How come people with Aspergers can't work ?

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It is for some ... how many is anybody's guess, but unemployments rates are very, very high, by some estimates higher than for convicted felons, in the 80-85% range. This is not easily explained by anything other than something inherent in AS itself, or, discrimination and in some cases (eg home situations) abuse.

That is one reason why I did not want to be diagnosed and find out I have asperger's -- the unemployment rate of 85%! I say with an ! mark because I don't think even Hollywood actors have it that high. The fact that I would face something like that is just overwhelming.

Strong work ethic here. Maybe I could have leveraged that into a career but my "special interests" have taken up a lot of time & energy. Certainly my inability to drive has been a employment challenge. Some cities & towns better than others. No math, so, boo hoo, I won't spend my life behind a cash register. Good news: I make hammocks for a living. Bad news: I make hammocks for a living.

Says who?

I work and I have aspergers Its never become a problem for me as a stocker or maintenance crew member unless i talked to other people but other than that my yearly evaluation exceeded in everything. Aspergers doesn't prevent me from working it actually helps me improve my skills as a stocker. Thanks to wal-mart . But other than that socializing with other wal-mart associates is a down fall for me. I haven't told my managers I have aspergers I don't need to unless it starts interfering with my job or other problems with other associates if i constantly get coached etc. I never been coached before though or had any major problems within the year I've been with the company so it doesn't matter since I'm to quiet to even get into any trouble and can't even have a conversation unless someone needs something or i need something. that is about the only time i do talk. In my yearly eval. they said I had was business like and had the business attitude which they liked etc.

Well...I had a multi-paragraph essay written here about my experiences in teaching. It took me over a half-hour to write it. Then my computer lost my page and went to a previous page I had been on. I can't type it again. Anyway, I have taught for 24 years. I have Asperger's and I work. But I understand many on the autism spectrum cannot work. It depends on the person.

Bottom line is even people who just have AS have different levels and varieties of impairments, so that while you may be able to work, you can't generalize that to everyone who has AS and expect to reach a coherent or logically consistent conclusion.

If I would have known 35 years ago what I know today about my condition (I have Asperger's, as well as OCD and bipolar Ii), I would have never gone to college, let alone graduate school. The jobs I tried to do led me to burnout rather quickly. The job I despised (pizza delivery) is the only constant. I'd prefer to work, but I have no idea how I'm going to pay my debts. I don't dare ask family for any kind of help. I don't like asking my church all the time for help, besides the rest of the family raises hell every I they find out I ask the church for help (and it wasn't even for myself a good bit of the time. It was normally for my mother, when she was still alive.) the rest of the family (save my youngest brother and his wife, who have 2 low functioning autistic children) think I'm a fraud, a liar, a cheat, and a lowlife who doesn't deserve to live. As a matter of fact, the consider Asperger's to be disease-mongering. They're already thinking of me as an Ass-burger. Mom, before she died, knew there was always something wrong with me, she just couldn't figure out what.

They CAN work. Most, anyway. It's insulting that people, even people here, say they can "never" work. Most can-- with proper job placement, therapy, special accommodations, etc.

Some people with tons of co-morbid conditions and other ailments find it harder. Even so, most people can (or should I say, could) receive treatment and with time, could work. Do all want to work? No. Just read over the "work" forum and you'll be sickened by some of the people choosing not to work. Others want to work, but at this time, find that difficult-- and are proactively doing things now to help them work later on.

This lady was able to get multiple degrees for decades. I find it hard to believe that she could get all those degrees and not do ANY sort of job.

I don't think you can judge whether any particular person on this forum can or cannot work. It seems rather arrogant to tell people what they should be doing, especially when you're probably quite ignorant as to what they've already tried.

Also, I find academia easier than work, but academia actually burns me out faster than working - but the burnout and resulting months or years of decompensation is pretty real. in either case.

Also, technically some people can work, but the accommodations they require may mean no one will offer them a job. Some of the accommodations I need would simply not be anything most would be willing to meet, unless you know of anyone who would hire someone for an 8 hour workday during which they can only work 3-5 of those hours and spend the rest of that time decompressing from the working itself.

Exactly, Charles.

Finally someone here with a solid work ethic, and wisdom to find jobs that you know you can do... not trying to do a type of job that isn't a good match, then claiming you can never do any other sort of job ever. Finding a good match in a type of job is important to success, as is strong willpower and perseverance (and, if necessary, reasonable accommodations).

I have actually done work that I am both good at and enjoy, and I burned out on that as well - to the point of getting blacklisted out of the industry (10 years ago, I could approach publishers and ask them if I could work on a particular book line and they would typically say "yes." Over the past five years, all I've received is politely worded rebuffs).

This was also work I did at home on my own schedule - contracting work. I lasted the longest at it because I did love it, but I kept hitting walls and burnouts and spending months away from working only to start the cycle all over again, until I spectacularly crashed and burned in 2003, got another chance, and everything blew up again in 2007.

Also, willpower is more a matter of neurology than skill. Executive dysfunction (common in autism, and severity of such dysfunction is not directly correlated to visible severity of autism - someone who appears mildly autistic can be just as impacted as someone who appears severely autistic) directly impacts the neurological functions that account for willpower, meaning that one depletes their reserves more quickly, spends more of them on tasks than neurotypicals, has to spend some on tasks that neurotypicals do not, and probably has fewer overall reserves. This article discusses the concept (labeled "ego depletion"):

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2012/04/17/ego-depletion/

I also find the assumption that if someone states that they cannot work that they lack a work ethic to be highly questionable. But I suppose if you interact with people as if they suddenly appeared ex nihilo the moment you noticed them, and believe you can deduce everything about their thoughts and motives on the basis of whether or not they want to work, then your conclusion would make sense. Since none of these things are true, such a conclusion is at best nonsense, and at worst a blatant attempt at emotional manipulation.

I think it all depends on what your problems are and how severe they are, doesn't mean you can't stop doing your best and keep doing stuff, like studying at home if you can't go to college or something :o I study at home and it works for me, for now.

And usually when someone can't work, its more then just one thing that's stopping them, i think its pretty odd to just shove everyone with Aspergers or ASD over to one side when it comes to working, school, etc, i mean don't enough people do that already :/?

I don't believe the diagnosis is the cause. Work environments are typically social. Even just landing a job, any job, is a social skill, not unlike landing a girlfriend/boyfriend (one might even say harder, depending on barriers).

I think even getting through the interview is hard enough for someone with AS. I've had interviews and I know I didn't get the job because I didn't know how to answer the questions.

People want talkitive bubbly outgoing people to work for them. Not someone that just does their job then leaves. It's pretty messed up because I didn't know "work" involved social skills.

I'm the type of person that needs direction when working. I need someone there to tell me exactly what to do every minute or I feel lost and I start to panic.

I also have agoraphobia so I can't even drive to a job:/

It is a matter of how bad your symptoms are!
For example I am highly skilled at just about everything but because I work slower than others employers don't
want to hire me. Because I am also bipolar my symptoms shift 3-4 times a day meaning I could start my day in the best of moods
and then without warning go in to a dark depression which makes doing the work unbearable.
If the work enviroment was Aspie friendly then a lot of us would fair much better.