Receiving disability benefits for aspergers unusual or not?

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Regarding those jobs where - as my friends put it - you basically had to be breathing to get hired? I never could get hired. With a single exception when I was 18, I never got a single job I interviewed for, and all the jobs I did get did not require interviews.

That's the same with me. The 2 jobs I had I didn't have to do an interview for. I was only called in for one interview ever and was not hired. It was at a fast food place where my mother and another relative worked.

If you consider not being yelled at by teachers when I do something wrong, or being costantly helped from people around me because they think I'm a wimp benefits, yes I do.
I also remeber something when I had to do an exam to pass from middle school to high school. There were other classmates that had to give the exam with me that day. It was an oral exam. The teachers asked a lot of things to my classmates, but asked just very few things to me, and they told me to choose most of the things I had to talk about. I think this is a benefit.

In my case, (and I have a feeling I'm not alone in this) the reason why I'm on benefits is because the people who were meant to be helping me get back to work, had decided that my disabilities aren't that serious and I should just "get over it". Strangely, (or not) my GP, ENT doctor, audiologist and psychiatrist disagree.

I receive benefits as well (though I have both AS and Agoraphobia which isn't fun).

In the United States, disability is determined on a case-by-case basis. You are considered disabled if you cannot work, not because you meet the criteria for a specific diagnosis.

That said, I'm considered disabled, and I have Asperger's Syndrome. Here are my issues:

- Selective mutism
- Bad speech comprehension
- Prosopagnosia
- Can't drive (sensory overload + full body tics)
- "Mild cognitive disorder" (according to the psychologist), low IQ
- "Personality disorder" (virtually no desire to socialize)
- Scored in the less than 1% percentile of Vineland-II
- Dropped out of both high school and college due to mental exhaustion (sensory overload, too much talking involved)
- No work experience

You can see how some of that might affect my ability to get a job. I know that I could get a typical job, I just don't know if I could ever hold one. I'm 25 years old and I still have constant nightmares about grade school. I really, really, really dislike in-person socialization on any scale. It's absolutely exhausting. In college (I attended for 5 years) I did everything in my power to "become social", and I actually accomplished that goal, but at no point did I ever enjoy being social. Every moment was torture. I had friends who legitimately wanted to be around me, but I didn't want to be around them. I tried as hard as I could and it just didn't work out.

I also have a bunch of physical ailments, but those didn't come into play for my disability determination. Apparently, the mental stuff was enough for them.

Actually, that is very true.
The difference is that it was much easier to get by in the past. It was easier to get a job even if you couldn't hold on to it. Rents and cost of living were much lower compared to wages. All young people have it harder today, so if you are on the autism spectrum, it is even harder.

The past couple of decades you will likely see in many cases 3 generations living under one roof as the economy is so bad. Maybe the children are taking care of the grandparents. Or the grandparents are taking care of grandchildren while the folks work.
Some Parents like having their children and grandchildren around. I would never judge people by it... My friends have their mom living with them to help with the babies. Thank God the grandma is there! They needed the help.

I'd like to expand on this.

People often forget that the Industrial and Information Ages happened. Factory jobs have been replaced by automated computer systems. The need for farmers has dwindled as scientific advancements allow us to yield greater and more reliable quantities of crops. Money can now be managed with the help of computer programs instead of advisors. Why buy porn when you can now get it for free? The completely ineffective war against digital piracy has popularized piracy, destabilizing the various media industries. Physical wars are now rare and unlikely, making soldiers and military personnel less desired--especially now that we can send robots into battlefields instead of people.

Who needs a wedding photographer when you can take digital photos yourself with ease? Why hire a literary agent when you can self-publish online? Why pay a psychologist when you can self-diagnose yourself with Asperger's? Why pay a cable network for commercial time when you can use viral marketing to get your product across much more effectively, and for free? You want to learn how to cook, sew, or how to build a computer? Don't buy a book or seek professional services for that--go to YouTube, for free, and learn how to do it yourself. No one needs a computer tech anymore; computer parts fit together like legos.

The Industrial and Information Ages have irrevocably changed the world economy. There just aren't enough jobs to go around anymore. Many jobs provide services that are no longer needed by anyone, and many have been completely replaced (and outperformed) by computers and computer programs. As employers generally prefer neurotypicals, the rest of us are left to sit on our hands.

Countries like Japan simply lie about their (in reality, abysmal) employment rates, but you can be assured that, worldwide, there is too much convenience and efficiency to warrant the belief that everyone should work. The best solution is simple: shorten everyone's work hours so that more people are allowed into the ever-shrinking job pool. This, of course, will never happen because of greed. Many people want to work as many hours as possible. They want money, they want things, they want the best care for their children, and so on.

This is why it was easier to find a job back then. Back then, labor was actually needed.

People want to work as many hours as possible so they can get paid enough to support their families, this has nothing to do with greed, rather survivability. The current economy is what causes the money problems to where people can't be hired, it has nothing to do with the workers themselves.

My son is on DLA (UK) because he needs a lot of care and support. He has been on it since diagnosis of AS at 9 and is now 20.

He will never be able to drive due to visual perceptual difficulties affecting his ability to judge speed and distance, he cannot cross a road safely without a controlled crossing point available so needs support when going out. He cannot map or learn routes easily and has to be accompanied to any new place.
These qualify him for the low mobility element and allow him a bus pass with companion.

His organisational difficulties (executive functioning) mean he needs support for:
managing money
planning his day
making it to lectures and meetings
organising the meetings, etc in the first place
organising a meal - he can cook well but getting everything ready at the same time is beyond him, last time he baked a cake I reminded him to lay everything out and to then go to the shop to buy the things that were missing. Even after doing this he ended up having to go to the shop 3 times because he had forgotten things.
communicating things to the right people

and a lot of other things

His sensory differences mean he needs support for:
more expensive and adapted clothing as he can't tolerate certain materials, etc
specially made bedding
sound proofing
extra air conditioning - it has to be on all night and day from early May to late October
taking medication
food

etc, etc

His visual differences, including prosopagnosia, mean he does not recognise intention in others and is very vulnerable without support

His comorbid anxiety means that he is very prone to stress and meltdown and needs support in all new or stressful situations

My son is not able to leave home yet, though we hope to move to a house with a semi-independent flat for him soon, but the aim is that he will be able to eventually and he fully expects that he will move out when he is ready. He is unlikely to be able to hold down a job yet but he is continuing his education through university in the hope that he will have the skills he needs when he is ready to try to get a job.

Without DLA life would be very difficult for us - neither myself nor my husband can work ordinary full time hours because of the caring commitment and the DLA is what helps us provide the extras we couldn't otherwise afford that make it possible for him to live in a way that supports his development and gives him the chance of becoming independent and being able to contribute in the future.

DLA also gives him access to additional services - he receives occasional respite care and regular PA support for social and life skills.

If my son had been born even 20 years earlier there would have been no diagnosis of AS, his needs would not have been recognised, and he he would have been institutionalised because neither we, nor his schools, would have been able to cope with his needs. In an institution it is unlikely he would ever have developed enough to become even as independent as he is now, never mind be looking forward to full independence.

Disability benefits are much more cost effective for our governments and societies than providing institutional lifelong care.

Some people on the spectrum can manage life without extra support but many really need it.

I do not think it's the "social misfits" who have changed, I think it is work-culture and the demands of employers. I have had two jobs where I did the tasks at hand perfectly (in one of them, several of the patients actually said I was the nicest person they had ever met in public health-care) but after both of them I ended up with terrible references.

Why? - Because the employers did not care or remember that I performed over average, what they remember is that my colleges did not like me since I'm not a great small-talker, that they themselves did not like me since I did not suck-up and we had some misunderstandings, and that I did not attend any after hour social activities so therefor I must be asocial, boring and just not a good team player (even though no of the actual work involved team work so they could not know that).

And by the way I moved out at 17.

The work itself has never been my problem either - I'm good at what I do but working relationships always let me down

In my second job I was severely bullied and hounded out because I made a social communication mistake with someone in authority, it took me years to get past the impact of that - it took several years to understand what it was that I'd actually done!

Fortunately I now have an understanding of my strengths and difficulties, a boss who values me for my ASC perspective and a team which supports me when I need support but I suspect working in my field that's more likely than in most others - I support autistic adults in higher education.

i receive disability benefits in the united states (ssi) around $700. i also receive about $200 in food stamps, a free cell phone (lifeline), and pay a substantially discounted rent of $154 a month for a decent utilitarian apartment (my standard of living is higher than that of anyone alive 5000 years ago, probably). when my father retires i will receive ssdi based on 50% of his social security primary insurance amount. that should be around $1250 a month (if he were to retire this year). when he dies i will receive 75% of his PIA, which should be around $1875 a month (if he were to die this year (adjusted annually for inflation)) for the rest of my life. the maximum rent where i live is $300 a month, so i will be left with much more money than i need (for comfort and recreation) if i outlive my father. i have no desire whatsoever to work, and no guilt whatsoever about collecting disability benefits. nor do i feel 'entitled'. my disability is some significant cognitive dysfunction/impairment, more than social incompetence (though i have that going on as well). i can barely say 'hello' without, apparently, frightening or offending someone. without medication (stimulants) i could not even type this post. sometimes i think i would like to meet people from wrong planet to see how 'autistic' they would seem to me. i wonder whether some people collecting disability are really disabled (whatever that means). i guess if you are so overtaken with anxiety or despair that you cannot find the will to work, that is enough. i like the idea of work becoming more optional for more people, granting them the opportunity to work out their problems. i suppose there may be a limit to how much of that the working population will tolerate (before i know not what).

In the UK at the moment we have huge problems with the government forcing people who really aren't capable of working to live without adequate benefits after the flawed ATOS assessments determine them to be fit for work.

My son will have to go through one of these soon - because he can walk and talk, read and write, and make a sandwich he will likely lose all his disability benefits and be declared fit for work.

And then, when he can't get work because he simply isn't ready yet and doesn't have the skills to even apply for a job, or any understanding of why he might want or need to work and no support for learning these things because, along with the benefits he will also lose the services that having the benefits entitles him to, he will be penalised by having his unemployment benefits cut for not getting interviews.

Ho hum!

You only ever hear about the bad stories. Some of us on the spectrum (although, that may not be why I got ESA) have had no problems at all.