Working with mentally disabled (LFA, Downs, CP, etc)

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Do you think working with mentally disabled people like those with LFA, downs, CP, etc, would fit Aspies?

l live with some people with classic autism they are cute sometimes but vary annoying in other times but they don't like ky bad temper

I think it would depend upon the temperament and skills of the Aspie.

It depends. It suits me very well, I do volunteer/humanitarian/social-type work at my college along with my course, with people with downs, CP, MD, FA, learning disabilities, autism, etc. I love working with differently abled people but I know that some of my aspie friends are too narcissistic and anxious to take something like this on, it's not an easy thing.

I agree with the above posters who responded that it depends.

If you get along with all ages and abilities of people, and can provide the assistance they need, then yes. They might need things like: Someone who can get them out of bed on a schedule, help them shower and get dressed, make breakfast, and go to their program that they do durring the day. At night they might need someone to make dinner, take them to a movie, go bowling or another activity in the community.

I worked in a very medically high needs group home for 6 months. I loved the ladies, but I felt I was inadequately trained to care for their severe medical needs, and it was very stressful at the time because I didn't know who to tell about the gap in training or the negative effect it seemed that gap had on the residents (one of whom was lucky and her family moved her to another agency where there was a real nurse in the house 24/7 instead of random college aged girls with 6 hours of first aid training).

Maybe you could volunteer where you want to work first in order to see if it would be a good fit for you and meet the consumers.

I love it. There are few things more adorable than a 5 year old with downs syndrome who thinks he is a karate master and only talks in a LOUD GRAVELLY MONSTER VOICE! I worked at a special needs school for around two years and I'm now in the running for a position at an adult residential facility.

I've been directing some support services for LFAs and I've found that I just love it!
The parents can be difficult to work with sometimes, and I pay most of the expenses out of pocket, but it's fun to be the leader for the first time in my life. I have a whole bunch of people who love having me around and let me know how happy they feel by me being there.

There is a problem, however. Two of the low functioning aspies are so toxic in their behavior that they ruin everyone else's fun. My attempts to control them or reason with them have failed. When I offer to host a special group just for them, they refuse because they don't think they're any different from anyone else. My inexperience is causing a problem, I know. I have to man up and just kick them out. It's so hard though, since I don't like being the bad guy.

But all things being equal, it's great. I'm hooked and will be at this for the foreseeable future.

Depends on who you are and who they are. You might be very good at it, or you might be bad at it.

But if you want to go into a profession that involves teaching or assisting people with cognitive disabilities, then go for it. It's honest work, it's in high demand, and you do get to meet people who are neurodiverse like you.

Just be careful not to make assumptions about them, because if you do, you might block communication. Having something in common might make it a little easier for you to communicate, but you aren't immune to the same problems that NTs have with misreading people who are different from themselves.

If you need a job and you think you'd like to do this sort of thing, then why not?

(By the way, I think I should note that people with CP often don't have any cognitive impairment at all--physical impairments can be severe enough that they need an aide, without there being any sort of cognitive problem. Some of my fellow students at my university have CP, and their academic abilities are typical of college students, even though some of them use wheelchairs and/or communication devices.)

I've volunteered at a place for teens with disabilities, and they had all sorts of different things. They weren't all Autistic but they didn't all interact with eachother. The only ones who were interacting were the NT volunteers, and me.
One girl had Cerebral Palsy, and so had to be moved by her carer, and just sat there and didn't say a word to anyone. One girl physically didn't have a voicebox but kept on dancing around craving for attention and writing silly notes about different boys she thought she fancied, (I think she got a bit obsessed). There were twin boys with something wrong but I didn't know what they had wrong, it didn't seem like Autism, but they couldn't hold a proper conversation and had the speech of a 2-year-old (even though they were 18) and they loved switching from one task to another very quickly. Then there was a boy in a wheelchair who was had severe Mental Retardation, he was 19 but had to have 24-hour care all his life, he was very happy and loved cuddling people and waving, but he had to wear nappies and couldn't speak, only babble. Then there was a girl who also had Mental Retardation but could walk and talk and do things for herself but was always constantly giggling and had an annoying habit of randomly leaping on your back then laughing afterwards, oblivious to how much it sometimes hurt your back. There was, I think, one Autistic girl, who just walked around on her own talking to herself and fiddling with her fingers and not talking to anyone, although I think she could talk because if you asked her if she wanted a drink she would go ''no'' and carry on talking quietly to herself. There was quite a few people with Down's Syndrome, that seemed to be the most common disability.

But I would not call these people ''neurotypicals''.

I would also have to say it depends on everyone involved - both the aspie and those with downs, CP, etc. For the record, I have AS, and my wife has CP, and we will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary this September - so we must be doing something right!

Agreed. I used to know someone with CP. He seemed to be fine mentally. He can and does walk; but uses sticks to get around. I have a friend with CP who can't stand unaided. She's been told that she has mild learning disabilities.

I used to work with a young lad with Downs. He could talk; but I found he was a bit difficult to understand and would often ask that he repeated himself. He needed a carer and she would sometimes have to explain things to him.

I work with children with LFA and I love it! It's not for everyone though, being on the autism spectrum doesn't necessarily mean you'd enjoy working with people on the lower end of the spectrum (though I think it's an interesting position to be in). People with disabilities tend to be more tolerant of people's differences so in that sense it might be a good fit for aspies but it really depends on the individual.

It can work! I am in this line of work and love it. It is one thing that gives me some sense of accomplishment and happiness. However it can be very emotionally and mentally draining and sometimes after one workday I feel I need a vacation.

Yeah. Try volunteering with them first. Maybe it'll work, maybe not.

Having Asperger's doesn't mean you'll relate to or understand someone with Down's Syndrome, just like being blonde doesn't make you relate with someone else who has blond hair. The type of job matters to. Are you volunteer teaching disabled kids? Doing job placement for disabled adults? Helping disabled adults dress themselves? Being a nurse? Being a counselor for disabled people? Teaching sports to disabled kids?

I work in a disability workshop with people with different disabilites. I also went to a disability agency that took care of people with different disablities, I enjoy working with down syndrome people they have a great sense of humor and are very caring people four of my friends are down syndrome.

On the other hand I have had issues with adult LFAs that I have worked with. One of my friends is LFA and I find that she is uncontrollable, it has got so bad that I have to have my Mum or a support worker, carer come and supervise when she is at my place because she becomes so uncontrollable she acts like a child, throws things at me for no reason at all and does not like being told what to do when she has done something wrong or just telling her to put her rubbish in the bin. She will scream, scratch, bite and throw things at you even though she is 26 years old. I tend to get along very well with High Fuctioning people and other Aspies.

Me personally no I couldn't work with the types of people mentioned(mild CP yes but the drooling types no) but I have worked with a teachers aide who was helping a HFA girl which wasn't too bad.