as quoted above Colin, i know there are different severities. iyeru doesnt seem to have an extreme case by any means. he previously could write some php, has installed hardware on a computer and can easily use the internet. so, that shows that he can learn and is capable of doing things. i dont have to personally meet the guy to see that he is capable of doing things. and i know that it isnt going to help anything, but, it is getting old seeing him use autism as a reason for leeching of the government and saying he cant work. even people that cant walk and can hardly speak are getting jobs at wal-mart. (i am in no way saying he is retarded or needs to get a job at wal-mart, if anything, i think he is to smart to work there) him admitting things he has learned in the past proves my point that he can learn and could get a job if he set his mind to it. he may b autistic, but, that should not be slowing him down enough to where he cant work. i have met people that have extreme cases and cant work, but, those people could not even turn a computer on, let alone use the internet on the daily. all of these things that he is capable of shows that he is lazy and just wants people to feel sorry for him. well guess what, i have a physical condition that makes shooting pains through my knees to even walk since i have destroyed my knees. i still ride my bike, i still teach martial arts, and i have even started jogging again. you learn to deal with certain conditions that you may have when they are not crippling. his condition is NOT crippling, that is obvious. my sister has cerebral palsy and was told that she would be lucky to ever walk without leg braces. she can walk since the age of 5 without her braces, and constantly has to be stretching her legs to keep them loose enough to keep walking. the doctors said she would never drive, and she can do that just fine too now. some people dont let their disabilities stand in the way of goals, iyeru does. i cant feel sorry for someone that doesnt care to help himself when it is apparent that he could.
I think I should really let out why I can't get a job properly. For one, my mother wouldn't allow me to apply to Best Buy when I was sixteen years of age, which is when my Mental health advisor at the Dane County Mental Health facility (now known as the Kennedy Center), took me out to the East Towne Best Buy to get an application. In those days, they didn't have a silly emotional and stress checking system integrated into their online application that they do now. However, my mother intervened; and she took me back home, throwing away the Best Buy application, and giving me a long lecture on what not to do in life, which included not applying for a job unless she gave the OK. Later on in life, after I became 18 and after my child support from my drug-embroidered father (he's still an alcoholic to be honest, he smokes too), she had me go through hoops--albiet, the wrong ones--to try and get a job. I ended up volunteering with the Atwood Community Center and the Henry Vilas Zoo. However, the zoo was overseen by my Case Manager from High School at that time. This is because the Henry Vilas Zoo volunteer job was with the public. (I'll get to why this matters in a bit) This was in 2005.
In late 2006, I ran away from my mother's home, after school. During the night, it rained, I tried to get a ride to my grandmother's (the only real person in my family who can understand my real issues.) However, this was short-lived as I collapsed near county M, which I missed. (Glad I did though) A nice man in a volkswagon beetle came to pick me up after driving by the road I collapsed on. Later on, I was transported to my grand mother's house, as I gave the man directions to get there by going to Stoughton Road (State Highway 51.) At my grandmother's house, after the man left... my grand mother told me about a call my mother made earlier. I even listened to it, as my grandmother had it on voicemail or something (as grandma never answers calls from her own daughter anymore due to what happened in the past.) That said, my mother wasn't all that grand in expressing her words: "...I hope he didn't do something as stupid as run over to your place."
The next day, I was transported back to my mother's home, where she yelld, screamed, etc. at me well after the police were done writing up her case and closing it.
That behind me, in 2007, I forced myself to run to my grandmother's, as she had recently moved into the city, rather than in the mobile park near stoughton off of Highway 51. That night, my mother called my grandmother's house, and I answered it. She expressed her "love," and whatnot, and bribed me with things she normally would never give me in a million years (Highspeed Internet, etc.) so I calmly said no to all that stuff, kept my cool, and never told her why I was really doing it, as I knew she wouldn't accept it, as she never had, has and never will accept my autism.
She and I did meet a few times, but due to her constant need to remind me to get a job, etc. It was very unnerving, so I started to see her less and less. She started to e-mail me, and then finally began to prod my innermost secrets by searching my usernames on the Internet. Due to this, I asked my "Doctor" at Dane county Mental Health to write up a strong letter saying that my mother is not allowed to have any social interactions with me and whatnot, be it by email or in person or over the phone. Boy, did my mother clam up immediately after that....
Okay, that's stuff's over, now we're basically at the present here. I'd like to explain some stuff you probably didn't know...
I got a job (peace rate pay) at
Opportunities Inc. it was mainly to have them assess my abilities in keeping and getting a job. However, because I was so high functioning, they decided to push me so that I would get into the highest paying job they had to assess. However, I couldn't stand on the Taco line for long, and ended up having to quit that particular job within their warehouse (leg issue with me having to stand in one place for too long.) They told me that I had to get an excuse written up from my doctor if I wanted to leave. (Why should I leave? I didn't say I had to, I said I couldn't handle that job. Sadly, they didn't want to admit to their fault, so they put me on another job where I could sit down... etc. Though, they didn't realize that's what I wanted.)
a day later after this taco line thing, I was being pushed to do something I was trying to do the right way, but always failed to do so. They kept pushing me, showing me how to do it the "right way," I kept on trying, and telling them I was continuing to fail, they kept pushing me... etc. So I finally snapped and punched my supervisor. They had to call a policeman obviously. Thankfully, however, this was the first time it has happened, so the police sent a man who also has a disabled kid in his own family. However, that wasn't the half of it, after I punched the supervisor, I cried my eyes out, saying I was sorry, etc. I was sat down away from the other workers, etc. I continued to cry even after the big boss came over, and escorted me into a quiet room where me and him could talk, I cried for another 2-5 minutes before I started calming down. The policeman finally came after that, and he wrote me off with a warning after a good lecture with me and my grandmother.
The next day after that, I quit opportunities Inc. voluntarily and gave the supervisor an apology card, etc. She accepted it, and I was glad she only got the wind knocked out of her, rather than me breaking any bones....
After that, me and my grandmother decided that it would be a good idea to have me collect myself, and take a much needed break from job hunting (since we've been doing it nonstop for the past few years, with various different case managers at the Department for Vocational Rehabilitation, which is a part of the Dane county Job center, off on Aberg Ave.) So we finally closed my DVR case for a while. I'm not sure when I'll start it up again though.
So there you have it, a bunch of stuff I probably never have told you.
One more thing I forgot to mention, my mother lives off SSI / SSDI as well, and she has yet to get a job ever since she was forced out of her last one with the University of Wisconsin Hospital, which was several years ago.
