Need help getting employment, UK-orientated help

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I have had six years not working, I have never worked ever but I want to.

Have good Bachelors degree from a good university (a redbrick, not a polytechnic type) but couldn't afford Masters degree, had a place on one but couldn't afford.

My old university will not give a reference, only a defamatory one they pulled, so I have had no references since then.

I cannot get ANY support anywhere for AS in the UK related to employment, it is either mental health (CMHT) who are used to substance abusers and label me alongside them so they are not worth using, they do not understand AS anyway.

I have no idea what to do for a job. My degree is useless without the Masters on top, but that is unaffordable. I do tests/surveys for 'ideal jobs' but it is just frustrating, too late to change track as I cannot afford to take any more qualifications to change tracks.

Only did voluntary work once, they took me without references which is weird. Bullied out very quickly, so won't get references from them, it'd be illegal to treat a black or gay person like I was treated.

Not sure what to do. Self-employment is too financially risky (debt + no guaranteed income), tried it before and had a breakdown, don't want to end up Sectioned again.

No, I don't have friends or relatives who will give me a job (I'd have done that years ago if I had), NAS are crap and don't operate in my area, I get told to go away by most places (including the Prince's Trust, "we don't want the bother of mental people, we are not that sort of charity"). Stuck for anything.

Incidentally, a woman in Adecco, a high street recruitment agency, compared me to sex offenders and drug addicts when I explained about the AS and why it meant I had no work history.

Hiya, I live in the UK also, so may be able to help. What degree did you do?

Politics and Sociology. Not my first choice, didn't like it TBH.

Ok, so if they werent your first interests, what are you interested in? What was the masters you needed and what job would you like to do?

Ideally I need someone to organise a job for me (not competing in the marketplace, I can't compete with no job history, no references and AS against 16 year old school leavers and Polish migrants), give a job to me automatically. Plus someone to take me to the job and back and talk with the supervisors etc.

Social services won't let me get self-directed support due to cutbacks.

Have you looked at www.prospects.ac.uk? If you have diagnosed AS they can provide help with getting jobs etc. If you want a masters, there are also lots of ways of getting funding if you are diagnosed with a 'disability'. Maybe worth a look!

I'm in the UK too - also long-term unemployed.

The problem is that most schemes for getting disabled people back into work a. no longer exist thanks to cuts, or b. exist but either can only be obtained if you're claiming JSA/ESA and really aren't set-up for people on the spectrum. It's taken me over three years to get the job centre to offer me any sort of support, prior to this if I mentioned my problems it was seen as my not being willing or able to work, so I've either been discriminated against for being disabled or generally discriminated against for being unemployed.

Are you currently on any benefits?
If so an advisor may be able to refer you to somewhere like Remploy - http://www.remploy.co.uk - if it then it may be a lot more difficult for you, you say NAS are no good...have you gone through their site, message boards and talked to NAS staff? I'm not saying they're not useless (I've had experience emailing them regarding benefits and support myself), but maybe they're worth another try.

I'd also say to go back into voluntary work - I KNOW that bad experience in such a role will make you less than keen to try again, but it is still a good idea to try again - many places will need references but not all of them, those that do you may be able to get references from sources such as doctors, family, etc. It is a good place to start to get you back into work.

If you're starting from scratch and can't afford more in the way of education - sorry, degree or not you need to consider shop work, admin, call centre - I've known PHD's working in all centres, sometimes it is a necessity and besides it's temporary, from there you can figure out what else you may want to do. I have no idea what to go for myself so can't really offer any more ideas than that.

I think in all fairness you're probably in a very similar situation to me, the help just isn't available for us - it's ridiculous, isn't it?

Wow. Dont attack me. You asked for help. I tried to give it.

I work at a University helping students with their courses and the next steps. I do not know exactly the who the funders are who support those with AS but I have seen students with varying disabilities attain funding for their masters and phd's this way. In order to find this information, look over the internet, or pop into a university who shouldn't mind helping you.

Good luck.

Fine.

You've had suggestions from Bonafan who seems to have some know-how, and from myself both based on my personal experience being an unemployed aspie and from having worked in employability training. There is little support out there for us, but if you're going to rule out everything that people suggest then you're not going to find any help at all. Sorry, but if you want to work you need to change your attitude and accept what help is available to you rather than turn your nose up at everything suggested to you.

Don't be weird about it, I wasn't attacking you personally...

Bonafan just wrote airy-fairy, naive, nonsense about Masters funding. Yes I know some funding exists, I have applied for it before several, but it is near-impossible to get, and even then it wouldn't cover all tuition and living costs. He might as well have suggested trying Lottery scratch cards. I was not trying to attack Bonafan personally, just say his advice has no weight.

Remploy and the like are cons, unfortunately. All they offer is CV writing and a few primary school level "here's how to smile" courses. You still have to compete on the open market afterwards, and I cannot compete against sixteen year old school leavers and Polish migrants when I have no work history and Aspergers label, which is to employers as bad as being a sex offender or drug addict. I need an alternative strategy that does not require competing in the open market.

I have severe anxiety problems, I do piss myself in public such as supermarkets, so I could not work in such places if I cannot go inside as a customer.

NAS say, (on the phone), go to your old university for advice. My old university won't let me use their careers service, neither will the two local universities that I didn't go to. NAS offer no employment support except for people with classical Autism, and do not operate in my area anyway.

NAS also say, go to Job Centre, which is pointless as they are dangerously clueless. Only time I've said Disability Employment Advisor he told me "you don't count as disabled" and told me to just look for jobs that don't involve reading or writing, assuming AS is something like Down's Syndrome. I have had something similarly negative with the CVS, a voluntary service, who just gave me details of gardening roles only, which had details for people with learning disabilities etc.

Prince's Trust said, we don't help with mental health issues after I mentioned AS (conversation was positive before that), and refused to let me see an advisor. (Although, self employment I cannot handle TBH, had a breakdown last time.)

CAB send me to everywhere I've been before. A woman at the CAB even said that Aspergers was a "personality disorder" and employers don't like it because it makes people dangerous, hadn't head that one before...

Next Step the adviser woman who refused to give me a follow-up after initial meeting because a.) I had no work history to put on the CV, b.) I wasn't the usual illiterates who needed reading/writing help with a CV, and c.) she didn't manage to pressure-sell me a pointless ECDL course.