Hard Keeping A Job When Having An LD

[The Penguin]

One of the hardest thing for my life is able to keep a job when having an LD(learning disability). Even harder to find a job.

I learn majority of employers are not accommodating. What makes things harder for me, living in Nova Scotia, it is the only Canadian province that does not have a learning disability association. Due to lack of this kind of support, I learned I need to manage without the support. Even though there are association in Nova Scotia help people with variety types of disabilities, it is not the same as my home province at a place that have centers that specialized with my LD.

It scary for me to think time to time, I could lose my job at any time. Since it can take longer to learn things, I need to work extra hours without pay to have that new material to sink in. If I havn't done things like this, I could have lost my current job many months ago. Once it sinks in, I do very well. However, in my trade working in IT, learning new things is an ongoing thing.

I came to the conclusion the only way to have security for my life is to start my own organization to help people like me. This can open new doors for my life of people offering great opportunities for me. I have delayed working on this project as my current job consume a lot of time and living on my own is a lot of work. Still, I'm not giving up my goal on this.

I don't want to keep falling back into poverty since I have zero support having no local friends which would put me in a horrible mental state should this happen again. I done nothing wrong in my life so I feel I deserve better.

Many of you know I'm a fighter and I never give up on anything. It would be nice if I reach that day not continuously living in fear of possibly losing my job for having an LD.

 

[SomeRandomAspie]

I'm actually curious what your LD is. Being on aspiescentral, it's probably one coupled with HFA or ADD/ADHD. If you don't mind I am very curious.

 

[The Penguin]

I have a language based learning disability. For my job wise, this is how it effects me:

• It takes me longer to read than an average person. Minimal of 33%+
• Writing is a challenge for me. There various technology I need to use for my writing. I also need to re-read my text at least 5 to 6 times to proofread.
• Due to a limited vocabulary, it can be hard for me to have conversations with people use words I normally don't use.
• Using a dictionary is normally a useless device for me as most of the time, when reading the definition, there might be additional words I don't understand which might result into looking up endless words.
• I could miss understand people instructions due to the fact reading is very hard for me.
• Without having someone to proofread resume and/or cover letter, it will be nearly impossible to get an job due to society being judgmental on how someone writes.

Despite of all the above challenges, I fight hard to find employment in my trade as I can offer many benefits for a company if they can see me beyond my LD.

 

[SomeRandomAspie]

I have a language based learning disability. For my job wise, this is how it effects me:

• It takes me longer to read than an average person. Minimal of 33%+
• Writing is a challenge for me. There various technology I need to use for my writing. I also need to re-read my text at least 5 to 6 times to proofread.
• Due to a limited vocabulary, it can be hard for me to have conversations with people use words I normally don't use.
• Using a dictionary is normally a useless device for me as most of the time, when reading the definition, there might be additional words I don't understand which might result into looking up endless words.
• I could miss understand people instructions due to the fact reading is very hard for me.
• Without having someone to proofread resume and/or cover letter, it will be nearly impossible to get an job due to society being judgmental on how someone writes.

Despite of all the above challenges, I fight hard to find employment in my trade as I can offer many benefits for a company if they can see me beyond my LD.

I can relate in a way, I learn things in a different way than others. How I try to get around this is by learning things in advance. On another note I think it would be interesting to see how easy it is to find and keep a job for people on the autism spectrum in different places. Keep fighting!

 

[JDartistic]

You have a good idea to start a job bank, so to speak, for those of us on the spectrum, to match employers to those of us who have mental disabilities/challenges.

I sometimes think about posting on Kickstarter and just putting the idea out there, to see if there's even any funding interest. My thought is to offer a website to anyone on the Spectrum who needs work, and to have potential employers browse the community for the perfect match.

I suspect it would be very popular among creative folks and employers who are looking for those of us who think outside the box. It could also be a place for employers to find "pattern recognizers" and so many other unique skills that we could offer. Even our special interests could find a home with the right match-up.

What you said about keeping jobs and the constant fear of losing it is a scary reality for most of us. It would be so nice to have a website that could help us all get work based on our strengths, and not our (lack of) social skills.

 

[The Penguin]

You have a good idea to start a job bank, so to speak, for those of us on the spectrum, to match employers to those of us who have mental disabilities/challenges.

My idea is to help people find more meaningful jobs as most of the centers that exist out there is more to find low end jobs with very little pay.

You did shared interesting ideas for this post.

 

[SomeRandomAspie]

You have a good idea to start a job bank, so to speak, for those of us on the spectrum, to match employers to those of us who have mental disabilities/challenges.

I sometimes think about posting on Kickstarter and just putting the idea out there, to see if there's even any funding interest. My thought is to offer a website to anyone on the Spectrum who needs work, and to have potential employers browse the community for the perfect match.

I suspect it would be very popular among creative folks and employers who are looking for those of us who think outside the box. It could also be a place for employers to find "pattern recognizers" and so many other unique skills that we could offer. Even our special interests could find a home with the right match-up.

What you said about keeping jobs and the constant fear of losing it is a scary reality for most of us. It would be so nice to have a website that could help us all get work based on our strengths, and not our (lack of) social skills.

I think that a job bank is an excellent idea, besides, it doesn't even have to be just people on the AS spectrum.

 

[The Penguin]

I think that a job bank is an excellent idea, besides, it doesn't even have to be just people on the AS spectrum.

I find to have an center to help others is to ensure they have someone to specialize in different areas they trying to serve. Centers that try to cater to all normally don't do well help everyone due to the fact they don't specialize to all the clients they are trying to serve.

 

[Katleya]

Penguin, JD, great ideas!

I think you're right, Penguin, in wanting to start your own organization, once you get that working, it'll set you free from the fear of losing it all.
I've been pondering a similar thing for where I'm based, but I don't think I'm going to be ready to start taking action before 6 months to a year, too many things to get started already. Oh wait. I think your idea just solved one of my questions on my future. Thanks!

 

[Momo]

I too have a learning disorder and have struggled with it for a long time, and have also had to rely upon myself for everything. You must simply do your best. All through Primary and most of Secondary school people thought I was an idiot, now they tell me I am a genius and all my achievements are only because I'm smart, little do they know it's from hard work and perseverance.

 

[Grandmother B]

One of the hardest thing for my life is able to keep a job when having an LD(learning disability). Even harder to find a job.

I learn majority of employers are not accommodating. What makes things harder for me, living in Nova Scotia, it is the only Canadian province that does not have a learning disability association. Due to lack of this kind of support, I learned I need to manage without the support. Even though there are association in Nova Scotia help people with variety types of disabilities, it is not the same as my home province at a place that have centers that specialized with my LD.

It scary for me to think time to time, I could lose my job at any time. Since it can take longer to learn things, I need to work extra hours without pay to have that new material to sink in. If I havn't done things like this, I could have lost my current job many months ago. Once it sinks in, I do very well. However, in my trade working in IT, learning new things is an ongoing thing.

I came to the conclusion the only way to have security for my life is to start my own organization to help people like me. This can open new doors for my life of people offering great opportunities for me. I have delayed working on this project as my current job consume a lot of time and living on my own is a lot of work. Still, I'm not giving up my goal on this.

I don't want to keep falling back into poverty since I have zero support having no local friends which would put me in a horrible mental state should this happen again. I done nothing wrong in my life so I feel I deserve better.

Many of you know I'm a fighter and I never give up on anything. It would be nice if I reach that day not continuously living in fear of possibly losing my job for having an LD.

It's too bad Canada does not have a law about this. The Americans With Disabilities Act makes it against the law for American employers to not accommodate people who need extra help. It sounds like you have a good idea, forming your own organization. That's awesome. Maybe if you get enough people, you can work on a law later on. The problem I see with employers everywhere is that they expect too much from anyone including NT's, without giving them enough time to learn the job. I wish you the best!

 

[The Penguin]

It's too bad Canada does not have a law about this.

Yes there is many laws here about this. But just like many countries, even though their is laws does not mean everyone is able to achieve justice. I taken someone to human rights before and didn't get much of anything from it. I still find it very important for people to seek justice otherwise more employers will continue to get away with stuff.