Where will Autistic teens work?

[Joshua the Writer]

How so?

Well, you see, America is all about that work ethic and work equality.

 

[tree]

Thank you for taking the time to explain.

If it were not for the elaborate detail, I might suspect
you were making some kind of little joke.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Thank you for taking the time to explain.

If it were not for the elaborate detail, I might suspect
you were making some kind of little joke.

Nope, it's true. We do have pretty good services here in the USA, since we actually spend a decent amount of budget on it, unlike the EU, who spends their money on who-knows-what instead of important things like a NATO-qualifying military spending amount and services and taking their illegals out of their countries.

 

[Autistamatic]

A quote from the beginning of the article in the OP from The Houston Chronicle specifically in relation to autistic people in the US.

Nearly half of 25-year-olds with the disorder have never held a paying job, according to Autism Speaks. Ninety percent of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed.

Some are too impacted to work once they age out of school-based vocational services by 22. But many who could work face depression and isolation, idle on their parents’ couch, financially dependent on them, government or community organizations.

 

[Mr Allen]

If said autistic teen lives in the United States, then it's very easy.

That's my problem, I live in the UK under a Tory government who hate disabled people.

But like I said, I'll leave that in the Political section.

 

[Starfire]

That's my problem, I live in the UK under a Tory government who hate disabled people.

But like I said, I'll leave that in the Political section.

You didn’t have a job when Labour were in power either so by that logic they must “hate disabled people” too! Your problem is that you are only able to do low skilled jobs part time. Until you invest in yourself and up your skill set making yourself more attractive and in demand to employers, you’re stuck in a catch 22 situation. What ever happened to the coding and game development course you wanted to enroll in?

 

[Mr Allen]

You didn’t have a job when Labour were in power either so by that logic they must “hate disabled people” too! Your problem is that you are only able to do low skilled jobs part time. Until you invest in yourself and up your skill set making yourself more attractive and in demand to employers, you’re stuck in a catch 22 situation. What ever happened to the coding and game development course you wanted to enroll in?

At 42 they said I was too old, it's for 19 to 24.

 

[Starfire]

At 42 they said I was too old, it's for 19 to 24.

Why don’t you consider something like this so you can learn at home at your own speed and get help from a tutor or other students if you get stuck? It’s cheaper than one Xbox game or a few pints, and could be the step up you are looking for.

https://www.udemy.com/courses/development/game-development/

 

[Autistamatic]

Why don’t you consider something like this so you can learn at home at your own speed and get help from a tutor or other students if you get stuck? It’s cheaper than one Xbox game or a few pints, and could be the step up you are looking for.

Game Development – Online Courses for Making Games and Apps

I've heard some good things about Udemy courses. They cover a few topics that interest me. Since I started dabbling in video and 3D printing I'm quite interested in their 3D modelling course for Blender.
Excellent constructive suggestion

 

[Starfire]

I've heard some good things about Udemy courses. They cover a few topics that interest me. Since I started dabbling in video and 3D printing I'm quite interested in their 3D modelling course for Blender.
Excellent constructive suggestion

They’re great courses and many such as this are free! -
https://www.udemy.com/learnunity3d/

I think Rich had a good idea to get into programming or at least try, it’s something else to put on the CV. If physical or manual work is too taxing as it is for some people, then it doesn’t get much easier than to work sitting down. Now is the perfect time to learn a new skill, as there is no requirement to actively seek work and no one looking over his shoulder with a watch to see how many hours he is spending working through course work and building his own projects, while the rent and bills are paid and there’s food in the fridge. I would imagine it has to be a more productive use of time than applying for endless jobs that don’t seem to fit the requirements and being endlessly disappointed and damaging ones self-esteem.
It has to be worth a good try and if it doesn’t work out, go back to doing what you’re doing a little richer for the experience.

 

[owlet]

You didn’t have a job when Labour were in power either so by that logic they must “hate disabled people” too! Your problem is that you are only able to do low skilled jobs part time. Until you invest in yourself and up your skill set making yourself more attractive and in demand to employers, you’re stuck in a catch 22 situation. What ever happened to the coding and game development course you wanted to enroll in?

Unfortunately, qualifications and experience aren't going to guarantee a job either. I have plenty of both and it took me almost a year to get even a part-time job that's relatively low-skill (and I applied for a lot of ones which were not low-skill too).

A large part of getting a job is to do with how you present yourself in writing and in person, which can be a massive struggle for people with ASD because of the fact that it involves 'knowing your audience' and, even though I've been involved with writing and linguistics for a while now, I still struggle to know exactly what the employer is looking for (and it doesn't help that my voice is quiet, so I have to really try hard during interviews). Furthermore, despite it being illegal, there is still prejudice against hiring anyone with a disability (whether it's mentioned on an application, at an interview, or the individual has a visible disability) because of a general sense that they won't be able to do the job as well as someone without a disability. The main thing I recommend is to not mention any kind of disability at all, or at least not until you've signed a contract.

 

[Autistamatic]

It's true about the invisible discrimination and your advice is sound. I went for an interview with a company once who said they would have something for me soon "We're really keen to have you with us Quinn - you're exactly our kind of guy!". They called me up several months later and offered me a branch manager position, to be confirmed at a meeting to discuss salary and starting date the following week. In the intervening months my health had deteriorated and I had no option but to use a stick to walk comfortably. As soon as I walked in with the stick the firm offer suddenly had become a speculation and they would call me if anything suitable turned up. I never heard from them again.

 

[Starfire]

Unfortunately, qualifications and experience aren't going to guarantee a job either. I have plenty of both and it took me almost a year to get even a part-time job that's relatively low-skill (and I applied for a lot of ones which were not low-skill too).

A large part of getting a job is to do with how you present yourself in writing and in person, which can be a massive struggle for people with ASD because of the fact that it involves 'knowing your audience' and, even though I've been involved with writing and linguistics for a while now, I still struggle to know exactly what the employer is looking for (and it doesn't help that my voice is quiet, so I have to really try hard during interviews). Furthermore, despite it being illegal, there is still prejudice against hiring anyone with a disability (whether it's mentioned on an application, at an interview, or the individual has a visible disability) because of a general sense that they won't be able to do the job as well as someone without a disability. The main thing I recommend is to not mention any kind of disability at all, or at least not until you've signed a contract.

You make good and fair points I wouldn’t argue with anything you said.

 

[Starfire]

Finding a suitable job is so difficult and such a mine field for us. Even when we get one we often have to put up with being underemployed. I know for a fact I’m capable of more but make do with what I have due to being very grateful just to have paid work. We are not unique in being able to do do more than we are given, I’m sure it happens to NTs too, just nowhere near as often.

 

[owlet]

It's true about the invisible discrimination and your advice is sound. I went for an interview with a company once who said they would have something for me soon "We're really keen to have you with us Quinn - you're exactly our kind of guy!". They called me up several months later and offered me a branch manager position, to be confirmed at a meeting to discuss salary and starting date the following week. In the intervening months my health had deteriorated and I had no option but to use a stick to walk comfortably. As soon as I walked in with the stick the firm offer suddenly had become a speculation and they would call me if anything suitable turned up. I never heard from them again.

That's awful, I'm sorry it happened. It's unfortunately something the law will struggle to work around, because a potential employer can just say someone wasn't as experienced as someone else, or didn't have what they were looking for, and so avoid giving a person with disabilities a role they'd be completely able with because of that conscious or unconscious bias. The best means of changing it would be to change attitudes towards disability.

There was something in the news recently about how the police are trying to hire more people with ASD, and so are some other places doing the same, but it's still a long way to go before people with disabilities don't receive some level of discrimination in the workplace.

 

[Autistamatic]

There was something in the news recently about how the police are trying to hire more people with ASD, and so are some other places doing the same, but it's still a long way to go before people with disabilities don't receive some level of discrimination in the workplace.

I saw that report too. It shows the message is slooooooowly getting through.

 

[Mr Allen]

It's true about the invisible discrimination and your advice is sound. I went for an interview with a company once who said they would have something for me soon "We're really keen to have you with us Quinn - you're exactly our kind of guy!". They called me up several months later and offered me a branch manager position, to be confirmed at a meeting to discuss salary and starting date the following week. In the intervening months my health had deteriorated and I had no option but to use a stick to walk comfortably. As soon as I walked in with the stick the firm offer suddenly had become a speculation and they would call me if anything suitable turned up. I never heard from them again.

You should've took them to the cleaners for blatant discrimination, I certainly would've under the same circumstances.

Any Judge worth his Wig would say you'd have a good case.

 

[Judge]

You should've took them to the cleaners for blatant discrimination, I certainly would've under the same circumstances.

Any judge worth his wig would say you'd have a good case.

Maybe. Maybe not.

If it doesn't meet the requirement to establish a breach of contract, then it may not meet the necessary criteria to establish discrimination either. An intention to create legal relations never actually occurred. A requirement of your nation's contract law. The formalizing of the offer in terms of salary and hiring dates, etc.. Where all the parties involved must intend for the offer to be legally binding.

Without a formal and binding offer there may be nothing to contest, even in terms of discrimination.

 

[Autistamatic]

As is often the case @Judge is bang on. Without anything in writing and an entire company who would close ranks, there was nothing to contest. That's why it's an unfair system.
Once you are employed by a company and you have completed any trial period then you have rights as an employee which can be enforced under the equality act. Even then it can be a hard slog. If, for example, a colleague were to call you a "deaf c**t" over and over again, but they only did it in private then they would get away scot free. With no witnesses there is no case to answer.
This does not just apply to disabled people - it applies to everybody. If it was a fully able person claiming bullying under the same circumstances they would get nowhere. Clever workplace bullies persistently use this to their advantage.
Sad but true

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I've heard some good things about Udemy courses. They cover a few topics that interest me. Since I started dabbling in video and 3D printing I'm quite interested in their 3D modelling course for Blender.
Excellent constructive suggestion

I'm actually taking an online 3D modeling course with my online school, and they have us user Blender, which is neat, since I already installed it with Steam.

I'm interested in the class because I wanna be a game dev.