Where did you get that statistic?
Is there a similar stat for the USA, which is a culturally similar country?
It was alleged by a Danish or Scandinavian or German AS Web site that 95% of Aspies were unemployed or underemployed. Or do you mean underemployed when you say unemployed?
College (in America) is happy to take your money and give you a good shot to achieve and grow.
The job plays favorites.
Yes the sociology helps with nonverbal communication (concentrate on dramaturgical analysis but I doubt they will go THAT DEEP at the undergraduate level.... you might also find good insights in social theory class with George Herbert Mead, Mind Self and Society, and some of the other related scientists, Ethnomethodology, Phenomenology, and so on- I have a Master's in sociology)...... a very detailed examination of nonverbal behavior and socialization and conformity and social pressure and punishment and deviance could explain a lot of what we face.
Careful, though. In the USA everyone loves to study things like sociology or history and there are way too many of us for the people who think they need us. I tried going to the goal oriented, procedural occupation of evaluation and social research (which has valid applications in cost benefit analysis and impact assessment), and I have worked in criminal justice research in gun control, domestic violence and recidivism. But I never worked again after I left the University. NEVER AGAIN, though I really tried.
The state of Maryland finally concluded strong circumstantial evidence that Asperger syndrome was short circuiting my interviews. They put me in a VR program in computer programming. I was hired six weeks after graduation, but it took about a year and a half to eventually formally transition into the Information Technology Group in Web design: in the meantime, I applied the Access, Excel, Word and PowerPoint I picked up, usually supporting Conference Planning with Access database design.
A week from Friday makes 8.5 years salaried.
I don't think learning to fit in has a great deal to do with work ethic. There is no written rule that says Aspies need to take "Sociology 101" to play their part in society. Learning to fit in may have more to do with capability, and how much stress you can handle by using your "fake NT mask," and so on. There are some people who are willing to act NT but not fully able, and others who are able but not fully willing. I give respect to both sides, because to deny us a right to be ourselves--even in the workplace--is a mistake... I mean, what about those who really aren't able to fit in? Should they be looked upon as less, because some of us are able to "work hard" to seem NT and pull it off, and therefore those people must not be trying hard enough?
All I'm saying is, if fitting in is not for you or you can't do it or it's too stressful (I'm in this category...and please don't assume that you know what it's like to be me), there's no reason to think that person is a "lazy bum." I realize the real world may feel differently, but the real world does not understand what it's like to be in our shoes.
Absolutely. I fit into the "able but not willing" category, and it hasn't done my career any harm, all things considered. About all I'm willing to give is two or three minutes of "office greeting" talk at the start of the day, and anything else is other peoples problem.
The only time it's really a problem is in interviews. Anything else, and people just think you're concentrating on work if you don't talk much.
I would question the 85% unemployment figure. Since my nephew was diagnosed, my sister in law (who is in UK) has made a huge effort to find out more and has met a fair number of AS folk along the way. Most of them have been employed. Maybe underemployed, maybe eccentric, but never the less employed.
My husband who is self diagnosed has always been employed - and good jobs too - he has struggled, but like Michael1 has always valued his independence enough to work hard. I have met other people with AS of our age (and remember that a diagnosis was not available for them so they simply though they were a bit 'different' and carried on) one of whom is a senior teacher and another a scientist. I don't think that people necessarily have to conform to be accepted - but an effort has to be made by all NT and AS to make work go smoothly.
I know some simply cannot fit in - but there are many of us NTs who have to do lots of things we don't like on a daily basis just to earn a crust.
I understand why people reject my 'actor playing a role and following a script' approach to work, but most often those who do are unemployed. I would much prefer not to work in the environment I do but I don't want to loose my financial independance, so I stick at it and work at it.
It probably has more to do with the type of work. For example, you mentioned dealing with customers, and in that sense I can definitely understand where playing a role would be necessary. I'm a programmer, so it's a bit different for me...
I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone or imply that it was easy for those who are AS to find or keep employment. BUT - I do wonder whether quoting figures like these aren't giving a bit of a negative picture. I don't have an AS child, but my nephew is and we want him to believe - like any other child - that he can do anything he wants to do. He may have to struggle to do it - and if he doesn't want to do something that is different, but telling young people who are AS that 85% of those with such a diagnosis are unemployed doesn't sound very encouraging. Like saying you only have a 15% chance of succeeding. Given that AS diagnosis is a recent thing I wouldn't say that the figures were necessarily correct. Now that childen are diagnosed early and given support I think we should be hoping that their chances will improve. If people believe in you it surprising what you can do.
Neither was I comparing being AS to NT - just (perhaps clumsily)pointing out that many of us can't 'be ourselves' all of the time. I think it is very hard work and don't underestimate it. However, whilst I know this is a support site for those with AS and I don't want to alienate people, if those with disabilities are to be accepted more easily they too have to make accommodations. Employers and colleagues can be tolerant of differences but - possibly unfairly, cos life isn't fair sadly - the person themself also has to compromise if they can sometimes.
I wish the original poster luck and I think you are right to give warnings, but I'd like to think that he's have more than a 15% chance of getting a job and hope that all goes well for him.
Michael1 - don't put yourself down. I'm sure you are employed because you try hard to overcome your problems. Sticking at things when they are difficult is a virtue and I applaud you for doing so despite the obvious difficulties.
I do not think it is possible for everyone to be employed and I know it is difficult for many. This thread was originally started by someone young looking to their first job. Be they AS or NT I think we should try to encourage young people looking for employment. Some of the replies (not you Batman55 - my comments were just that, comments - not about you) see unneccessarily negative.
Compromise is necessary in everyone's life. When I read some threads here I feel that lack of compromise can be a major problem. The reason I read this forum at all is to try to get more understanding of both my husband and my nephew. I know my husband has had difficulties and I'd like to think maybe my nephew from a younger and more understood generation will have less. However, if he wants to be understood and accepted I think he has to try to understand and accept too.
If dropping your job search in what you have a Master's in and learning a new career and running with it isn't compromise, I don't know what is. Well, compromise pays off for me. When Mom died she didn't die with grandkids, but... she died knowing she had sons making their own money, one with a verified disability (and I think my brother has it too but I can't prove it nor diagnose him, but he complains about alienation around the apartment and at work in ways I don't have to worry about. For an Aspie I am very fortunate. I have friends at work, in the flat, and at church. Lately I have even been dating.).
I'm not trying to suggest my theory is correct and that Michael1 is wrong. For all intents and purposes, his theory is correct. And he's right to say that my ideas here lack credence, because I don't have the official diagnosis.
I'm not sure that I understand. You think your ideas are invalid because you don't have the piece of paper that indicates an official diagnosis?
There was indeed a time--quite recently when you look at the big picture--when the AS label was not in use and those who were different or had social difficulties would have had no choice but to work fulltime anyway, most likely in an environment that didn't suit the person, either. I dare say my "different" uncle at 75 years old went through all that without knowledge that he had AS, although he had an extroverted personality which helped him a lot in his field, as it was socially oriented. I'm not the same as him in that regard, so logic dictates I look for a job with less intensive social interaction... all of my previous jobs have been customer oriented and not to my liking, even though I stuck with them for a while.
There is no logic in that at all. If your "different" uncle had no reason to think there was anything wrong with him, he would just have got on with his life, albeit with more difficulty than other people might have. If you are using your self-diagnosis as an excuse for your lack of effort (and that is how it reads), I think your uncle might have got the better deal overall 
Choosing an appropriate job is essential, but ruling any out because of preconceptions is foolish.
I'll admit I don't like the undercurrent of hostility I see in this thread. There are other reasons besides social difficulties and problems with real world interaction that are behind my lack of a fulltime job. I'd not go into all of this because they are my personal problems and not for other people online to "judge" whether the reasons are acceptable or not. For the record, my family and friends are not happy about my inadequacy and I have faced consequences for my status that I would not otherwise see if I was gainfully employed.
If you're not prepared to divulge your problems so that people might understand, (and maybe even empathise, although don't hold your breath 
), it's hollow to try and use them as another excuse for your lack of motivation. Ultimately your friends and family have their own lives; I'm guilty of worrying what people think of me at times as well, but if you're not doing anything to be ashamed of, you have nothing to fear from them unless they are prejudiced and stupid.
I find it interesting that your first post on AFF is a response to me that suggests I am using my self-diagnosis as an excuse. And you make assumptions about me without having ever replied to any of my other posts (I've written a lot here) or knowing me, at all. Are you the same person as Stalinator, perhaps?
This is conspicuous. Sock puppet anyone?
My fault... I see that you joined in 2006... I can be paranoid
Anyhow, I'm just saying I didn't like your appraisal of a couple things I wrote, because I felt you were making too many assumptions. I prefer not divulge and "list" my reasons for unemployment to people on AFF because I don't really know the people here in real life, and why should I dish out personal information just to "justify" my current life status on this forum, anyway? The real life side of this is a different story, and it's not something you're involved in, anyway. The only thing I'll say on that matter is it is not all peaches and cream and I face consequences for my predicament. That is all anyone needs to know.
I hope this is the last I have to say on this matter.
Hang on, Timelord - Michael 1 has already apologised for that post (and others).
I think that he has realised that he was trying to convince himself rather than anyone else that he was enjoying his work.
Michael 1 - Kudos to you for your apology and your explanation. I hope that your situation improves.
And, as daisy may wrote, the point of this thread is that Asperger's Syndrome or any other autism spectrum diagnosis doesn't necessarily mean unemployment. Especially if, like me, you give up the idea of a 'career' in the old-fashioned sense and instead look at a series of assorted jobs as an opportunity to learn different skills and get a new take on the world.
The longest job I had, I stuck at for nearly ten years; most of those self-employed.
If I find something I enjoy it is far more important than something that makes me rich.
Even freelance illustration, if I keep developing my skills (in my unorthodox way), could eventually become a possibility for me. It would not pay well, but I should be glad to do anything that pays, given all the "problems I have that most people don't have." I'm not looking for sympathy from that comment--it is just the truth. My skill profile is highly uneven, unusual, and not as flexible as society tends to demand. So I've got to find my own thing--a niche, so to speak. I applaud Michael1 for being able to do so.
As long as the allowances and compromises are reasonable and achievable within the bounds of the person's abilities.
I know daisymay's comments are just comments. But there's a bit of a blanket statement in there--"Most people with AS are intelligent." It's understandable and quite true--but it's more with theoretical intelligence, than practical intelligence. Unlike NTs, there's often a huge divide between the two categories. For some of us AS people, because of executive dysfunction (if you don't know what it means, daisymay, just look it up Google or Wikipedia), the divide between practical and theoretical intelligence may be astronomical. If you have severe executive dysfunction (mine is to the extent that college is unrealistic for me), there is not a great amount of allowance or compromise you can provide to any given employer.
I know a lot of people on AFF who do not have executive dysfunction. Perhaps your husband doesn't have it. But you'll have to have a rethink here, because some AS are cognitively disabled and some have learning disabilities. I would personally consider myself to be learning disabled, at least.
So the ways in which an AS person might compensate for social problems--by using intellect--are not really available for me. My shaky executive functions get in the way.
If anyone wants to claim the "I'm making excuses" on me, again, then be my guest. It's always interesting how people who don't have learning disabilities, tend to assume the person who has them is "just lazy" instead, and is feigning the problem.
Which is not to say I'd be unemployable--just that sometimes you need to take into account that not only are there social challenges for those with AS, there's a subgroup of AS people who also have the cognitive challenges. From my observations on AFF, a lot don't have the cognitive problems. But some do.
Positives
All the money you ever need, with the exception of more money saved for retirement
Great people, even if you can't date the women (risk accusation of harassment, get a bad rep)
Entertaining, can listen to music on your computer while working, soda and snack machines in house, supermarket across street, lunch options excellent (Subway fresh made subs, Popeyes fried chicken, two McDonalds, all three pizza giants are walking distance- Dominos, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, across street, Greek and Salvadoran dining next to Dominos and a gym to burn it all off :-) )
4,000 feet from apartment (we're next door to a complex in fact) (1.3 km) (the digital odometer sometimes does not change when I drive home)
Learning great skills
Sometimes the director in the office next door joins me in the gym- the encouragement benefits her too.
Don't have to live my life in front of the TV like my mother did the last couple years of her life.
A few downsides..... I seem exhausted or too busy. If the end of the world came suddenly, I'd think..... gee, couldn't I have retired six month's earlier, saved some souls or something?
I'm currently unemployed....But I am working with BVR to find more work...
>< Keeping a job a painful task..