Autism Is Not An Excuse To Do Nothing

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I did the same more or less, I have actually tried lots of things, and put lots of effort into things only to be burnt out and have more trouble functioning. So yeah not doing anything specific with my life at the moment aside from attempting to enjoy some of it, trying to get out/form relations with people and continuing my therapy and still looking into housing options. I am not going to push myself to be 'doing' more just to prove I'm not lazy to people its probably not worth proving anything to....if I do that it will be because I am ready.

I'm glad someone else could understand that post.

ASD effects everyone in a similar but different way, these nuances should not be crudely dismissed, there is enough invalidation of these differences outside of the ASD community.
I think it is good to actively push the boundaries, because at this juncture society is not accommodating (e.g. adult support services aren't a priority, I think this also exerts a time limit onto parents, giving them no option but to focus on 'curing' their child before adulthood), perhaps with enough time this will change and the broader understanding of ASD will evolve; for now, the reality is that personal growth/adaptation involves an element of risk, but if a person has self awareness as a starting point then I think there is a lesser chance of developing/exacerbating comorbid conditions through hitting 'one brick wall after another'.

It's difficult, I can understand that activists/people are being quite pragmatic when they encourage others to test their boundaries, it is simply necessary, but a 'one size fits all' ethos will not work, it has to be a case by case basis.

Last edited by Amity on 08 Mar 2015, 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I am not certain why, but this reminds me of a conversation I had with my therapist several months back. I was talking to her about this “feeling” of emptiness I had. This “feeling” has plagued me throughout my life. In retrospect, it’s not really a “feeling”, but more so a “thought”.

Anyway, I remember talking about wanting to have something “meaningful” to work on. And that occasionally my work (i.e. what I do in the world to provide sustenance for my life) -– when it is not meaningful -- “sucks the life out of me”.

I realize I am rambling. But my ramble is simply in agreement with the above. Unless, that is, the person finds inner peace/contentment sorting tiny screws.

I can only say that in my life I have been faced with problems, particularly in my early life, which - according to the model proposed by a relatively small proportion of (usually young early 20s) posters on WP - should have doomed me to a life of nothing. I am too stubborn to accept nothing, however bad things get.

To me a regular job and normal life, without ever challenging the status quo is nothing...hence why I am not sad that I cannot hold a job. If I become able to work all it would be to me is more money, and hopefully kill off some of the boredom I endure without going to far beyond that and exhausting the crap out of me...but I would not see it as an accomplished goal it would just be a means to an end.

Meh everyone's different, some people end up better able to cope with certain things than others. I mean for instance with traumatic events some people develop PTSD and some do not...I do not doubt there are people who had a simular child-hood to mine that handle/have handled it more efficiently than I have and maybe came out of it doing much better(generally speaking like not as much mental issues and self esteem issues). But it all depends on an individual, environment/social factors as well as genetic pre-dispositions.

I wasn't referring to you, Sweetleaf. I was referring to the "total nihilists" who post from time to time. And paid work is not the be all and end all of achievement. Far from it. Using your talents is what counts. The author of that blog paints and writes and works for autism understanding (in a group called ASK). None of that is paid, but it is all a very worthwhile contribution from my perspective and a meaningful way to spend her life.

This post is coming in @ apple of my eye, it isn't an answer to the previous posts, which I haven't read yet.

Irony of ironies - my record time for professional screw sorting was three solid months. In my line of work at the time (control systems), it was the standard thing for the lower drones to do when work became slack. In all fairness, the boss made it simple and easy for you to leave and claim the dole (welfare) if you wanted to, then he'd take you on again when work came in - if he couldn't find anybody cheaper.

I was lucky to have a good boss in an industrial field that simply isn't kind to anyone. The pay and people were awful btw, but my boss was a health and safety fanatic, so some conditions were not so bad. Incredibly monotonous work. I'd have been better off at home and staring at the wall as a kind of moral high ground. The job was like punishment for having been unemployed in the first place.

One of the things that angered me in the NZ writing is a philosophy that endorses the assumption that having a job is always good. This is simply not the case for my kind of hell dwelling class. Jobs have caused me a great deal of trouble and distress.

She is saying "the choices are endless" - not "everything but paid work is failure".

Exactly. A small proportion. It's not a 'disturbing trend'. This makes it sound like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon which isn't the case - and because young people generally don't make excuses to do nothing. It's all about the autistics and their parents 'dragging them around from therapist to therapist' which (she states, quoting from the other author) results in a 'self-fulfilling prophecy'. What crap.
It's a motivation thing, not an autistic thing, as one of the insightful comments under the article pointed out. Some people are self-motivated, others need a little encouragement and some are never going to be motivated no matter what you do. One thing you're never going to do is motivate people by sermonising, being holier-than-thou and telling them to get off their backsides. This will only breed resentment, which is unhelpful to say the least.

Everybody with Autism is different, and clearly that is something this author is not aware of. As the saying goes if you have met one person with autism you have met one person. There are people who are so profoundly autistic that they are not even toilet trained, cannot feed themselves, cannot do anything else. There are those that are working full time, married, have children, etc. And there are millions in between. There is not just 2 extremes, there are millions of different situations. Judging someone for being different to you, does not achieve anything at all.

I was diagnosed 40 years, before Asperger's existed and when only those that were the most profoundly profoundly autistic got diagnosed. I have achieved amazing things, that no one thought possible, does not mean I am not still DISABLED by my Autism. I require assistance on a daily basis by people PAID to support me to do things, that my Autism means I cannot do for myself. If I did not have that assistance I would be DEAD.

I get all the time I need to learn to be more independent, I get that I need to ignore that things I cannot do and just focus on my strengths. Would be nice if I could do those things, but if I did I would DIE. I find it ironical that people who claim to have the same condition as me, give advice that would KILL me.

I would LOVE to work. I've had over 100 jobs, and been sacked from all of them, because of my Autism. Yet, all I get is that I do not try hard enough.

You do not know me or my life, or my experiences and above all you have not lived MY life. You know only yours and cannot claim to have expertise on anything else.

I also get annoyed when I hear parents criticised for trying to find therapy for their child. Apparently ALL children with Autism, regardless of how profoundly disabled they are, simply need love and to be left alone to be themselves. I know parents of children, who head bang on concrete, eat nothing but a few chips a day, cannot stand any form of water touching them and hence will not have any form of bath or shower, cannot toilet themselves, cannot communicate in any way, shape or form and they get told, they do not need any assistance at all. HOW does a child live without eating, head banging on concrete and not having any form of bath or shower, or not allowing someone to even change a nappy/diaper?? I think a lot of adults on the spectrum, need to learn some really basic elementary facts about autism, before they start claiming to be an expert on every part of it.

With respect, she isn't claiming to be an expert, she is expressing her opinion, just as we are doing here.

Thank you both Raleigh and Adamantium for your analyses of what it is eating.
I am still horribly uncertain, as another person I asked said it looks like a piece of bread.

another vote for bread

I think this is another view of the same animal eating the same thing, but it is even harder to tell what it is eating in this picture.

What is something that motivates someone to try to do something that they believe they can't do or will fail at?
What has worked for people here?

It is eating a map of Australia.