Employment.

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I am 23 and unemployed. I have never had a job due to having Autism and severe mental health problems, namely Schizophrenia and OCD. I have been housebound for the past week because of the voices, Spies, and the fact that the public are reading my mind. My friend says I'm very ill atm but I don't know. Also I've been having severe sensory issues, and my OCD is bad.

I want to work but I am struggling to even go to the supermarket and I have no idea how I will attend university next week when it starts.

I am on Employment and Support Allowance Benefits, Disability Living Allowance Benefits and Housing Benefit, and I live in supported housing. I want to move into a flat of my own and get a job and be independent, but I can't even leave the house and I've been hearing voices and seeing spiders and being attacked by the Spies for weeks now.

More to the point of Autism. Does anyone with Autism have difficulties with employment like me? Even if I didn't have Schizophrenia and OCD, my Autism would make it extremely hard for me to work. I have a full-time support worker for my Autism at university and the main reason I am in supported housing is because of my Autism.

If I were thrown into an office job today, say admin work, I wouldn't be able to answer the phone if anyone called me. I'd be unintentionally rude to the other staff. I would refuse to shake hands with anyone. I wouldn't be able to touch door handles, kettles, other people's things etc. I would be constantly paranoid/hearing voices. I would get sensory overload and have a meltdown. Then after half a day, I'd lose it, smash something and get fired.

Is anyone else in a similar situation with not being able to work?

As I mentioned in another thread - I think there are jobs that autistic people can do.

They should be simple and straightforward things that don't involve social interaction or administrative/organizational tasks. As a translator, my job is exactly like that - they give me a text, I translate it, I send it back. No distractions, no talking to people - it's just me and the text. And I'm doing very well, even got a commendation from my boss last month

In contrast, a few years ago I did have a slightly more complicated office job that involved more social interaction... and I only lasted 2 months. It was a complete failure. But I learned my lesson.

I also tried a job that required organizational talents and lots of processes to control - again, complete failure.


So don't lose hope, people - there can be something good for you out there. Just keep trying and don't ever be afraid of failure - it is a natural part of life.

Your second paragraph is pretty much the exact reason I'm not working at the moment (except for the hearing voices part, I don't have schizophrenia). I'm also on ESA and DLA. I really want to go to university like you but am scared for the same reasons you are scared to get a job. Not enjoying this time of year at all; when everybody is going back to work etc I am going back to spending every day sitting in the house desperately wanting something to do and to be participating in some kind of normal life.

Sorry I can't actually offer any constructive advice but maybe knowing there are some other people who feel very similar will help; I don't know.

I am only able to go to University at all because I have a full-time support worker with me from beginning to end. I cannot attend even a lecture or a meeting without her. And even with her, I've had meltdowns and I've walked out of lectures, or just not come to University at all.

I got that feeling from your post. I hope my reply didn't come across as me trying to say that you had it easier in some way because you were going to uni because that is really not what I wanted to say - I would never dream of trivialising somebody else's problems like that. Autism and OCD are difficult enough for me so I can only imagine how much more of a struggle having schizophrenia thrown into the mix must be. My social worker has talked about supported housing; how do you find that when it comes to your autism? I find the idea of having strangers around all the time very scary.

Thanks. Sorry. I get paranoid about what people are saying sometimes.

Supported housing. Well my experience has been mixed. I've learned a lot of new skills that I wouldn't have learned otherwise, and I got away from my abusive mum (she used to hit me, pull my hair out, get drunk, and psychologically abuse me). However I find it very hard living with other people and I am applying to move out to a flat of my own now that I have sufficient independence. The current carers are sh*t and they know nothing at all about Autism, and I never talk to them about my mental health because they trivialise it and I get conversations like this:

Me: I've been in the house for the past week, not leaving it, because I've been too paranoid to leave it.
Carer: well anyone would feel paranoid staying at home all the time! I once had the flu and I stayed at home for a week; when I went out after that, I felt strange.
Me: ...

Me: the voices have been bad.
Carer: lots of people hear strange noises sometimes, perhaps you need to sleep more. I remember when I was up one night, I thought I heard someone knock on the door, but they didn't.

Yes, they get "voices" confused with "noises". In fact the carers here (they visit in the evenings, they don't actually live here, it's "floating support") are so crap that I don't tell them anything about my problems. In fact I often pretend I'm asleep when they visit and let the others talk to them.

I have had multiple meltdowns and non-verbal episodes in this house due to living with others. Hence why I am pushing to move out.

BUT...I know another person with Autism who has had very good experiences with supported housing, and she has an excellent carer who understands Autism well. It's a postcode lottery to be honest. It's luck, who you get.

I would be choosy in where you stay. My psychiatrist actually cancelled an application for me to stay in somewhere in Colliers Wood because she knew it was noisy and horrible and would make me have huge meltdowns.

I am 26 and have been out of work for about a year

I have had so many jobs but none of them last, They all end with me either walking out or not turning up

What diagnosis(es) do you have?

I think maybe if you could do some kind of lab work? You're a science major, a very hard science at that-- pharmacology. Is there a lab associated with your studies at uni? Maybe you could work a couple of hours a week, organizing, cleaning up if nothing else is available (I cleaned the glassware at my bio lab until a position doing research work opened up). I was alone in the lab (you could have your worker there for support if you needed) and ran tests on samples and measured out chemicals for the professor's demonstrations.

Also I found my passion in a culinary career, an Aspie would be traditionally thought of as a poor choice for a busy restaurant hot line (kitchen where hot food is prepared), but I seem to thrive there and my oddities are not viewed the same as they would be in an office environment (as in they're more accepted, and humorous at times).

I understand being afraid to leave the house, I really do. I know that's just words on a screen but to be paralyzed into inertia is probably one of the hardest things to overcome. At some point, you WILL have to face your fears and overcome them. The voices are not real, even though they seem very real at the time. There is a part of you that is free from everything that bothers you, and you can withdraw to that place whenever you choose. You know what I'm talking about? Anyway, that's the thing to deal with right now, getting over some of the things that hold you back, all in your own time because you've dealt with it all your life, you won't be free tomorrow but you'll be one step closer if you do what you have to do get there.

I want to get to PhD research level, but I don't know if I will get there. I have lab work next year. I am part-time. Your ideas are good, I should look into working in a lab over the summer (maybe of 2014 not this year as I don't think things will change that quickly) like you did.

Thanks. That has helped. The voices seem very real, the Man talking into my left ear and the Woman talking into my right ear. Sometimes They shout and yell at me, and I can't block Them out even with music on my headphones. I'm going to try and go for a walk tomorrow morning. Today so far has been taken up by OCD and sleeping. I was cleaning for something like 7 hours and I had three showers. I didn't study today yet. The voices are bad now and I cannot speak. I am listening to metal music (not very loudly, just loud enough for me to bear with my sensory issues). I am browsing the internet. I will try and revise later. I don't know how to revise really. My eyes glaze over the pages. My brain is disconnected.

Can you suggest anything to help me study.

It's okay

I have ocd, gad, autistic related anxiety, paranoia it's a cluster f....I can only handle working part time. But I live happy and am not embarrassed by living a simplified life. I realize i'm not school material, never was after dropping out 4 times trying to upgrade for university and getting c's in high school but still graduating. I am not hopeless...I have accepted and will be looking out for different opportunities as they arise! I used to think I was developing schizophrenia also...but im 26 now I think I am in the clear...even though I have scary paranoia at times...which is distinct from my anxiety.

I was fired form many jobs for working to slow, being detached, anti-social. I have been stuck in my head all my life.

Since I don't know if you're on any medication, I can't suggest more medication, but I've used my ADD meds to study since I can't tolerate being on them full-time.

I'm already on Olanzapine, Amisulpride and Sertraline for Schizophrenia and OCD, and Mebeverine for IBS, and Topiramate for migraines/epilepsy. So I can't take anymore meds. I wish I wasn't sedated by meds.

Thanks everyone for sharing their stories.

Firstly... I wouldn't have been able to get a job if the National Autistic Society hadn't helped me get one. I've kept it ever since. Because despite all my eccentricities I'm pretty good at what I do (albeit right at this moment in time I'm quite sick, so I'm not there)...
Chances are you're probably going to need direct help to get a job, preferably from people with prior experience and a certain level of understanding. Nothing wrong with that.


Secondly... nobody is spying on you. If you know that, then feelings be damned. I get paranoid too (whenever I set foot outside), but I know I'm imagining it 95% of the time. The mind is geared to find patterns in things... even when they aren't there.
Fact is... people don't give a flying f**k about you unless you somehow harm them in any way... at which point they act like it is the most grievous crime ever committed and would have you hung, drawn and quartered for it without batting an eyelid. Why? Because you mean absolutely nothing to them. At the end of the day the only people who give a s**t about you are those who have invested in you in some way... mostly just yourself, but maybe others if you're lucky.

Just keep in mind that you're utterly irrelevant (like everyone else) in the grand scheme of things... and you should be able to move with a greater freedom, as granted by the special invisibility known as "other people don't really care".