Does anyone struggle with this thought..

[Judge]

Are you saying that in Australia they can deny you citizenship because of your autism? I've never heard of such a thing before. It's not like it's a contagious disease like Ebola. Please clarify, as this is a bit disturbing.

Apparently so. This country's "Migration Act of 1958" seems to be at the heart of numerous decisions to either deport people or deny them citizenship regarding various disabilities or disorders.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...a/news-story/02b91be7758e5090c03e50910a7391c6

 

[Crossbreed]

The US doesn't even recognize that aspies can have a lot to contribute

Some places are coming around, but it's slow-going.

 

[Sass]

Are you saying that in Australia they can deny you citizenship because of your autism? I've never heard of such a thing before. It's not like it's a contagious disease like Ebola. Please clarify, as this is a bit disturbing.

There have been cases of families being denied permanent residence due to one of their children being autistic. My husband is half Australian, so he will get citizenship by descent, and my kids should too, but I may not. I'm not all that worried about it really.

 

[Sass]

Well, you'd be welcome here in Alabama! I'm lord of my street.

Ha, thanks! Only place I've been in the States is Toledo, Ohio (and a wee bit of Michigan). I was quite taken with Tony Packo's LOL

 

[Judge]

Ha, thanks! Only place I've been in the States is Toledo, Ohio (and a wee bit of Michigan). I was quite taken with Tony Packo's LOL

LOL. How did you manage that? Too bad...we're such a big country. So much more to see than that. Maybe you can come back some time.

 

[Judge]

Ah yes, I know Toledo. I lived in Cleveland for a number of years, so I'd pass through there on my way to Illinois. Go Mud Hens.

LOL..the Mud Hens. You sound like Max Klinger!

 

[Sass]

LOL. How did you manage that? Too bad...we're such a big country. So much more to see than that. Maybe you can come back some time.

My brother was getting married there, (well near there, a little college town called Bowling Green), and his wife's family are from Toledo so I stayed there. I actually kinda liked it. The zoo is awesome. And I got to try funnel cake, and an elk burger, and loads of other awesome food. It was a good trip

I would like to go back one day, maybe to New Orleans.

 

[paloftoon]

The US doesn't even recognize that aspies can have a lot to contribute

Look up Specialisterne. That is changing very slowly, and I'm not talking about just random part time jobs. I've heard there are about 8 models that are following this "new trend", but that they are all more or less pilot programs. I don't know what the other models are besides the one I mentioned.

wanderer03, you are in a state that Specialisterne has worked with before, and I had mentioned this in another job related thread(s) of yours.

 

[wanderer03]

Look up Specialisterne. That is changing very slowly, and I'm not talking about just random part time jobs. I've heard there are about 8 models that are following this "new trend", but that they are all more or less pilot programs. I don't know what the other models are besides the one I mentioned.

wanderer03, you are in a state that Specialisterne has worked with before, and I had mentioned this in another job related thread(s) of yours.

I'll check it out. Sorry I missed your previous post. Or maybe it's my terrible short term memory. Anyhow, my apologies.

 

[wanderer03]

paloftoon This might be enough for me to reconsider my career in IT. Although, I've been out of technology for 2 years now.

 

[Crossbreed]

Look up Specialisterne.

There is also Aspiritech in Chicago and Microsoft is beginning to actively recruit Aspies, too.

 

[paloftoon]

There is also Aspiritech in Chicago and Microsoft is beginning to actively recruit Aspies, too.

Microsoft is using Specialisterne (and possibly other orgs) to recruit people on the spectrum.

Simply applying directly without any additional support is not necessarily going to get you noticed if you can't "walk the walk" enough in the real world.

 

[paloftoon]

paloftoon This might be enough for me to reconsider my career in IT. Although, I've been out of technology for 2 years now.

IT is a good background to have, but a lot of competition. Having an IT background can possibly help you transition into other jobs more easily too though. So, sometimes getting your foot in the door and then acquiring more skills to either establish yourself or move on is the best way to go.

 

[alien girl]

I don't trust the system either. Many times they claim they want to help, and then children in foster care and mental patients and elderlies in old age homes get abused and neglected horribly. However, the law says no one can be forcibly hospitalized unless they're a danger to themsleves or others. Learn more about the law, talk to a lawyer, check it out on law forums, and know your rights. Without knowing what your rights are, you can't defend your rights.

I'm not afraid at all of being in the system's clutches, because I don't think it's legal to force someone to go to a group home or whatever just because of Asperger syndrome. I live alone and hold down a job. I'm independent, and pretty sure it'll be illegal to drag me to any kind of institution against my will.

 

[Crossbreed]

However, the law says no one can be forcibly hospitalized unless they're a danger to themsleves or others...

(She says that she is in Canada, where the laws are somewhat different.)

 

[garnetflower13]

What I find most desturbing is that the mental health system is capable of incarcerating people without a fair trial. One is not given the luxery of a lawyer and a jurry of peers, merely the opinion of a doctor as to weather or not you deserve freedom. There is something very wrong with that, and it makes me feel uneasy about getting too deep into the system.

Your comment reminds me of a nightmarish incident which happened awhile ago. I had been feeling depressed and decided to call the local crisis hotline and talk to somebody. Even though I said that I wasn't feeling suicidal, just depressed, they offered to come out to my home and talk to me. I had also mentioned my diagnoses. When they got there (it was a couple) they started acting threatening, and wouldn't allow me to leave the room. They called the police and forced me to go to the hospital for a psyche eval! When I got there, it took all my self control not to panic and have a meltdown because there was a guy standing in the doorway of the examining room, wearing rubber gloves and leering at me. I stayed very quiet and when the psychiatrist came in, he was impressed with my self control and wondered why on earth I had been railroaded into the hospital like this. I was allowed to leave. But this incident impressed on me the realization that it could at times be dangerous to ask for help; especially when people have erroneous opinions about our diagnoses.

 

[Datura]

I want to clerify that I realize my fear of the mental health system is largely overblow. I know that (technically) the only way they can lock somebody away is if they deem them to be a threat to themselves or others. I am also not so impaired that I could ever have my rights stripped from me and given to a legal gaurdian. In the former case, however, there is always that lingering (if somewhat irrational) fear that someone might abuse their authoritity and that I would not be in a positon to challenge that person.

I think I will follow Alien Girl's advice and seek out some more information regarding the law in these matters. There must be some recourse if one is wrongfully admitted, I just have no idea what it would be. Regardless, that hospital creeps me out and I have no plans to return.

Your comment reminds me of a nightmarish incident which happened awhile ago. I had been feeling depressed and decided to call the local crisis hotline and talk to somebody. Even though I said that I wasn't feeling suicidal, just depressed, they offered to come out to my home and talk to me. I had also mentioned my diagnoses. When they got there (it was a couple) they started acting threatening, and wouldn't allow me to leave the room. They called the police and forced me to go to the hospital for a psyche eval! When I got there, it took all my self control not to panic and have a meltdown because there was a guy standing in the doorway of the examining room, wearing rubber gloves and leering at me. I stayed very quiet and when the psychiatrist came in, he was impressed with my self control and wondered why on earth I had been railroaded into the hospital like this. I was allowed to leave. But this incident impressed on me the realization that it could at times be dangerous to ask for help; especially when people have erroneous opinions about our diagnoses.

That sounds very traumatic. One problem I have found is that in an effort to help mental practitioners can end up generating more anxiety than is warranted, usually because they intercede as authority figgures rather than service providers. The last thing you want to do is literally back somebody into a corner when they are already at their wits end.

I would still encourage people to seek help if they are having serious mental issues, but to be vigelant in asserting their needs.

 

[paloftoon]

Yes, I have some trepedations about the mental health system too, even though I have been utilizing it extensively lately. I think that part of my recent emotional breakdown was due to trying to attend a dropin program at a local mental hospital. I have only been there once and it gave me the creeps. There was a fenced in couryard with barbed whire around the top, and a balcony with extra high barier that was sloped inward at the top to deter prospective jumeprs (or escapees). The elevator on the main floor looked like is was from the 1920s and had porthole windows that exposed the moving components within. Everything was sterile quiet, and yet somehow dingey. I felt less like I was entering a building and more like I was being swallowed by it. On the two days I decided to go back there I was extremely upset, but am only now realizing the corelation. Though it may not be totally rational (if they didn't detain me when I was suicidal and twitching they won't do it now) I fear being trapped there.

The movie, Girl Interrupted, attempts to address this issue. Good one to watch if you haven't seen it.

 

[Marmot]

To the original question: I have always had a mistrust for authority at any level, including and especially ‘perceived’ and/or faux-authority that people in uniforms or holding guns like to arbitrarily claim, but I’m not sure how much of this is attributed to my ASD or my upbringing, heritage & genetics...

Politically, I’ve very libertarian and genetically I’m Scotts-Irish which is known to carry with it an independent, “stay out of my business and I’ll stay out of yours” kind of mantra.

 

[Bellatrix]

My husband gets very worked up about the fact that my being autistic is a matter of record. Because I don't use any medical/psych services I don't have the same worry, although it's unlikely I'll get citizenship here in Australia because of it.

Why wouldn't you get citizenship? I'm in Australia too, and a citizen now as well (born in England). I don't recall ever being asked if I had any condition like Asperger's Syndrome or autism; it just never arose, although I have to confess I was very young at the time, it was back in the 1970's, and it's possible they may have asked my parents if any of us had anything that would have disqualified us from becoming citizens.