Hi,

Yesterday I lost my job (I have gone through 3 2011-2012). On each job I have been told that I am not reaching the expected crieatia. I try incredibly hard at work and have always had excellent customer feedback letters (worked in retail) which is quite unusual. I have never been late; I have always made an effort. Well this manager set me a objectives list so I worked on it and was told we would have weekly meetings for a month but that never happened and she never gave me any feedback on the 4 areas she wanted me to work on, I said to her why are you sacking me when you haven’t trained me on the agreed and she said due the store morale going down and an investigation she doesn’t want to agree to except my employment. I think as she knew I had Asperger’s that she had something against me but I said to her what’s the point of setting objectives and not agreeing and following through with them when I have worked so hard towards them!

Well now in the same situation that I am jobless and can't pay the bills. Does anyone know what benefits I can receive and how I go about this; I live in a tiny town and only have a few shops and a citizens b? I have a letter and went to special needs school etc. Just feel like I can't hold down a job.

Thanks so much for any ideas

next time you get a job try not mentioning you are Aspie. See if that makes a difference.

by the way, what country are you in?

This post was last modified: 02-06-2012 12:38 AM by skyblue1 .

I'm assuming you're in the UK.

If you have a diagnosis, you are entitled to Disability Living Allowance. You may also qualify for Mobility Rate. Furthermore, as you are out of work, you are entitled to Income Support; You need to go to your local Social and enquire within.

What country are you living in?  You might be able to get something akin to unfair dismissal if you feel you were not given agreed-upon training.  

And you have my sympathy; it's SO DIFFICULT to hold down a job amongst NTs.  I've done it for years, and worked hard to get qualifications that make me useful; but even so, the worst part of every single job I've ever had has been the social expectation part of it.  An ideal job for me would be one where I never have to come into face to face contact with others, only via email or similar.
Alison

Hi everyone

Thank you for replying. I have a digionas since I was about 6/7 and went to a special needs school but the help stopped once I left (was builled at school) I live in the UK in the Midlands. I havent told any of the 3 jobs I had aspergers until Saturday in the meeting when i though it might make a difference but it didnt, i think my aspergers is to sereve not to say unfortunetly.

Thanks so much for your advice I went to the cba today and got a meeting with them on Wednesday and they said they can support me in getting all the benefits I need and that she would talk about discrimation and unfair treatment from my retailer so hoping that will happen!

Alison- yee i know what you mean to i have 2 diplomas in retail and yet still find it difficult to keep a job i would much prefre a job in admin but never had any luck in getting to interview stage, do you live in the uk?

Im sitting in the library for 2 hours my trip out!!

It is sad to read this. You have the diplomas so you know how to do this work and we can all see that you are well motivated and want to do a good job. Perhaps it would help if you could spend some time working in a more supportive environment and gain experience of being around other people in a workplace.

If you can get benefits to at least pay the bills, would you then be allowed to work as an unpaid volunteer in a charity shop? That might help you to learn some of the tricks that you need to make it in a workplace full of NTs. It might also expose you to people who can help you to get paid work that you would enjoy.

Hi jpoc

Im hoping to get benefits although i dont want to its the only way i can manage. theres charity shops here but with not having any good references im not sure but will ask the cba on wednesday, i enjoy working and dont like being stuck at home! I am thinking i might fight against the decision my company has made shall see, your right i would like to volunteer if my bills and living costs would be paid for a find a employeer who understands my condition, trouble is finding that and also if i do will they pay me enough to manage and would the benefits still happen! its all very confusing which im hoping will be more clearer to me on Weds.

It's a long time since I was in the UK but I think that it would work like this:

If you volunteered to work in a charity shop, you would not be paid but you would still be able to get benefits.

Charity shops have to rely on people who will volunteer. That means that they are not so hard nosed as regular shops that have to pay people.

The people who run these shops are doing it because they want to help others and so will be happy to help you to gain workplace experience.

The people that you will see on Wednesday will be able to help and advise you about this.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

No, I live in a little island down South known as Australia!  

I hope you get the benefits you need, and that things work out for you.

Alison

You could indeed file a case of discrimination against the most recent employer but you must first have told them you have Asperger's, they not making adjustments or discriminating due to it, and then raising a formal grievance against them to which they must be given a chance to respond.

There really needs to be an organisation set up specifically to deal with Asperger's discrimination. I reckon a lot of campaigning and a flood of accusations is what it needs to change things.

Of course we need to also throw lots of claims on application rejections or else nobody will employ an aspie anymore.

Thats at the discretion of the benefit office. In reality, very few people with HFA or AS will get DLA.

This post was last modified: 04-29-2012 08:01 PM by Thomas81.

Concentrate on getting benefits first.  I would ask if having a volunteer job is allowed while on benefits since where I live it is not.  You are limited in the amount of hours you can volunteer per week without losing benefits.  (I don't live in the UK)

You can ask former employers what they would say if someone called about a reference for you.  Then get someone to test it.  

If you file a complaint then likely everyone in town will know about it.  small town everyone knows everyone's business.  

It sounds like you made a good effort to work.  But when no one will tell you want you did wrong and how to improve -- how are you going to get a job and keep it?  At least you got hired three times.  It will get worse as you get older.  I can't even get an interview for a job now.

Maybe you could ask the people you are dealing with now if you could get another try at the last job-- and this time they could make sure you got the feedback once a week you need/ed. Like you mentioned in post #5 sounds like you may have found someone who can help...

(Sounds JUST like my son having an IEP in school - the ONLY thing he REALLY needed was feedback once a week so he KNEW he was on track and could feel confident...and build on skills - just like being at a job and being supervised/managed properly (also depending on the tasks/subject SOME organizational help  basically specific written directions now and then helped too)... I figure he will likely need that same type of thing in a working environment - takes a mere hour a week - and you get a great amount of good work -  if that is not done, you get stress and confusion.  (DId I mention no one really ever did what they said they would do...even thought required by law in U.S. by an IEP etc.,))

Oh NO! OLD THREAD!! February - wonder where she went? post mentions a library.. one and done?

This post was last modified: 04-30-2012 07:00 PM by windy.