Psychologist says I will probably be denied SSI.

Post Reply New Topic

"Awesome job", compared to SSI, is ANY full-time job.

"Stability" is another word for "laziness".

*edit: Apparently I need to think before I type. See apology pg. 4 of this thread.

Last edited by Callista on 10 Jan 2010, 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Look, if we're talking about some 20 something guy than the situation becomes more clear. A job is easier and pays more. If we're talking about a family with kids its not. Even a full time job (if I could hold one) would not pay as much as we currently get. It would also disqualify me from other help that is essential. The world is full of catch 22's and unfortunately this is one of them.

If someone can work they should. But I know many families that don't because it really is hard to get off welfare. They don't work with you as much as their website suggests, and its different where ever you go. Poverty begets poverty and the cycle is hard to break.

This conversation is a bit all over the place because people are assuming that SSI, SSDI, welfare etc work the same way. They don't. And when they overlap it makes things very confusing for everyone and not easy to navigate at all.

Some people are actually disabled, believe it or not. Others, such as yourself, clearly make good use of the system.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I choose to believe that there are some people that truly are disabled and that the extra help they receive is beneficial and helpful to them and improve the quality of their lives. Are there people that abuse the system? Sure there are. A lot of them. However, painting everyone with the same brush isn't going to solve anything.

There is my dilemma. Someone at the SSA has said I should apply for "early retirement with disability", but I need someone to walk me through whatever it takes to actually do that.

I don't judge anyone for being on SSI and not working because I don't know their life story. People automatically assume someone is one of those people who sits on their asses leeching off of SSI.

My in laws are on SSI and they can't work. Their doctor says they can't. My FIL had a stroke and my MIL has cyst in her brain. I think that's what it's called.

Callista posted:

"maybe permanently with a bachelor's degree, maybe just until I go to grad school (no, they don't pay for grad school but you can TA and get through it that way)..."

and

"Stability" is another word for "laziness".

A Bachelor's Degree for a disabled person was a very bad sign according to my rehabilitation counselor. To him it proved education won't help. Most all other social programs with disability stop there too. And additional classes become FULL COST classes.

Stability is extremely important, especially in waters where the boat might capsize, but few people study real world engineering anymore.

Tadzio

I agree with Meadow's views here.



Personally I am appalled by these words from Callista. I hope this perspective becomes tempered and less extreme with age and experience. I also hope this opinion is an example of black and white thinking (so pronounced in many of us when we are younger with ASD's,) or impaired ToM, because if it is opinion founded upon a particular value system - well thought out and considered - it really makes me feel quite ill.

My own view is that some with ASD's fair better than others. Some are able to work, some are not.
Some require welfare assistance and some do not. some can adapt to the system and navigate through it and others cannot.
Not every autistic slots into the prevailing system as easily as some others seem to. I would hope WP is a place where those who require assistance (welfare) and are not working or studying formally are not made to feel as if they are losers or lazy good for nothings because of their particular presentation or because of the particular issues and traits that make working very difficult.
It is too varied and complex an area (case by case is so very different) to sum up with simple catch-all phrases.

dear oh dear.....

As an aside, I have wondered the following, a bit of late....
I do wonder if there is a correlation between severe sensory problems and being able to maintain gainful employment. I do note that quite a few who struggle with ongoing employment of a full and even part time nature, seem to have fairly pronounced sensory problems which make life beyond the domestic or home realm almost impossible.

the other point to remember is the "stable" (is. lazy) ASD person on welfare may just be the next Roberto Bolano (who was dyslexic and self-taught as a writer) or some wonderful autistic autodiact who everyone thought was a complete loser but who in the end, made a contribution and did so because she or he was on disability.


IT might be easy to find employment if your special interests are academic.
If your special interest is toilet brushes or easter egg wrapper patterns or nuts and bolts - well - it may be a little more difficult.

as for me, I am the most "stable" i have ever been......

Last edited by millie on 10 Jan 2010, 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

For me, I can't work because:

-Routine; I can only follow my own, which leads onto:
inability to adhere to someone else's
conflict, which moves to Daniel going Hulk Smash (not good)
a small break in mine can stop me functioning dead cold
-Inability to handle being around people, which has many, many points
-Inability to get there

The most I can possibly manage, is farmhand stuff by myself with input into what needs to be done by the land owner, which I do do, but it's sporadic and unofficial; this is more akin to a kid doing chores

Millie, I've been having a major, major meltdown tonight and your words actually save my life right now. I hope it's okay to say thank you.

For me:
I can work from home painting and i do a bit of that.

other than that, i cannot work outside the home - and i tried many many times to do so.
I cannot follow ANY externally imposed routines day in and day out. I have tried in the past and I was placed in hospital. I can only adhere to my own strange little routines that make sense to me and no-one else.
I have BIG meltdowns and it is not pretty. I wish I didn't (and yes, I tried anger management and then when they realised it was ASD's and rudimentary emotion regulation, it all made sense.)
I cannot filter out light, I cannot filter out sound. I am static in my approach to any job which means there is no such thing as teamwork with me. I am hyperverbal so people assume I am fine when I am not, because they hear me carrying on like a one-person debating team.

I can pretend (fairly poorly) for a couple of days in a work environment. By the third day - I am a mess and i usually end up abusing someone, losing my cool, screaming, hiding in toilets, and penting up so much stress and tension that I end up "off the wagon" again. I cannot be around people three days in a row in a foreign environment. It's not the way it works with my ASD presentation.

They realised in my country (Australia) that i would do the least damage to myself and those around me if they respected the specialists' view of my particular presentation and just pensioned me off again.

And it has also been that my mothering and parenting skills have improved since returning to disability, and that is because i am not constantly trying to contend with the stress of day to day life. With my pronounced fight/flight reactions, normal day and normal life and work is just out of the question. If I can live with STABILITY - my son has a much better ASD mother. and he gets some love from me. If I have to take on "normal life" he doesn't get a frigging thing from me because I have nothing left for him...nothing but meltdowns and hiding in my room.


So now again on the DSP (equivalent to SSI in the U.S) ...I'M STABLE.

and i continue to do voluntary work with girls with ASD's. I continue to try in many ways with my life.
My case manager and psych said I had tried harder than most people she has ever come across in life.

So yeah, guess I take it personally (and quite rightly so) when others make glib comments and sweeping statements about how it is for "all ASD people."

Last edited by millie on 10 Jan 2010, 1:20 am, edited 2 times in total.

you little beauty meadow. Keep on trucking and know you are not alone.
take care and make sure you have a bath and try to relax a bit. Meltdowns are hard.....

oh bless you....you know these things.... I'm not alone now, I will...thank you...

G'mornin', Meadow!

Doing okay this morning?

I'm sorry. I should really think about some things I say before I type them. I think I was just annoyed that a lot of people who have (real and legitimate) disabilities will live on SSI, which amounts to very little, because it is stable, when they could work towards a job, simply because it is dependable and they know they can count on getting (barely) enough to live on.

I know a lot of autistic people are really, really frightened of not knowing what to expect; and that employment often is risky and difficult to keep. And I guess I was angry because I constantly have to live with the reality that I may not make it in school, that I may be truly unemployable, and have to live on disability no matter what I really want. I ended up being so stressed that I became physically ill last quarter, and had to drop out; and the only reason I was able to come back to school at all was that I spent every last penny from the money I earned last summer for paying for that missed quarter of school; and I know that if it ever happens again, I will be fully dependent on the government.

I don't like being dependent on anybody else. It frightens me that someone could decide that I'm too disabled to go to school. And on the other hand, I'm frightened that if they decide I'm not disabled enough, they could take away my SSI and leave me unable to get a job.

I want out of this system. I want it more than I want almost anything else. This is a horrible way to live and I cannot imagine anybody wanting it because it is more "stable".

If I were to say anything about people who are on SSI when they have a chance at work, thanks to it being a dependable way to get enough to live, maybe I might say that it is a sign of cowardice, unwillingness to take the risks that come with being employed. But people who think that SSI is a source of stable income... are probably wrong. You can lose it anytime they please.

I wish nobody would have to take those risks to be employed; but I really think that most autistic people can work--even those labeled "low functioning"--given training and decent accommodations. I'm very angry that in many places there are no good ways to get those things. My own anxiety and frustration and desperation to spend my life doing something useful sometimes spills over, and I say things that aren't correct. People who are searching for stability aren't necessarily lazy. They're just afraid to risk their lives on the bet that if they look for jobs, they won't fail and freeze to death in a cardboard box next winter. I really shouldn't be so harsh.

If its cowardice for me to live on SSDI/SSI, so be it.
I choose stability over my children sleeping on the street. And I wouldn't dare presume to know why others are on SSI or judge them for their reasons. Just because you have the courage, ability, means and support to do something does not mean we all do.