Nicholas Barrow

Work? Nice if you can get it

It’s difficult to keep a job when you have Asperger’s, however hard you try

issue 30 October 2010

I am not unemployed due to laziness. I have ambitions. I would like to be successful. I would like to have a beautiful, grounded wife, children, and earn a good crust. My grandfather, who died before I was born, was in the Navy during the second world war. In his field he was an important person who gained respect. I would like to gain respect too and to achieve my goals, but I find it very difficult because I have Asperger’s Syndrome, a condition on the autistic spectrum that produces impaired social skills, obsessions, high anxiety and, certainly in my case, extreme emotion and passion.

I very much want to have a job, but it has proved trickier than I expected. It’s going to be even harder now after the cuts. It’s also going to be more difficult to qualify for a disability allowance, but I would like employers and politicians to realise that those of us who have these sorts of conditions need help, because it is often difficult for us to understand how to behave.

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