Published on 12, July, 2020
Well you've learned one lesson.
It ain't your government!
They will eventually if you really kick and scream eventually exchange enough money to live in penury for UTTER OBEDIENCE, jerking you from pointless interview to claimants advisor meetings until you manifest enough worthlessness to qualify for the dubious "benefits" they have to offer.
Although HAVING money seems to confer greater freedom of action and freedom from want, actually the process of ACQUIRING money is utter slavery these days, whether you work for it or beg for it from strangers (including government benefits).
I've struggled with this issue for years & the solution is to team up with someone who is both functional in this system of money and will accept that you are not. On one occasion I found that a partner would help me overcome the deficits that were preventing me from getting a decent job under my own steam, and in my current situation my partner was perfectly financially stable before I entered her life, and sees me as "worth keeping around".
So BillyC87, you turn to your autistic self for help. YOU are the best resource you have. That and God. God if you develop a relationship with him, will get you through life reasonably unscathed but growing THAT understanding is a personal deal, and I don't you'll be doing it because I suggest it, so let's look at your practical problems.
Everyone needs food, clothes (warmth) and shelter. Plus we then need emotional stuff, in order to survive.
And believe me; When you are sixty, cold, skint, suffering from a thirty year old and intermittently (today adn yesterday) very painful back injury, and contemplating the death of the society in which you were born unfolding before your very eyes, and NO-ONE listens to you, including your own child because well, you didn't make as much money in your life as Uncle Jim, there are still those days like today, where you don't want to do anything but curl up in a warm place, then unless you realise and weild your own power, life can be very miserable indeed.
I used to play card games as a child and young man, and one called "bridge" stands out as a good metaphor for life. you play as two teams of two individuals per team. "Willing" is not only about the quality of your cards which when considering it as a metaphor for life, I see as your basic human qualities. Obviously Autism is the "crap of clubs" but in my case I also had the "king of being able to fix stuff" dealt to me in my life hand. I also had other good qualities, as well as a few more bad ones. But in Bridge just as in life, it's how you PLAY those cards that matters and how you interact with your partner.
On a practical level, if you really cannot immediately find a way to live a self sufficient life without government intervention, then go straight to the Citizens Advice People and ask them for their advice.
OR sit yourself down, take stock, draw diagrams, make lists, and calculate your input and expenditure and figure out a solution. It's a big job, but you do have the rest of your life to get it right...
Thank you, there are a lot of useful ideas for me to mull over here. I still have my faith in God, although I do feel confused as to what is going on in my life I will never lose that
Good. God definitely does work in mysterious ways, which gives ample room for people to doubt his work, but it's all going to be good in the end, ya just gotta get through this bit.
Autism will give you "special powers" as well as special problems, so keep pressing on. I've just had an opportunity for frendship and minro personal gain come in on the phone, so I'll be taking a break now to try and do that, but I'll step back later and see if there's more practcial advice I can whomp up.
But being NICE and responding well to nice people is a must and a basic survival skill. (As is being nice and responding correctly to nasty people!)