I want to move!

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I just want to move from Norway and start a life abroad! Norway is not only cold, windy and wet, but the way we Aspies are being treated is awful. Everybody speaks of Asperger's as a "psychiatric disorder", lots of Aspies are put in facilities for the mentally ill, and if you are "well functioning", the county will rent you an apartment in a block where people with Downs, brain injured, regular autists and even old people with Alzheimer live with 24/7 staffing. (This has been in the news) In school, Aspies have a personal "assistant" that is covering your every step and knows where you are all the time... It is just so irritating..

I want to be treated as myself (I don't believe in calling somebody "an" Aspie, everybody is different) in the society, not as a random person in a group of Aspies.

I am hopefully graduating with a degree in aircraft maintenance this summer, and I wonder, do you think I could get a job in the US or UK? And how do they treat Aspies?

Cheers, Alex

I can't speak for the UK or any cities or areas besides the one's I've lived in. But my guess id yes you could find a job depending on
which traits / deficits you have, what your coping strategies are and how well you can pretend to be typical. The people who are my
social circle are pretty accepting unless I really screw up in a social setting badly. The only 2 places I've lived though are Seattle
WA and Albuquerque NM though and there are large culture differences between regions. Generally though, If you can hold your
own, do your job and can pretend reasonably well you'd be fine here.

All depends on your level of function.

Have you tried Denmark? Similar culture, similar language so you'd fit in quite well there.

The US is nice but if you're looking for a government to pay your way (you mention subsidized housing), look elsewhere. This country has a lot more of a self-reliant and capitalist attitude than where you hail from.

You'll fit in just fine, the whole nation is a basket of freaks. You can live in a city and attend Aspie Pride festivals or slink away into the country and live with donkeys and chickens in solitude.

Reception to you is going to be based solely on who you associate with, not any kind of general attitude towards those with Asperger's. I've gotten along fine here for nearly 30 years and didn't even know I was an Aspie until a couple months ago.

I live in Colorado and love it. As a bonus, you can travel half of the continent and not have to do any border crossings or switch languages. As a downside, I can bet that most of the time when people ask you where you're from (and you'll get that a lot with any kind of accent), the conversation will go like this:

Someone: "So where are you from?"
You: "Oslo [as an example], Norway."
Someone: "Oh cool! Where's that at?"
You: "Near the border of Sweden."
Someone: "Oh, I hear the Alps are beautiful."
You: "Actually, you're thinking of Switzerland."
Someone: <glazed look, figures you're maybe from those countries near Antarctica, and asks you to say something ("Anything!") in your native language>

If you are good at fixing aircraft and speak English, I don't see why you can't find work here. The economy's bad, would be the only reason you might have difficulties finding a job here in the US.

Thank you so much!! Which cities have a big Aspie community, and is there a "aspie capital" of the us?

I wouldn't imagine so. Asperger's people, like people in general, are spread out across the country. It would probably be more helpful to find an area that is more suited to your own needs and outlook if you were to move to a country as large as the United States.

Hmm, maybe I should move to Norway. I wouldn't mind some accommodation and a case worker.

I think the US, UK and Australia all treat people with Asperger's the same, that is, if you are capable of working you may be able to get a job. In Australia there are certain employment areas. I don't live in one. Adelaide and Western Australia are good. Although I live near an air base so I see jobs go for air craft type of employment all the time.
If you can't get a job some disability services will take care of that. They like it when people are ready to work but just can't get a job.

If you want little to no support and nobody giving 2 hoots, come to australia. The government treats everyone like crap so you will fit right in. They don't even give parents with children that have LFA carers payment because it isn't a significant disability. In fact almost nobody has any idea what aspergers is nor do they care.

If you moved somewhere like alice springs or broken hill or even port augusta (port a gutta) you will be able to walk into a job at an airport or even a job as a teacher with your qualifications because nobody wants to live there. You would be surrounded by drunken aborigines though.

Haha thats Australia for you...

As for NZ its fairly similar. There is no aspie capitol here either.

Personally and from above, I kinda think you are better off in Norway. Norway is like #3 in the world for standard of living? NZ is 20th. Our economy is rooted, the US has control of our media with crap US TV shows on about 85% of the time.

We have a poorly educated working class, who are kept dumbed down via foreign policy that prescribes a need for a low wage labour force. Hence the poor education and dumbing down.

I had a Norwegian girlfriend once that I met while backpacking in South east asia. She was the best girl I have known, apart from a Swedish girlfriend was was actually Norwegian.

I think Norway would be better than NZ, but I have never been there, so I cant honestly know for sure.

In the US I imagine placers like Seattle to be aspie friendly, but again its just a guess

Move to New York City or Los Angeles. Largest number of people living there = a community for everything. The culture of both cities is different. Los Angeles is warm and sunny year-round if you're looking for the opposite of Norway. People there are more likely to organize based on commonalities there because you need to drive to get anywhere in LA, so people form friendships with others based on commonalities, rather than forming communities and making friends with their neighbors. However, New York City has more people living there, so there may be more Aspies in general.

Many Aspies hate crowds and commotion, in fact it's such a common symptom that it's almost a stereotype, so those Aspies may not live in cities, or may live in small cities, which by nature of being small would still have FEWER Aspies.

Moving to a large city also means you can't develop a reputation, which is good, because it's easy to screw up socially as an Aspie.