Can aspies earn success?

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I do not totally agree with you.

First, like most Americans you're harping on the idea of things like positivity, pushing oneself to an obsession. Can all aspies truthfully succeed if they push themselves? Can anyone truthfully succeed if they push themselves? Why do you and most Americans keep focusing on these concepts instead of the tools and techniques that can lead to success, confidence and positivity? Why treat this, confidence and attitude as an antecedent instead of a consequent?

What is the basis for this belief system that you and other Americans have?

Why is it that confidence or attitude >> success instead of success >> confidence or attitude? >> represents an if then statement.

Perhaps it depends on why they decide working/college life is too much for them....believe it or not it is actually too much for some, especially it they have co-morbid mental illnesses.

Darn it, they're finally onto us. Lazy slobs unite!

SOME Aspies, perhaps, but not all.


Ableism is a form of discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities.

If any person who is able to work chooses not to of his or her own free will, then it is not ableist (imo) to call them "lazy" -- rude and condescending, perhaps, but not ableist -- because lazy is what they are.

HOWEVER, if a person has a professionally-diagnosed disability that aggravates or that is aggravated by his or her working conditions, then it is not (imo) right at all to call them "lazy".

I work AND receive government aid.

America started by doing something, leaving other counties and their governments that that were persecuting them for their religion for example. For a large part of our history there was wide open spaces, if things were not working out you could pick up and move and get another opportunity. Also there was less of a class based system them in other countries. The economy was much better. It was common to work for the same company your entire life. It was far from perfect and there was unfairness but if a person had some skills and worked hard it was a reasonable expectation that they could pay the bills, feed the family , and have some entertainment. This happened not because American business were not greedy but they were smarter. They paid their workers enough to buy their products. The U.S. was the economic and cultural engine that ran the world.

The above is pretty much collapsing. It is cheaper to use robots or workers from other countries. The gap between the very rich and very poor is exploding. The government is dysfunctional. Combine 9/11,Columbine and the fact that the country is extremely litigious most people are business are paranoid,they take 10 steps to do what used to take one step to do. This hurts everybody but particularly people who are "different" . Merit was much more important visa vis personalty in hiring decisions. Today it is reversed. In the old days hiring the wrong person cost you time and money. Business are afraid if they hire the wrong person today it could end up with them being sued, have a costly viral campaign against them them or have their business shot up. "Out of the Box" or alternative thinking is squelched in this atmosphere.

Despite it all it is still possible for aspies to earn success. The odds are much more against it.

For me, success ---> confidence, and confidence ---> success.

Here are some of the hardships I went through ...

- One job I was fired for going on the computer of another person. The person was not there and a database was down, so I wanted to fix it.
- Later that same day, the contracting company I worked for fired me because of the termination of the contract.
- One job I was fired because the dotcom bust, and the owner wanted to cut expenses.
- One job I was fired because I did own a credit card at the time, and the owner wanted me to go on a trip.
- One job I was fired cause of incompetence, and partly because the client complained I stated truthful things that were interpreted to be derogatory about the company I worked for.
- One job I had to quit cause a manager would constantly yell at me, and tell me things like "Think outside the box". I exploded one day, left the job, wrote to my manager I quit and never went back.
- One job I quit cause I could take the pressure.

I would estimate I accumulated three years of unemployed compensation total. Now I work for the government where I can work from home, so I am able to hold onto the job.

I don't know if I am a "success" or not. I am a survivor though.

Right. I absolutely agree that aspies CAN be capable of achieving success including independence and a good job. However, people just have to remember not to make the assumption that just because some ASDers can do these things all of us can. Even in high functioning ASD the level of severity of symptoms and impairment will vary and also a lot of ASDers have debilitating co-morbid disorders. Some people on this forum even have co-morbid psychotic disorders, for instance. I can't imagine having to deal with ASD along with episodic hallucinations and delusions. People with ASD can also have specific learning disorders which impair certain intellectual skills (like reading or spatial/visual processing) in addition to the impairments from their ASD. Jumping to the conclusion that someone with ASD who isn't working is just lazy is very judgemental. However, I'm sure there are people who just decide they don't want to work because it's easier not to or they can't be bothered and calling those people lazy would be accurate and not abelist or judgemental (well maybe still judgemental but definitely not ableist). I just think people should be given the benefit of the doubt and not judged too quickly, especially on support forums.

Last edited by daydreamer84 on 17 Feb 2014, 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can relate to that. I'm also trying again now after a similar series of failures and incidents of being fired.

Thanks for the good answers, I just wondered how others felt - I side with it being okay for aspies to be on SSI should it be necessary, but I still encourage anyone to do whatever they can to pursue their goals and find success.

I agree.

Aspies are also at a major disadvantage when it comes to jobs which require good diplomacy, and networking skills. Better to pursue other kinds of work.

Actually, I will accept that there is a bit of truth to confidence --->success. It is cyclic. If you look at it as a circle and let's call the confidence --->success hemisphere A, and success ---> confidence B people concentrate on hemisphere A at the expense of hemisphere B.

I view my AS the same way I view left handedness. It's not everything and it's not nothing. It's an issue that has a contributing impact, but it's not insurmountable. Having said that, I'm not a success, not employed, am on disability. The individual who diagnosed me suggested disability to buy time for me to work out what AS is, how it impacts me, and to work out more productive strategies for getting back into employment. Nearing the end of the time I'd set aside for this approach, a doctor said it looks like I have Parkinson's, so I stayed on disability.

A couple of years later and I'm not seeing what I expected to see re. the Parkinson's, so I'm thinking about work again. Reading this post, it occurs to me that success is possible for most, though maybe not all. That goes for NTs too.

Drive, discipline, direction... yes, vital. Difficult to be sure. In my case, for example, I'm in one of the highest unemployment areas in Australia, rural environment, the nearest university only offers first year intros to degrees, then you need to relocate to finish. I crashed one of my cars, so the one I have left means I'm limited in my travel options since it needs to be available for family needs. And then there's the disability history, my age (46) and lack of trade or skill.

With all that, I'm not able to say AS is the big bad, and not willing to concede defeat.

One monster beats it all. the one thing stops all, AS and NT:

Do what?

For me, success is being able to be wealthy enough to not have to ever settle for second-best, second-hand goods from someone who treats me as an intrusion into his or her life; to be able to support myself and my family, through good times and bad, and leave enough of a legacy behind that even those descendents of mine who never knew me would regret my demise; to be able to walk away with impunity from anyone whose attitude I don't like, and to later purchase the business they work for solely for the pleasure of sacking that one person in front of every one of his or her former co-workers.

Come to think of it ... I wonder what price Alex might ask for this website ...

Aspies earn success every day, they just don't talk about it here.