Bullies

A few weeks ago, on a mailing list for aspie women, someone once said a few weeks ago that when you have any kind of a disability, and are trying to access resources created for those with disabilities, the biggest roadblocks(read: bullies, ignoramuses) are the people working within the community, trying to help people who need the resources actually get them.  I know that this is true; once, when I called an autism society when I was living in a different city, trying to find a second job, the woman who answered the phone told me that I should just tell them that I have Asperger's and "maybe" they would have sympathy on me and try me out.  Of course, an employer having sympathy on me doesn't mean they'll hire me.  Needless to say, I didn't really know the meaning of the word gobsmacked until that moment.
Maybe I'm just a whiner.  I have been accused of being a pessimist before, but still, to this aspie, there really does seem to be more support groups for parents of aspies than for adult aspies.  Puzzling, since aspie kids generally turn into aspie adults.  But than, maybe by the time the new crop of aspie kids turn into aspie adults, all the bullies and ignoramuses will be fired, there won't be anymore idiots volunteering/working for autism societies anymore......and this current recession will finally be over.  I mean really over.

Lame, antisocial or offensive? Which one is better?

I know that I'm missing a socializing chip, and that that has cost me dearly in potential friends and possibly jobs, stuff like that.  Mostly because I was lame when maybe it would have been better for me to antisocial and offensive, or I was antisocial and offensive when it would have been better to be lame.  Of course it's always better to be charming and sparkly and witty, but I've never heard of Aspies who can be all of those things. This is confusing, and I'm getting a bit hungry, so I'll have to think about this some more.

Name Change

No, not my name, the name of my blog. I came up with this one a few weeks ago and just kept forgetting to change it. Don't know why I didn't just come up with it in the first place....I am a natural redhead after all, but there you go.

Exception or the rule?

I used to think that I was some kind of exception, because I am still living at home with my parents, even though I will be 31 in just over 3 weeks, don't make very much money (less than $600 a month, hence me living with the parents) and am trying to bootstrap myself by taking upgrading classes after work 2 days a week.  Then I joined an email list for women with Asperger's Syndrome, and realized that many of the women on the list must try to make it on very low incomes, some have to live in low income housing, some must stay in relationships that are no longer good for them, or are living with their parents, or relatives, or with roommates, basically in some kind of situation that they don't want to be in, all because they must, because of financial and emotional reasons.  Finances are an especially huge reason, because of the misunderstandings that tend to happen at places of work and in job interviews.  In my almost 31 years of experience, and in my interactions with other Aspies, I have found that if an Aspie is too honest, or doesn't know how or when to take a hint, it could mean a job loss, or being passed over for a promotion, or not getting a job that was applied for.  Which, if the income is not replaced, could mean a house being foreclosed on, getting evicted from an apartment, having to move, etc., etc.  In other words, things that are tramautic to most people with Asperger's and Autism.
Well, I want to help with all that, even if it is just a little bit.  Saving money is one of my obsessions; despite my low income, I always make sure that I put a little bit away.  Both of these websites have really good ideas.  One is American, the other British, but they still apply.

http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm

http://www.beyondbakedbeans.com/

A little bit of googling might be appropriate for Beyond Baked Beans, because there are so many british terms that get used.  But I guess depending on where you live, that applies to the first link too.  Wish I knew how to get all fancy and link it without actually typing out the address (by that, I mean putting the link in a word) but I am still getting the hang of this whole blogging thing.

Sometimes I wonder.....

if I will ever be able to find my niche. Or if I will ever be able to find a way to move out of my parents' house and find a place of my own.  Living with roommates can be fun, but I've learned from past experience that for me, having roommates can be a bad idea for me, because of all those little social things that I don't pick up on. And then of course, there's still my share of the expenses.....not just rent, but the bills that tend to come with living in a house (electricity, water, etc) if it's not included in the rent. There's still groceries, internet, toilet paper, stuff like that.  I also wonder if I will ever be able to support myself.  My parents still think that I will be able to get on disability because they know one young man who was able to get a disability pension.  I am less convinced because I have not been able to find a shred of evidence (online, anyway) that people, living in Canada, with high functioning autism can actually get on disability.  Are they all hiding?  If I asked my parents, they would likely say yes.

Aspie comics

Just found a web page with some very funny comics that describe asperger's perfectly. I hope you enjoy them.
http://www.dudeimanaspie.com/2009/11/dude-im-aspie.html

Push and Float

Haven't posted for just over 3 months now...at first, it was because I was busy finishing up an ABE course.  Then when I was done, I couldn't think of anything to write, and I was distracted by the holidays anyways.  I did start thinking, though, about why it is that I am as high functioning as I am. Could be that I'm just lucky, it could be that I come from a big family. But I like to think that at least part of it is something that I've been doing since I was a child, sometimes without even realizing it.  Recently, I decided to call this "Push and Float", because it seems like I'm either pushing against my AS, or I'm floating with it, and it looks like I'm getting better at it, although slowly.  It's certainly not foolproof; I admit that sometimes I should be pushing when I'm floating, and sometimes I should be floating when I'm pushing.  And on bad days, it seems like I get caught in some big ass whirlpool, where all I do is spin around.  But I am getting better.  I could never explain the theory behind this method though....I don't understand it well enough to put it into words beyond what I have written here.  And besides, it's past my bedtime.