Aspies For Freedom

They're supposed to be a safe place for reform, yes.  But unfortunately, they're usually more brutal than an adult prison from what I've read.  All I know, is I certainly wouldn't want to be in one!

MrCoffee

Once, while working,  I met some men who told me they had been in prison.  They told me they actually liked being locked up in their cell at night because they felt safe there.  I asked them if they were afraid of the prison guards.  They told me that they were afraid of the other inmates.
They told me that it was common for inmates to be beaten for just giving "a look".

Someone once told me that aspies are the perfect victims.  Putting aspies in with violent and manipulative people is just not going to rehabilitate them.  Most prison systems do little to rehabilitate, it is just "warehousing" people like the homeless shelters.

Being put under house arrest is almost a joke for an aspie.  It really wouldn't be a punishment too much.  Being allowed out for two hours per week to attend church services or go shopping would be no hardship for me.  I hardly go out at all anyway.  Taking away my computer and internet would be punishment.  But being home alone does prevent me from getting into conflicts with others.

That is not entirely true of me since I do tend to type words in forums that do make other people angry.  Especially when I get into my sarcastic mode.  

I used to have to remind my parents that I couldn't be such a bad person since I never was in trouble with the law, I completed an extensive education  ---- I just could never keep a job long.  Now I know why.  

So aspies beware!  Jail could be a death sentence for you.

Brightman, I know this lad might have broken the law but in the big scheme of things, housebreaking is hardly an offence that deserves a severe beating. I would think differently about crimes such as rape and child abuse.

I had my place broken into and DVDs stolen - it was annoying and I'm pretty sure it was kids who did it. I wouldn't want to see them beaten - it would have been nice to get my stuff back and to get an apology but that's that.

A juvenile detention centre as far as I can see just turns petty crims into worse crims with an added grudge against society.

House arrest wouldn't bother me a bit. I like to stay at home most of the time. Taking away my books and my music would be a far worse punishment.

Brightman, I wasn't trying to minimise the distressing effects of break-ins; just saying they aren't all the same. Of course, I would be really scared and terrified if there was a violent break-in at my place or I had irreplaceable and sentimental items taken or if my place was trashed or my kids injured.

I just don't think this lad was in the same league as somebody who would bash an elderly person in their own homes or rape somebody or abduct a child from their house (people who do that kind of thing should be punished severely of course).

"We don't give our phone no to people who we don't trust"      Unfortunatley, we have to give out our name, phone number and address to people we don't know or trust EVERYTIME we apply for a job.

Applying to positions advertised in newspapers.  The police phoned me and told me they found my name/number in a convicted felonies possession.  They advised me not to give out my name and phone number to people I don't know.  Or why was I applying for work from this person.  AS if I know?

Having Asperger's makes me a perfect victim for crime.  ?????  I still don't feel that I have to steal for any reason no matter how desperate my situation.   People put in jail for some reason that it is to protect everyone else from their criminal behaviour.  I would fee sorry for someone with Asperger's that was tricked into participating in a crime.  I am sure that this situation could happen.  

Parents of teenagers have much problems is controlling their unruly teenagers.  They are not allowed to strap them, lock them inside their room at night or deny them any necessities.  The children over 16 then can do as they please until they are of legal age 18 and the parents can kick them out.  That is how it is where I live.

well if they were undies, there could have been a different motive LOL

Brightman, apology accepted.  

I'm not disputing that the man concerned should have been punished for his crime, I'm just saying that being bashed and tortured was excessive in relation to what he did. Locking him up for a while was surely sufficient punishment.

M wrote

This is an interesting and alarming situation. Where I live it is a common thing for employers to ask job applicants to provide a police clearance, but I have never heard of a job applicant asking a prospective employer to provide such a thing. I'm sure if you did ask that would count against you, but it hardly seems fair that only one party is obliged to prove their moral integrity.

I'm hoping that the demographic imbalance in all Western societies will soon lead to such acute labour shortages that employers will no longer be able to discriminate against and mistreat workers, including aspie workers. I get the general impression that past generations of aspies who started their careers during times of full employment had a much easier run in the workforce. I also have the impression that because they have had the balance of power, employers have been able to discriminate against workers on the basis of "social skills" or personal preferences in the last few decades. I hope this nonsense will one day come to an end.

I am always being told that applying for job by answering newspaper ads is not the most effective.  Then I am told to use "networking" that is asking friends and family to help me get a job.  Well, I don't have any friends and my family isn't much help although they did get me a few summer jobs.

This is a true story that happened to me.  I applied to a newspaper ad for a babysitting/nanny job.  The ad said it was an agency.  I had expected that they would want police checks and references as usual.  A man phoned me and told me that he would get me a job if I let him be alone with the children.  I just thought that was weird because I was the one supposed to be babysitting.  I said no.   Later the police told me that this person had just been let out of jail for child molesting and wasn't allowed to be near children.  So this is just an example of how someone like me could get into a bad situation because I wouldn't know.

I have babysat for families were the children were terrible.  The children were always breaking things and blaming me.  They were also liars but maybe their parents were proud of that trait since they never did anything about it.  In fact, the parents lied to me several times.  I don't know if going to get work through an agency would work.  People seem to want "phillipinas" and always ask why a native born should want a job housecleaning or as a nanny.  

I also had a job were I was molested.  The job ad was in the government job bank.  I applied by fax and someone phoned me and asked if I knew how to use a computer and how fast I could type.  If was only a temporary job anyway and they told me come the next day.  The pay was very good but the environment was very noisy and dirty.  I did a very good job and soon they were getting me to read blueprints and make calculations.   I was ok when all the other people there were watching over me but soon the villian got me alone and then molested me.  I was very very shocked and upset.  I would not go back there I was afraid of being killed.  But because I "quit" my job, I was in trouble with the social services.  Being the perfect victim how was I to know?

I usually try to ask at an interview why the position is being offered.  Did the person before get fired or leave for another job, retire, or is it just a new position because the company is growing.  But because of my age now and lack of good employment record, I do not get any job interviews anymore.

So if you are working for criminals, doesn't that make you part of the criminal activity?  Just saying you don't know, because, honestly sometimes I wouldn't know what was going on, isn't going to save you.  Then when I do figure out something is going on, I don't do or say the right thing.  I have had many problems/danger because I don't know  how someone is thinking.  When I tell someone what has happened to me they will say "Why didn't you get that person fired?"  It is hardly my mission in life to go into a job and get people fired.  I just want to work for honest people and be left alone.

M wrote

You didn't tell social services why you had to leave that job? If anything like that happened to me I'd be down the police station making a statement as quick as you could blink, and I'd be telling everyone who should know about this kind of serious crime, including my family members, social services, my doctor. If you don't let people know what happened, how do you expect that you will be provided with the support and protections and justice that you are entitled to?

Any shyster can open up a business and call themselves a job agency. I know someone who helped set up a job agency just so they could get access to the better jobs themself. It was a self-employment agency.

I don't know what kind of position you are in with regard to qualifications or academic record. I don't know if you have the same opportunities as I have for employment, but my advice is that it is a good idea to aim for the more civilised jobs and let some other sucker or impoverished migrant take the *** jobs. I don't know what country you are from, but where I live in Australia, at least in the past, if you have decent qualifications the govt. does not pressure you to apply for the worst jobs. In fact, if you are trying to build a career, taking *** jobs is really bad for your image with white collar job employers. The only reason why anyone works in child care or babysitting is for the love of children (one would hope it is the right kind of love), or so that they can get paid in cash and not tell the tax dept or the dole office.

I seriously believe it is harder for most people to get jobs these days, particularly full time permanent positions. I seriously doubt I would get a job today with the AS or even simply because of my age. I don't think prospective employers should be able to turn down people for jobs because they are over 40 but they do all the time.

You can usually tell the ads where people over 40 need not apply - they want "dynamic", "results-driven" people. You could describe someone like me as many things eg. "conscientious", "quiet" (most of the time, anyway) and "introverted" but not "dynamic". :roll: The word reminds me too much of chicken shite fertiliser aka "dynamic lifter".

Unfortunately in some countries, the social services will make you take any job.  They are not particularly interesting in finding people jobs, just disqualifying them from receiving benefits.  If you refuse work or quit a job because you don't like it, you will be cut off benefits.  You also are responsible to show that you are looking for work and applying for jobs.   If the government worker decides you are not looking hard enough for a job or too picky, there will be a penalty.  So you will apply to all the places you would like to work for first and then you will start applying to anywhere when you really are desperate.  Unless someone can qualify for disability benefits which must be reviewed every two years, one will just have to take whatever they can when their temporary benefits run out.

If anyone who finds themselves in a situation similar to myself, being molested or sexually harassed at work, go to the doctor.  There are channels to make complaints about such abuse but I really wasn't feeling like I could handle it at the time.  I should have complained to the police but I was really freaked out.  I just didn't want to talk to anyone about what happened to me.  I just wanted to forget about it.  The doctor did help me.  

Every aspie is different.  I can handle some eye contact and some conversation in job interviews.  I have attended workshops on interviewing and cv writing.  I still don't make a good first impression.  I have been told that I come across as snobby, cold.  I have had people tell me that they don't want to hire me because I don't speak English well enought (ridiculous, because English is my first language), that I was a liar and couldn't possibly have the education I claim to possess, I have an "attitude",  etc.   I have a whole long list of excuses because I often phone up the company after the interview and ask them why I didn't get the job.  

Aside from age discrimination or other types of discrimination - Most people want to hire someone they "like" or "know".  Often interviews are given just to satisfy managers that a certain number of people were interviewed for the position when in reality, they had planned all along to hire their friends or family.  

We shouldn't just blame ourselves for not trying hard enough.  Often people make judgements on stupid illogical aspects of a person.  They hire on "a feeling" about someone.

Where I live (Australia), if you quit a job you don't get paid social security for a certain period, but if you are sacked you don't have to wait so long.

So, I suppose if you got into a really bad job that you hated, you could do stuff that would get you sacked (but preferably not too obvious). The only trouble with this is that you'd get a bad reference but if the job was making you really sick with stress, maybe it would be a price worth paying.

I think they deserved it.  :evil: