How do I get the income I need to survive?

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Mastry
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25 Sep 2012, 9:34 pm

I'm 24 years old and diagnosed with mid to high functioning autism. I've tried to work many different jobs and few of them have lasted more than a day or two. I've simply been unable to work because of how poorly I communicate with others, my anxiety, and panic attacks. I've been fortunate enough to receive SSID but how am I supposed to live an independent life on $785 a month?

I'm trying to improve myself so I can get a job, but it feels damn near impossible to me. I keep thinking that a soon as I get my BS degree, everything will magically be better, but that time is nearly here and nothing has changed. I simply can't have people taking care of me anymore. So how do I get the income I need to live?



DancingDanny
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25 Sep 2012, 10:50 pm

Improve your communication. Take classes or lessons in communication. Are you medicated for anxiety and panic attacks?



starkid
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25 Sep 2012, 11:05 pm

You can attempt to find a way to eliminate living expenses.



Mastry
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25 Sep 2012, 11:32 pm

DancingDanny wrote:
Improve your communication. Take classes or lessons in communication. Are you medicated for anxiety and panic attacks?


I've tried lots of different medications, but they all either made me so numb I couldn't think or feel, or they increased the anxiety. I'm giving medication one last chance with Piracetam, but I've just begun it so I'm not sure how it'll affect me. As for communication, I've taken some classes and I've been in therapy for years. It helped a little, but I'm not getting anything out of it anymore. All the resources to help autistic people that I've found are meant for children, and when an autistic man looks for help, they either send you away or aren't so good at helping.



Mack27
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25 Sep 2012, 11:47 pm

Look for income based public housing (maybe get help from your municipal housing authority) and apply for food assistance.



OliveOilMom
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25 Sep 2012, 11:50 pm

I used to have really bad panic attacks. So bad that I couldn't leave home or really do anything. What helped me was Xanax. After the first couple of days I wasn't sleepy or zoned anymore from it.


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blauSamstag
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26 Sep 2012, 1:22 am

If a medication makes you that numb, you are probably taking too much of it and should re-consult with your doctor to find a more reasonable dosage.

Also, you should come to grips with the possibility that anxiety is not your doctor's forte'. I say this as something i have yet to do, though. I don't have severe panic attacks but i have enough anxiety that it interferes with my ability to function at work, and my GP went to the "suck it up" school of anxiety management. He's excellent at internal medicine but a failure at anything psychoactive. It's just the way it is.



DoniiMann
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26 Sep 2012, 8:01 am

I share-housed for about six years. Rent fluctuated depending on how many we had staying at any time. Sometimes as many as six of us. Each got our own rooms, and rent for each person was a fraction of whatever the house was rented for. In the case of having six people, rent was a sixth. Very cheap.

And living with that many people was not a problem. Each person lives their own life. Space and rules are well defined. I got on great with the others. Shared interests.


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DancingDanny
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26 Sep 2012, 3:44 pm

Mastry wrote:
DancingDanny wrote:
Improve your communication. Take classes or lessons in communication. Are you medicated for anxiety and panic attacks?


I've tried lots of different medications, but they all either made me so numb I couldn't think or feel, or they increased the anxiety. I'm giving medication one last chance with Piracetam, but I've just begun it so I'm not sure how it'll affect me. As for communication, I've taken some classes and I've been in therapy for years. It helped a little, but I'm not getting anything out of it anymore. All the resources to help autistic people that I've found are meant for children, and when an autistic man looks for help, they either send you away or aren't so good at helping.


Perhaps you should try sources of learning about communication that are not meant for the autistic, so that way it will speak more to your age and development and not to children. Can you take the sources for autistic children and scale them up, abstract them to your experience?