Why should the government "help" people with Aspergers?

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Hmmm.......I find it somewhat difficult to function in everyday life. Sometimes have depression and anxiety that often accompany Aspergers, etc. My sense of charity won't get any better than it is and there's plenty of room for it to be much more austere.

Its easy to look down one's nose and sit in high-handed judgement of what constitutes "need" for others, when you haven't yet encountered your own Waterloo. That's the same attitude that the neurologically disabled get from bullies their entire lives:

"Your legs ain't broke - Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism are just excuses for gutless whiners. There's no such thing as an invisible disability. People who claim to have dyslexia have trouble reading because they're stupid. Depression is just self-pity, you can pull yourself out of it if you want to. Loser."

Its sad to see some of our own being so judgmental. Whether or not one is physically able to work, or wants to, keeping a job depends on not getting fired and when you live with anxiety attacks and focus issues, you may find managers to be intolerant and unsympathetic. You may find that you can't do just any job that's thrown at you without suffering psychologically and emotionally over the long haul, because the sensory hypersensitivities you live with on a daily basis are so exacerbated by some work environments that the stress becomes debilitating and quite literally burns out your nervous system. Even if you do work, if you're frequently fired and forced to change jobs, you certainly can't accrue any kind of savings for retirement. And yet, there's always an Archie Bunker ready to call people "lazy" because he hasn't personally experienced their difficulties (yet).

I think people with AS need all sorts of help, protection from discrimination and bullying are every bit as important as any kind of fiscal assistance. Because of processing impairments, some of us are especially vulnerable to verbal abuse and intimidation in many aspects of life. Poor Executive Function can make day-to-day living a challenge, especially if you have no family or friends to turn to for support. Emotional and physical isolation contribute to chronic depression, which can lead to substance dependencies or suicide (of course, I'm sure some of you feel suicide for the "lazy" is just Darwinism at work).

If you're AS Diagnosed and getting by with no assistance whatsoever, good for you. But from what I've seen in discussions here on WP, the effects of AS vary cyclically and with age, more overwhelming at some times than at others, and with social functionality having a measurable peak in the 20s and 30s and then a gradual decline. Just because you're getting along fine today, doesn't mean that a decade or two down the road you won't wake up to find yourself feeling like an adolescent rudely dumped in the middle of an unfamiliar city, where the hostile residents speak a foreign language.

Here in the UK it's quite rare for the government to "help" any of its people from just about any social group minority or not. They do protect the interests of tax evading paedophiles and other high profile social preditors but thats about as good as it gets.

If you are determined to be mentally disabled by physicians, neurologists, psychiatrists or psychologists, people with expertise, then you should get whatever the law says you can.

However, many Autistics and Aspies have so much to give the world and they should always strive to share their gifts with others. They should work toward the goal of sharing their gifts with the world, not depriving it.

I think will@rd provided an excellent response to you.

I think the thing that hits me these days is just how expensive it is to have a place, have transportaion, have health insurance, etc.

I have a four year degree, graduated highest honors, unfortunately spent seven years a job gaining such niche experience for it to be worthless, and I'm getting temp assignments and rave reviews from the employers but I'm finding out just how difficult it is - even with a professional competency - to make enough money to be fully self-sufficient. Right now I'm 35, living back at home, find I'll usually have a few months between assignments, and its crazy but if you're an active adult with active interests you just about need $18 to $20 minimum per hour to break even once you've covered the bases of all your financial responsibilities. I have to consider these days just how f'd I'd be if I didn't have the option of moving back home - it would be awful.

That's what's got me wondering also, ASD or not, how many people who are willing to work or can work literally aren't able to make it because they aren't able to have enough money for both a roof over their heads and transportation. There's the catch 22, especially in places with poor public transit, that you need a car to get a job and a job to get a car.

My take is really this - we should have a more organized thrust in helping those who really want to work and have the capacity to work to find meaningful work that can keep them on their feet. I remember going with vocational rehabilitation in 2006 and for all the paperwork I ran though I finally got to a guy who works with disabled professionals and his sage advice was - now that I was through their system - paper the town with resumes and don't tell anyone I have a disability. What's utter garbage about that, aside from the obvious, is it shouldn't even need to be like that - ie. if a vocational rehabilitation agency could give metrics on someone's performance and demonstrate that they're a good worker, even bother to collect those metrics, they'd have something to give to the employers to make a sales pitch of some kind. that they fail to even do that boggles the imagination. I really have to wonder in that case, some of these organizations out there that are 'supposed' to help us, what they're doing aside from smoking, drinking coffee, and getting paid from our tax dollars.

To me being forced to work would defeat the purpose of SSI...if I could work I wouldn't be on SSI, so being forced to do something I cannot effectively do would just keep my level of stress through the roof. As is going to therapy and working on my mental health is stressful enough...once I get that under wraps then maybe I can eventually work, but forced work and the repeated criticizism or firing I'd currently endure would not help me to improve. But that is in the U.S, not sure how different the culture is or what exactly employers expect in the Netherlands....so maybe that system does work ok there......But it would be a disaster here, so SSI is specifically if you cannot work there are programs to help people on SSI or SSDI eventually find work and become self sufficient financially or some people can start working a few hours and keep the SSI but just have it reduced based on what they are making.

But yeah part of the reason I am on it is it was impossible to even make it past an interview...I imagine if I had to 'find a job' as a requirement for SSI I'd have just as bad of luck if not worse when they see I have aspergers and mental health issues for the reason to have SSI.

Well that is you, some find it very difficult to function in every day life do to more severe Aspergers/Autism symptoms and have ongoing severe depression and anxiety disorders, to the point it is too disabling to work....That is different than finding it somewhat difficult to function in every day life and feeling anxious or depressed from time to time.

Show me where it's a response to ME. I didnt see a "Raptor wrote" or an up arrow directly under my post and without that it's not a response to me.

For me anxiety is more like continual. Just some days are much worse than others. Whatever, though....

Because he was responding to the point you had made, regardless of directly quoting or referring to you.
We can only hope that will@rd can settle this matter.

Well you did initially say sometimes, but if it doesn't impair your ability to hold a job then its not the same as having a combination of disorders that do impair that ability. There can be different degrees of things like anxiety and depression as well.

I don't find it offensive, because I don't have any overinflated ego. The government of my province helps me specifically with money, disability money. I am assured that no matter what happens I will have money. Also we all know autistic people finding work is much harder, I heard that autistic adults only 1 in 6 have full-time paid jobs. So a lot may need it. It also helps people with a large number of other disabilities which may make work hard to come by and keep for them. If you need the aid, at least temporarily and don't take it, that's a sign of stupidity.

Canada, the real kinder, gentler nation.

Apathy can be a symptom of depression.

What you're talking about sounds more like unemployment insurance than it does something like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the U.S. To receive payments from the former, you would need to demonstrate both a willingness and an ability to work (and you can demonstrate that by sending in so many applications a week); to receive payments from the latter, you would need to demonstrate that you cannot work at any job. If you've demonstrate you cannot work at any job, what is the point of applying for jobs, then? There is no point. That's why I believe the program you discuss is more like unemployment insurance here, than it does something like SSI.