can i claim disability with aspergers?

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Can't your husband make his own breakfast smoothie?

Isn't this like the third time you've intimated suicide when employment isn't an option? Lighten up, sweat-pea.
I'm not gonna hold your hand and re-quote myself. You're a big girl, I'm sure if you concentrate you could find my references without too much trouble.

My final word on this subject is this:
If you cannot survive on your own- then apply for and get the assistance you need. That is what it is there for.
But if you are 18, 19, even in your early 20s and are considering long-term assistance, then I as a tax-payer have the right to question the authenticity of the claim. Having Asperger's does not automatically make one entitled to compensation in lieu of work. I was always taught to believe that financial assistance is an absolute last resort. One should ask themselves:
Will I be homeless if I don't get assistance? Will I go hungry?
What are my other alternatives? Family support?
Have I exhausted every single last employment opportunity?
I think that if you can't honestly answer yes to each question you neeed to keep looking for alternatives to long-term financial support.

YES YOU CAN.

I've been living on disability for a few years now. You'll have t ofill out a terribly depressing form wich demands that you write in detail about why your life sucks (have chocolate on hand).

I also think it's important to qualify with your country of origin.
What has become depressingly obvious is the desparity between available benefits from country to country. I know that in the US- and California in particular, the potential of getting on disability for Asperger's alone is nil. Yet it seems as though others haven't had such a hard time and one in particular seems to be living quite well off the system available in their country.

Excuse me if I sound incredibly ignorant, but what is the "disability" of Asperger's? I don't see how something like this can prevent you from getting a job and earning a living. Look at all of the successful people out there that had Asperger's? I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this one bit.

I agree with these points. It can be very difficult to cope if things start to wrong, and you just get into a downward spiral, and your (over-)reactions make things worse, which means the situation gets worse and you get more stressed and distressed...

I hope that it didn't come across as though what I said, querying about whether it was the right thing to do, whether the OP genuinely was unable to work, or whether they found the prospect of opting out of the rat race more appealing, meant that I assumed that just because I can work that all other Aspies can. Because I didn't say that and don't mean it.

I agree that all Aspies present differently. And even the same Aspie can present differently at different times.

I have struggled over the years, have had times when I'd become withdrawn and just stopped going to work, or got upset or angry at work, and I've walked out of a lot of jobs. But I tended to get back on my feet again quite quickly, because I didn't have any family to rely on, I had to work to support myself, so I had to force myself to do so.

But I have also had a period where I spent a long time living on disability benefits in the UK. I had an accident and badly damaged my wrist, and it was made worse by medical negligence, which it meant that I couldn't write or type properly, and if I did it was very painful. And I'd spent many years working as a PA/secretary, arts administrator and so on, doing lots of jobs that involved working with computers, but I couldn't due to my injury/followed by medical negligence. And years ago I used to do jobs like bar work and waitressing, and I couldn't even do low paid service jobs like those, because I couldn't carry glasses and plates.

Basically, I was stuffed, I couldn't work for around four years while I had four operations.

And during that time I lived on benefits, and Callista's right, it's poverty level income. It's really difficult to make ends meet, especially if they mess your claims up and make mistakes with your benefit entitlement. And then also being Aspie and having executive dysfunction traits means it's more difficult to keep a track of bills and living expenses. If you're on a low income and need to budget very carefully, that can be really difficult. I didn't manage, I got into some debt, because it just wasn't enough to live on.

*If* it's possible to get specialist help, some proper careers advice and to get trained and find a niche, then I reckon it's preferable to try to work. Even if you end up in and out of work and changing jobs, over the course of 30 or 40 years you'd hopefully be able to get some experience and get better paid jobs, even by accident if not by design. I mean, if someone had told me when I was in my late teens what job I would be doing today and how much I would be earning (it's not a great amount, it's less than I would have been earning if I'd finished my law degree and qualified and been practising corporate law, but my salary is tax free). Again, though, just because I can do it, doesn't mean everyone can. But even though I can, it hasn't been easy, it's been extremely difficult over the years, at times. But just because something is hard, doesn't mean one shouldn't try. And I know for sure that I wouldn't have travelled and had the holidays and experiences I have if I had been on benefits for most of my adult life, because it was working and earning that paid for those.

But again, not every Aspie can work, and those that can't I believe should be given a decent income, but the reality is that benefits aren't designed for permanent disabilities such as for an Aspie who isn't capable of working due to panic attacks or meltdowns or social interaction deficits.

And also, I fear that the stress of living on benefits can actually make people more ill. When they messed up my benefits claims when I couldn't work because of my wrist, they stopped paying my rent and I almost got evicted and I had so many meltdowns because of that and ended up quite badly depressed because I couldn't work and earn and support myself.

Each person is an individual. And even each individual Aspie might have times during their life when they can work, and when they can't.

I'm not saying it's making me ill, but I can agree that living on somebody else's charity (especially if it's an impersonal government) is stressful. You can't control nearly as much of your life as you would like to, and you are at their mercy if they decide not to let you continue education so you can go to work; or if they decide you are not disabled after all, and you end up back where you started. You don't know if there will be laws passed to cut benefits; you don't know whether somebody will fumble your paperwork and you won't get your check and you can't reach the office anyway because they are always busy and don't have an answering system. It is very uncertain, especially if you don't have family near; and anyhow, if you have family, you may not even need it. You can't even turn down the thermostat and eliminate the small luxuries and save the extra, because they don't let you save enough money to really give you any sort of security...

people with aspergers have it to different degrees, I believe. Also some people with stronger symtoms of Aspergers have such poor social abilities that they cannot hold jobs well. I know one such person.

You ARE, unfortunately, right about the fact that most are nonsense and could be wiped out by improving efficiency. Still, if everyone thought as you, life would be VERY different! NO computers, NO stores, there would be almost no people on the planet, etc....

Lightning88 and crack and those that said similar things are right. Outside of the few that are REALLY incapable or VERY inefficient, etc... people are just being unreasonable if they want to live their lives without working AT ALL!

BTW AS ISN'T a disability in the proper sense of the term. OK, it can limit your options, but it is STILL a good sized list.

On Asperger's Disorder and disability:

"Work" is so good?

Really?

Why do we all generally hate it then? If you didn't HAVE to work, would you? If you won the lottery, would you still report in to McDs to flip burgers? Hate to be on the clock? The history of proto-industrialization is rife with this. Took a couple centuries before Europeans could be beaten into wage-earners, to actually show up for "work." If you don't know about this, you're uninformed. I'd elaborate more, but then I'm not getting paid anymore to do that. Puritan misconceptions abound.

You don't have to travel very far, really, to see other cultures where the work ethic is very, VERY different. Ours is the only one worthwhile? Only if you're greedy, lacking insight, and are easily fooled by the myriad illusions that constitute American life. Very few question the assumptions. It's always amazing to me. If you've been exposed to other cultures, traveled extensively, or made it a point to learn about how people in other parts of the world see their daily lives and what makes them worthwhile, you'd drop these unquestioned assumptions about work=worth. Work=something you must do if you don't want to be punished (by having to live under a bridge. Or be sent to prison.) In many places, the community finds a place for every individual to function effectively, thus enhancing the viability of the community as a whole. Not so with us. Here in the good ole usa, we toss you into the gutter if you're not sufficiently cowed by the threats that are held over your head every single day of your entire life. Ever take a look at the mental health figures lately? Say, over the last 40 years? You might be surprised. It's driving us all crazy, literally. But it's allright. You'll be ok . . .

If you win the lottery.

In most places and for most things in the industrialized world, machines could do a lot of what people do, but then we wouldn't have the cash to spend on "necessities" would we? Necessities like new cars, new clothes, new toys (so many varieties . . .), conspicuous consumption (to impress who?), status and prestige purchasing. I'm constantly astounded by how few people question these basic assumptions. Ever heard of planned obsolescence? I can't see how it's any different than fraud, myself, but then, that's just me, apparently.

The conditioning is SO effective, that the very people who are exploited the most, who are suffering the most from this insanity . . . actually defend it. But then, that's the nature of conditioning; the subject never realizes they've had their behavior modified . . . if it's done well.

I am on disability because I have more than just autism. I don't know if Asperger's is covered because it is mild compared to full blown autism. Yes, I am high functioning but can't do that much in the job world except own my own business. I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, depression, severe anxiety, DID, and others. At one time I had conversion disorder which means you look like you are having a physical (usually neurological looking) problem due to trauma and stress. Mine came in the form of severe seizures but they were non epileptic. They looked just like grand mal seizures to the outsider and it took 24 hour EEG testing to find out that they were pseudoseizures. Having classic autism usually but not always qualifies you for disability but I doubt that is the case for Asperger's. But soon I will get off disability because suddenly my business is succeeding after 10 years of failure. I mean the business was making around at most $100 a YEAR. Just in the last few months, we have made several thousand in our business. And after the first of the year is when the big sales will come because major zoos and casinos are ordering my art cards. Vendors are also interested in selling my stuff around the country. Already we had one over the weekend saying it was her best show ever because she sold my stuff and this was in Georgia. I live in Washington State, so I have no clue how she found out about us since we haven't really advertised.

I have looked, and all I can find is you attacking anyone who cannot function in the workplace - oh and spare me the cruising - you are way too old for me...

M

That is your opinion and I respect that.



Oh, honey! Cruising?! You flatter yourself needlessly.
If your picture has any truth to it, you are way too much "man" for me.

That is actually incorrect, as the US system of disability benefits is based upon degree of functional limitation, not specific diagnosis. I know Aspies in California who are on disability.

M

I'm sure you do.