An Interesting Paradox

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Don't hold your breath for the rest of the world to understand you, advocates or not. In all likelyhood what you're going to have to do is find, or make, a place for yourself in this society without any help from others. People either won't be able to help or won't want to because they'll be too busy with their own problems. With Autism, unless you're sitting in a corner and banging your head against a wall, nobody's going to pay any attention to you at all. As an adult you are on your own, and that's not likely to change anytime in the near future. So using your intellect to go as far a you can is a good decision you've made. My personal choice was to stay with a low paying job that I enjoy, rather than make myself miserable by trying to be a part of the NT business world. I made that choice because I know my tolerance for interacting with others is very low. You'll have to decide how much tolerance you have and find the best job you can within that limitation. You sound pretty smart, so you might do well. Good luck.

I don't really disagree Mike. I am 100% in the "make it yourself" corner - with the sole possible exception of using resources to overcome Hiring Discrimination.

I'm sick to death of people demanding "theirs" out of what little I make despite my AS.

Thanks for the articles, Mr. M. A very enlightening read.

I've never had support services before and I'm not really inclined to start now. I don't need help learning work-related tasks and I don't think I need help dealing with bosses and co-workers, though possibly I'm just too socially incompetent to judge that. I really just need someone to help me talk a potential employer into giving me a chance.

I'm smart and capable and I want to contribute. It's extremely frustrating to be stuck doing nothing. I had no idea employment was a privilege.

I quite liked blue collar/production line work as you don't have to use your brain and I could just let my mind wander. Unfortunately the blue collar world didn't seem to think I was the type, you have to look the part or something, so that didn't work out.

I think you may underestimate just how savage the office politics is in academia, it is the worst work environment I have ever experienced for backstabbing and envy and all that. It's partly because it's all big egos. I think the days of academia being a 'sheltered workshop' for aspies are over. It's all cronyism and nepotism these days.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Amicitia - Sorry, I wasn't sure where you were at in life. Seems to me like you are doing great.

Roadracer - Thanks for the encouragement.

MrMsanthrope - I skimmed over one your articles, "Vocational Supports for Individuals with Asperger's Syndrome." Under the section "ASD-Specified Supports" it stated many participants were dissatisfied with the support they received from VR counselers. I can totally relate to this, I've had trouble with these people. They really don't do much besides saying "go out and get a job." I am glad to hear that more is being done to try to assist people with ASDs find and maintain proper employment.

Yep. The intent of the articles is to provide a framework for upgrading VR support because it HAS been (and still can be) spotty at best.

The VR person I will be seeing on Tuesday is specificly aware of AS and AS needs... I asked.

I'm hopeful.

I'm glad someone thinks so.

Yeah, you need to put your foot down with these people and also have some people backing you, a call to the disabilites rights network will help if they try to sucker you! I applied for help from VR, but haven't heard back from them yet. The lady that helped me, who deals with them all the time, told me you have to tell them your goals a lot higher then you are shooting for. For instance, say you wanted a job in landscaping, you tell them you want to start your own landscaping business, and they will meet you in the middle somewhere. They try to help as little as they can so you have to shot way higher then what you actually want. Hope that makes sence?