to choose the worker that I wanted, and it has and is working brillantly. I totally agree that I cannot expect any worker to read my mind, I cannot expect them to know exactly what I need, as each and every single person, regardless of their condition is different, we all have different needs, etc and of people on the spectrum you can barely even discribe similarlities between us. What helps and supports one person on the spectrum, will not help and support another and any reasonable worker will respect and know that, but at the same time the individual has to know it also. Workers can give advice and support, but they need to leave the decisions up to the individaul.

One of the people I talked to who had a college degree told me they kept offering her cleaner jobs and other menial low paying part time work. It was not to live on but enough to get her off disability. Some life they offer, crappy pay and all the NT toilets you can clean. It could be that the Buffalo vocational offices suck but the ones here seem to be horribly run and set up to screw over the disabled.

Some workers are more interested in placing clients in any jobs at all, and some are more interested in supporting the actual person to live a full and meaningful live. Since using them is voluntary it is hardly going to be much effort to see if they can offer you something. If they do offer something worthwhile then you have gained, and I cannot see that much be lost by trying. If they are a waste of time, ask for a different worker. If that does not help then leave, it really is as simple as that.

Having said that the amount of disabled people I have heard complain about them placing them in unsuitable jobs and yet when you ask them what type of job they wanted and asked for you get told, I said I didn't care, I just wanted a job, I don't know what I want to do, etc. The person actually has to be of some assistance to the worker. If you want to explore career options say that, if you want vocational testing done, say that, but do not say I just want a job and don't care what and then complain about the job. That is not to say that I myself have not come across a few workers who have tried to push me into unsuitable jobs, but I can say that in 99% of cases that I know of bad experiences the disabled person themselves has contributed to the problem, by not offering any help, advice or information about themselves. Workers are not mind readers, there are good and bad ones everywhere, but asking for help is not difficult, you have nothing to loose and if you are clear about what you want and need they are more likely to be able to help you