A recent study showed that 88 percent of people with aspergers syndrome were unemployed. Unfortunately I am one of those 88 percent.
I decided to make this blog to keep a record of my search for work - and hopefully my experiences of being employed while having aspergers syndrome. Currently I am 25 years old. As a child I was so independent that I was set on moving out into a house of my own at 16. Living at home was too stressful.
Of course this didn't happen, but after spending three years on my own getting a degree I failed to get a job despite applying before graduating. A blow, but not a huge one. It was a bad time to graduate in economic terms. I moved back home at 22, where I still am today.
I applied for countless jobs (I made it to 100 even before graduating, and then just stopped counting). The most I got was some interviews. After spending six months at home sure that soon I would get employment I had to give up my stubborn ways and go on job seekers allowance. Except for a brief six month contract (which was the only job I didn't interview for) I have been on job seekers ever since.
Some days I think that this will be it for life. I have no doubt that I can work, but I have major doubts over whether anyone will let me work. Yet, I don't qualify for disability either. It seems part of society thinks I can work, and the part that is dishing out jobs disagrees.
I am currently at 25 years old dependent on my mother for shelter and food. This is a stressful situation for both of us. Some days I even hate her a little for how she makes me feel, but I am stuck here, and she is stuck with me. I wish there were another option.
For now I'm off to fill out more application forms.
I'm fifty years old, quite recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and still looking for my first job...I can confirm it's not easy.
ReplyDeleteWow. Could I ask you how you managed to survive so far without work? There just seem so few options when all my quests for work seem to fail. I don't want to rely on my mother forever. I want my own life and family one day.
ReplyDeleteI survived Captain; 'survive' being the appropriate word. I had no life at all...very little money and hardly any social contact; a poor diet and a cold, damp house.
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