slashgirl_1984

I have a mild form of Autism Spectrum disorder (PDD-NOS to be specific). I'm currently on unemployment benefits as I was turned down for disability benefits. I live in Belgium and in my last job, my employer got a grant for hiring me. They still fired me at the end of my trial period and now I've been sitting at home for 6 months 'cause I can't seem to get a job. I'm only 24 and have had 24 jobs already since I started working 4 years ago, most of them temping "with outlook to permanent". I'm starting to despair here, is there any hope for me of getting a job and keeping it? Is anyone else in this situation?

So, my best friend is a guy and we've really clicked together since meeting about 17 months ago. At the very beginning he made it clear that he had feelings for me, but I didn't feel ready for a relationship then so i held off the boat.

Now, a lot has happened since then and I've begun to count on having him around forever - it feels like he's one of very few people who understands me. My feelings for him have been growing stronger, but he hasn't mentioned his feelings for ages, probably because of my hesitance at first.

I'm scared I'll lose his friendship if things go wrong between us, but I do think that we'd have a good chance to make it work. My problem now is that I have no clue how to let him know - words don't usually come easy, especially in face-to-face conversations, and my mum's idea of "just kiss him" isn't my style, I'm not a very physical person who's always hugging and kissing people.

Does anyone have ANY idea how I can let him know about this?

Was asked this question by a friend and couldn't find the answer online so I thought I'd ask here: does anyone know why the autism ribbon and other autism awareness things use the symbol of (multicoloured) puzzle pieces?

If you don't know for sure, I'd love to hear your theories on it, but please do mention whether it's the official reason or your own idea on it.

Thanks

OK, here in Belgium we had the warmest winter ever - basically felt like we'd gone straight from autumn to spring. Now it's Easter, supposed to be spring, and it's freezing and trying to snow. And what about April? I can only pray we won't be having the same heatwaves all through the month that we had last year.

Is this all the effects of what they call global warming, or what's going on? All I know is that this weather is seriously messed up!

I really really don't like wearing my glasses, but without them I have too much trouble seeing and doing my job (working with a computer all day). The optician told me my eyes were too dry to wear contacts all the time, so I can basically only wear them to go out once in a while, or if I for some reason can't wear my glasses.

Also, my glasses aren't very strong so laser therapy "would be a bit drastic" according to the same optician.

Does anyone else have this problem or know of any alternative solutions? (Just not wearing my glasses is not an option if I want to survive crossing the streets here in the city!)

I'm on the autism spectrum myself, to give an example, and each time I mention it to someone, they say I can't be because I'm "not like Rainman". I have a high IQ, went to a regular school and wasn't diagnosed until 23 years old. (for those who are wondering, I was diagnosed with a mild form of PDD-NOS)

People with a speech impairment (and I know a few of those too) are often seen as stupid because of it.

Is there any point to these stereotypes at all or does anyone else feel that they really ought to be publicly dismissed and that children should be taught in school and at home that everyone's different whether they're "normal" or have some sort of disability and shouldn't be judged for it?

I only have a microwave and two hotplates, so no recipes which require an oven please?

I've been living on ready-meals, soup (minute soup, canned soup and home-made, it's one of the few things I can cook) and potnoodles (think Aiki).

I don't like cooking so something that can just be thrown together would be ideal - I'm getting bored with the ready-meals, to be honest!

A friend of mine who works at Brussels Airport told me this happened on one of their flights from Africa to Brussels. does anyone know what the official rules for this are?