Aspies For Freedom

just curious if people with aspergers can receive any benefits, if living in canada?

you'd have to check with the local authorities - not sure how the system is set up in canada but in the UK you can get DLA (Disability Living Allowance) for the co-morbid's or if you are classed as lower-functioning. I doubt you'd be able to get benefits purely for HFA/AS.

In Belgium you can. You can ask for guidance to look for a new, suitable job (where you can work alone or work at home,...) or you can work part-time,... That is if you have trouble keeping a job or trouble managing your life because a job takes so much of your time and energy.

sorry, forgot to login (that was my post)
you'll have to check with the local healthcare authorities

Guessed as much!

I've been thinking about this a lot lately; if, though I'm completely able, and more than willing to work, but cannot get a job because the people who run companies just can't stand their perceived take on my "attitude" (based on their misreading of my body language, and their unstated requirements for physical acknowledgement of "respect" from their "inferiors") or are just my polar opposite in personality, then in practise it's effectively a "disability" (though not necessarily mine...) and I should, logically, be entitled to some form of social compensation?

It's certainly every bit as discriminatory as someone being denied work because of skin colour, or through being a Catholic in Ulster...

But how to convince the powers that be of this? Anyone have any thoughts on a practical means? Could we make an issue of the constant calls for "interpersonal skills" and the like (which is surely discriminatory, for the population as a whole, not just Aspies); why is it currently considered acceptable to make such specifications in job ads, when it has little relevance to most functions?

co-morbid?

I just feel like i'm always running out of time, cause it takes me so much time just to keep my daily "routine" going. That's the main problem. I don't have a routine. I often wake up in the morning, not knowing where to start, how to get my day going.

I thought combining a fulltime job, with loads of social interaction and my own personal, domestic life was too much for me.
Also social interaction often just was too much for me to bear. I would hide for 10 minutes in the toilets, just so i could go out to eat by myself. And many other things, i always just wanted to sit alone and get some work done.

I just think (and my psychiatrist, friends, family) that getting to work part time would give me higher level of living standard. I used the constant feeling of running out of time and exhaustion i suffered from that as a main argument to ask for help.

In Australia, it is possible to get social security benefits if diagnosed with Aspergers, but it isn't always easy and has been made more difficult in recent times.

It is also difficult to get a diagnosis in some regions. As an aside, the government in Australia won't pay Pyschiatrists who diagnose a person referred to them "PDD-NOS". Few or no diagnoses of that are made there but there are more in other states.

I think most of the discriminatory practices are done by employers because they can do them (current IR laws in Australia gave them much more power) and because of ignorance of how Aspies can be an asset to their company.

I managed to get disability in the US, although my legal diagnosis (by the judge, not a doctor) was Stress/Anxiety Disorder. I classify the anxiety issues as a symptom of my Aspergers, so it works for me. Same end result.

All I can say is that I had a very good lawyer, several very dedicated social workers, head of placement for a school system recognized for its special-ed programs and a job coach for a government employment enclave of mentally retarded adults fighting for me. The battle was still long, hard and emotionally draining, I can only hope that others have a better time it.

Donal
Aspergers, Dyslexia and more issues than a newsstand

DLA doesn't work based purely on diagnosis but on the amount of additional work/monetary expense any condition causes (for example if a child requires a specialist buggy/stroller past the age where most kids would need one, if he or she tends to run away or shred wallpaper/dismantle all the electronic implements in the household etc.).

For adults one example would be needing someone to accompany you on public transport (due to any reason - anxiety/OCD, sensory issues, confusion, extreme distractibility etc.) can be counted in the mobility section of the DLA application.

Oh and I know this isn't related to Canada but in case anyone in the UK reads this: http://www.autism.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopol...041&a=7788

(It's a guideline for adults with an ASD applying for DLA)

I don't know how hard or easy it is for adults to get this benefit but I am certainly aware of parents who got this for their kids even BEFORE an ASD diagnosis was made.

Yes,does not matter at all whether the difficulties have a label to them or not.
Am get high DLA [both care but low mobility component at moment, have had claim put in for higher] for ASD,and got it from first time,but it was staff here who did the forms.

Have seen what they look like and they really are bad,very long,very confusing,they are more for people with walking,sitting etc that type of problem rather than language, understanding,communicating etc,a lot of people will fail to get DLA the first time,because the forms were not done well enough-there are groups like citizens advice who can help anyone with filling in these forms as they know how to word them,and also if live in residential/group home,staff will help out to.