Benefits!

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The subject of 'benefits' seems to come up quite a lot on WP and so I am wondering if people receiving 'benefits' are the majority here.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from members with AS who aren't on benefits.

No, I've never had any sort of support from the state. I know of no program here that offers it unless one is so severely handicapped that they cannot do any kind of work at all (including sweeping streets and picking through recyclables).

there was not a completely accurate answer to the poll for me.

I do not receive benefits, but I have also almost always been partially dependent on others for some kind of support. I would not mind being possibly eligible for some kind of benefits when I am older, but I am not sure if it will ever pan out. I have been unemployed or marginally employed for most of my adult life, so I have not paid very much SSI..so I don't know if I would be eligible once I do find myself old and alone with few resources.

Currently, I am doing ok financially.

I posted yes because I recieve services at school such as the adaptive lab

Poopy - You may well be able to get something, later on. If you have a long history of not being able to support yourself and if you have a formal diagnosis, you would have a shot at Social Security Disability. (I'd forgotten about this option.) Yes, your social security payment would be based on how much you paid into the system over the years, but there would also be the possibility of supplemental social security disability income, which is based on the poverty level and not your past earnings.

Put together they won't be a lot of money, though. Depending on the state you live in at that time, you might be bumped ahead of others for subsidized housing (if it's available), and paying for that would only take a set percentage of whatever you had coming in, regardless of how much that total was. In a "good" state that means you would have housing and just enough to live on. In a "bad" state, it won't mean a lot.

Wishing you the best...

I've had benifits for about 5 years, but now it has stopped, though I voted Yes, as it was only recently I stopped receiving them.

Actually, to the two posters above: To my knowledge, most every state considers a disability before a certain age a responsibility of the parents. You would be able to collect SSI benefits based on the time paid in by your parents, without harming their own ability to draw later. In Nevada, if you are disabled before age 21, you are allowed to use your parents paid credits at the time of filing to claim disability. Something like AS would obviously be present from a very early age, and though no one knows for sure, possibly from birth.

Now, if your DX does not stretch back before the cut-off age, you have a spot of trouble, but it is workable. Here, you just need two independent doctors to attest to the fact that your disability has been lifelong and will not abate at any future point.

Hope this helps some of you a bit.

Nope, except a student allowance from the government - but anyone with parents below a certain income threshold can get that, so it's nothing to do with AS (I assume that's what this thread is essentially asking about). But I'm fine with that - it's not very much anyway, for AS, I've heard. I knew someone who got it, and it was about $35 a week (US $15, I think). They were still at school last year, though. I'm at university, and I have a student loan, so I think that probably makes me ineligible.

Anyway, I think I'd feel kind of guilty claiming a benefit when the benefit laws are in such a state that half the people who really need it can't get it. I don't need it - it'd just be nice, since I'm a full-time, 27-hours-a-week in class student, so I can't get a job.

Do you have a system like CentreLink in New Zealand? That's what it sounds like to me.

I'm on Disability Employment Services and receive $600 a fortnight. Part of that goes to mum for feeding me and the rest so I can eat out, buy my own clothes and survive when I visit the city.
It is really hard to get on it in Australia too but I need it. Looking for 10 jobs a fortnight and not hearing back from one was a blow to my self esteem.

I'm not sure...maybe it's the Aussie equivalent of WINZ (Work & Income NZ)? I get my student allowance from them through StudyLink, who are in charge of student loans (and send me at least a letter a week to remind me how much I owe them! Aarrgghh!)

Unemployment's huge here, too. I saw something on the news about it just this evening, actually - and there were people saying they were applying for something like 10 jobs a fortnight with no luck. So it's not just you - don't let it get to you. Keep trying - maybe something will come up, when the economy improves (help! My little sister's got me thinking in terms of economics! Heh...that reminds me of a blow to my self-esteem I had a couple of years ago. Got beaten to a job at a supermarket by my (then) 14-year-old little sister! We both applied at exactly the same time, filled out the same forms, gave them to the same duty manager and introduced ourselves...I didn't even get called for an interview!). Good luck - hope things improve for you.

Thanks. The job network I'm on are helping make it easier for me to find a job and work. From past job interviews I either have a lack of skills or don't seem 'bubbly' enough. Fortunately the job network found an employer who does photography, which is a great passion of mine and he knows I have AS, and want to work around my difficulties. So I feel really lucky to have them. My interview with the employer is only a week away, so I'm a little nervous but excited.

Oh, good luck!

I second that! Go own!

I bet they'll be hard-pushed to find someone who can do the job more thoroughly and enthusiastically than an Aspie with a special interest in it! Who needs "bubbly"?!

Thankyou Kip and Aietra. Your support means a lot.

HERE, HERE!

Go get 'em

I don't have benefits and I'm fine with that.

Getting benefits = government control over my life, and every time I've had to deal with it (food stamps, unemployment), I resented how they treated me for what little they gave me.