full image - Repost: Any Luck With Employment Agencies? (from Reddit.com, Any Luck With Employment Agencies?)
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tl;dr if there is anyone who has personal experience with finding work through an autism employment agency or vocational rehab center, etc. would you be open to sharing your experience as well as what the process looked like?I'm going to try and keep this brief. I reached out to a local agency that offers career counseling for autistic folks. From their website, it looks like they offer placement/vocational skills but they are not approved through the ticket-to-work program.* I finally got the courage to just go in and ask questions about 6 months ago. I explained that I have an advanced degree and a variety of work experience as well as the fact that I'd like to work in my field (public school education) if at all possible. I left my first career due to burnout, I'm taking the steps to prevent this from happening again and right now that looks like working part-time and/or volunteer work.Long story short, they said they do teach vocational skills to high schoolers and that I could potentially volunteer with them if I have my clearances. I was told to upload my resume/info to their website and clarify what I was looking for re: volunteer work. I did this and never heard back. During this time I had a friend in hospice in another state that I wound up needing to leave to care for and I've just gotten back in April. Unrelated, my spouse acted without integrity while I was away and now we're divorcing. So as soon as I got back, I needed to find a place to live with my cat and small SD in a completely unfamiliar city--I can't go back to where the friend was, they've passed and I have no support there--which I've done. Now that I'm back and sort of settled I reached out to the agency again. They said they did get my information, but didn't contact me because they don't accept volunteers. I explained the situation, they asked who I talked to and it turns out that I was e-mailing with the person I'd already talked to in person. I asked if they have time to talk tomorrow since I'll be nearby for a Dr's appt. and she said no, but she'd let me know if they have any volunteer opportunities in the future. I wrote her back and asked if there was a time when we could talk about the scope of their work, and that if they only assist people with higher needs who are unable to live independently. Their website doesn't indicate this, but the only skills I can see on their site are the same ones offered by goodwill, etc. its not that I'm above that type of work, I already have retail, cash register, admin asst. experience, etc. I'm almost 50, so I don't think going back to school to change careers would be a smart choice on a financial level. I'm basically working to downsize and figure out where to go/what to do when my current lease is up next spring. So my question is this, if there is anyone who has personal experience with finding work through an autism employment agency or vocational rehab center, etc. would you be open to sharing your experience as well as what the process looked like? If you don't want to post it, feel free to send me a pm - just let me know so I know to check it. I'm really sad, frustrated, and discouraged right now. I don't have any sort of support network other than a great therapist and my soon-to-be-ex being able to take my pets if anything major happens to me and even then, I don't feel comfortable with that due to the fact that he's let my dog out twice in the last six months that I was staying there and forgotten to let her back into the house.*This is a program in the US that helps people who are on SSDI transition back into the workforce and so if the job doesn't work out, you don't lose your benefits. There is a limit on how much you're allowed to make without losing your benefits and that limit is pretty low if you consider the recipient has no access to income-based housing, insurance, or other services.
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