How dare they discriminate against Aspergers?

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The OP is in Australia. While we are speaking about US law, the OP's specific situation is only determined by Australian law.

Oh, right.

Sorry, I am having a foggy morning. In my brain.

And I think I misunderstood you the first time, too. Sorry about that. I'll save those arguments for someone who's actually being a jerk. Seriously, I just hate these threads.

Actually lot of people get denied SSI even when they can't work but they say they can. That is why the system is so screwed up.

Also I think it's also for people to be on it who struggle in life and they can keep working at it to get better as they are on it so they won't need it anymore.

One thing that bugs me about SSI is they think if you can do computer or work around your house, it means you can work. Same as if you can drive a car and run errands. But it doesn't work like that. Places have to hire you and it has to do with how you function in the work environment. At home, you are in control of your own environment. Also sometimes when people do things, it takes them longer than normal people to get it done like it used to take my mother four days to wash her whole kitchen floor. She still did house work and worked in the yard but it take her longer to get it done. Now what if she were on SSI and someone saw her doing those things and assume she was abusing the system and saying she can work? That would be ignorance on the person's part because he or she didn't see how many breaks she needs and how long she can do them for before she has to quit and see how long she needs to rest before going back to that task again. And guess what, she could still use the computer even though she couldn't work.

Now that she is better, she has returned to work last summer.

Aha! I think this is what many who feel they "deserve" to be supported by the government feel: that the jobs they CAN get, are beneath them, but they don't really have qualifications for something better.
Like all the people that submit long well written posts, well, for them there is data entry...
I say this as someone who has worked at many many jobs that I felt were hard to keep, partly because they were mind numbingly boring, surrounded by slackers, supervised by idiots who did not even notice when a slacker would take off for hours during the middle of the day and give slacker a big raise for work I and others did, jobs where "the rules" were only for the sheep, and the alpha males could do anything they wanted etc etc etc.

I finally had to face myself, cut through the BS, and challenge myself to actually become officially qualified for something better through education.

We all bs ourselves, and some of it takes the form of "poor pitiful me, I am better than what they think". If so, then prove it. Do things that are hard, it is the only way to grow.

YES! And, you know what else? Be proud that you have a job and the ability to bag groceries! Some people don't have that much!

My first comment was confusing because I was mixing the two.



I hate these threads, too. I usually get lumped in with the anti-welfare crowd because I believe people who can work should work and that their default objective should be to work, but I don't believe in "welfare queens" or any of that bigoted BS. It's in my experience that people who can't work really want to work and hate that they can't sustain themselves. The guy who can bag groceries but would rather be on SSI isn't a part of that group but that guy should definitely have access to proper vocational rehabilitation to provide training and job placement without it being a major process. Not to mention psychological care to handle self-esteem issues because he needs empowerment to know that he does have a place in the workforce and can make a way for himself. I think we have this public assistance program to help those of our society who need help, whether it be permanent or temporary. There's some abuse of the system but any abuse doesn't outweigh the good that's done and the importance of this system. Drug-testing people, requiring enrollment in additional programs (that require further drug-testing)... it's dehumanizing for people. There's a number of people who don't receive the assistance they really need because there are so many rules to applying and receiving it.

There are things I sure don't want to do for the rest of my life but you know what, at least I have a job so I agree with you there.

If you don't like you're job, try and get another one. I also get sick of people refusing to work just because they don't want to do this or that but you know what, it's a job. I try and find one I can do and what I qualify for. Even NTs have jobs they don't like or want but it's a job and they need money.

I can't help but look down on people who refuse to work just because they couldn't do something they dreamed of and I don't care if they have AS or not. I don't care if it's a trait of it or a classic one, still no excuse.

I get the impression from some people though that even if disabled people were all working, they'd find another excuse to have a go at them just because they're different. They're using the fact that some people scrounge disability benefit (which is difficult to do if you have a conscience and don't know the system inside out - a hell of a lot of people don't get the help they desperately need whilst scumbags get everything on a plate, for instance) to tar us all with the same brush.

I want to work; in fact, that's all I end up thinking about. It's damaging to my health as I'm sat here every day constantly trying to sift through things that would make me have a job. I suffer from low self-esteem anyway and my life seems rudderless.

I, like many other non-disabled people, feel in no-man's-land.

You have those of us that don't want to bash disabled people like a lot of nasty people, tabloid press and the Tories do, but equally don't want to be on welfare all their lives and want a job (a proper job, not a state non-job). We also don't want to be treated like a commodity by state bureaucrats, vested interests, the Labour party and socialist types who see us all as victims without a voice.

So we can't win.

I would appreciate people not using this argument. You cannot ascertain someone's ability to work on the basis of internet forum posts. Your assumption is that the ability to write well translates into the ability to be reliably at work, to reliably function at work, to reliably cope with the demands at work. Apparently, it also includes the ability to not be exhausted from coping with one's disabilities, not deal with cognitive difficulties related to autism as well as cognitive difficulties from other disabilities. The ability to get out of the house for a few hours without feeling totally bombed out with fatigue and overload for the rest of the day. You can't even tell what kind of physical difficulties people deal with. For all you know, the person who is writing such "long, well-written posts" may deal with pervasive chronic pain, and writing one of those posts may itself take more effort than you might expect.



Could you clarify where you are coming from with this? I mean, I know that some of us who say we can't work came to this conclusion from working at jobs, sometimes many jobs. I've tried four times to get an education, but that never worked out, either. With my ADHD medicated I managed two full semesters before being overwhelmed with school, instead of the one I managed the other times.

I would love nothing more than to have an education and do a job that I would love doing. I would even love to have a decently paying job. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to manage this, and I know this from a bit over two decades of trying.

Last edited by Verdandi on 27 May 2011, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wish there was more voc rehab-type social support for people. Actual work on getting people who can work back into the workplace and specifically finding jobs that can accommodate their needs rather than the one-size-fits-all mentality that seems to permeate American assumptions about workers.

My personal favorite is when people who complain about welfare have no problem taking my tax dollars to pay for their college degrees. What are government grants and loans if not "education welfare?"

I have to work 12-hour days, in all kinds of weather, with cancer-causing agents to get money for my college education. I don't have a lot of respect for the anti-welfare types who suck up my tax dollars to pay for yet more useless liberal arts degrees and then spend the rest of their lives bemoaning "socialism."

As for disability benefits in the U.S., my understanding is you usually need medical documentation going back for at least a year to "prove" your disability. If you are too poor for medical care, or you couldn't keep a job because of your disability, then you're up sh!t creek.

They prefer it if you have that kind of documentation but if your medical records don't show you have the problems you're claiming they'll send you to someone to assess you. My medical records actually were horrendous and they had to send me to someone. Now the person they sent me to was the worst possible person *ever*. I got the feeling he saw a lot of fraudulant claims and was a little... oh what's the word? ...misanthropy ... I'm using it wrong... Anyways... It's really difficult to go this route but not impossible.

I've gone something like this route. I didn't have to go to one of their people because the state had me assessed and they used that.

Some kinds of things also count, like work history.

There's a lot of ignorance with what the federal and state governments in the United States are and aren't required to provide their people. Unfortunately, it's an ignorance that's as old as our country and has been perpetuated by politicians, especially in campaigns, almost as long. In this day and age, where we have more educated people and venues to spread the information far and wide, I have limited sympathy for those who remain ignorant. And bravo for working so hard for your education! You are really awesome!

I think I side with wefunction and Backagain on this thread (not there are 'sides'- just their viewpoint seems the most reasonable to me.

I'm not trying to start anything here, but can I ask why shouldn't people be expected to be grateful to those that feed and clothe them? They are doing you a service after all (albeit grudgingly in many cases- I wonder if it's a vicious cycle? grudge begets ingratefulness begets grudge?). The 'the government gives me the money' argument doesn't really make sense; there wouldn't be any money if people with jobs weren't paying for it.

As I said, not trying to criticise anyone on disability or make them feel bad; I just want to know more about where some this attitude comes from? Not everyone has it, but I've run into more than a few who do.

Last edited by Lene on 27 May 2011, 5:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

True But both seem to be the lone voices that aren't automatically saying how awful it is that not everyone who feels they ought to get welfare gets it (unless I've misread a lot of posts- not ruling that out)

Edited my above post (bad habit I know). Just want to say again that I'm not havign a go at anyone; it's an attitude I genuinley want to understand.