The basic idea is that Aspies and HFA folk should take up side projects during their time of not making money at a job. The benefits of this are:
- Volunteer work is more flexible and can be done from home often
- It keeps the social interaction chops up
- References from the work help with the job search
- Potentially you might find a job via the volunteer work
- More skills/results on your resume cannot hurt
- Volunteer to help Project Gutenberg preserve public domain texts on the web
- Help the Electronic Frontier Foundation wade through FOIA documents
- Become an Editor for the Open Directory Project in a category for a favored obsession
'Volunteer work is more flexible and can be done from home often...'
ReplyDeleteI agree; I'm 49 years old, was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome two years and I'm still looking for my first job - I can't even do voluntary work though because I can't provide references.
That is a rough place to be in. I have noticed though that the remote/virtual volunteer opportunities on VolunteerMatch.org do not ask for references as long as you are not working with their financial or personal information. Doing a few of those would allow you to get referrals and then go for more traditional volunteer opportunities. I don't think the Project Gutenberg opportunities require references either but I have not explored them as much.
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