my support worker's job. how she puts up with me i do not know 
and i am one of the less challenging service users 
i drove my last support worker insane 
Off-subject, but what is a support worker? Do they have them in the US? Can I get one too?
well anybody who's paid to help someone with a disability is a support worker really.
in my case, it's cos i'm too spazzy and retarded and autistic to do pretty much anything for myself. so other people have to help me with stuff and sort stuff out for me - that's usually my parents. my support worker kind of works like part occupational therapist part social worker. one of my biggest difficulties is with getting out, i get stressed out and have meltdowns and get argumentative when i'm out. so the support worker makes me go out, and gets shit for it. it's absolutely exhausting, for both of us.
at least now i am much better when i'm out, i'm still just as autistic, but better at avoiding difficult situations without having to avoid going out altogether. now i'm much more assertive about situations that would get me overloaded. and also it's taught me some useful 'support-worker-management' skills which would probably come in useful if (as is likely) i end up in some sort of supported living situation. and some really basic things, like how to just ask for someone to do something for you instead of struggling with it yourself (like asking the support worker to cut up food for me or pour my tea out if i'm having a really spazzy day).... and no that's not easy, cos remember that on my worst days i'm non-verbal so asking can be even harder than struggling to do something myself!
i guess one of the mistakes i made was that i thought when i got support, everything would then be easy. but it doesn't work that way. support is hard work, cos you actually have to
do stuff. and you have to learn how to ask for what you want, rather than hoping your support worker will mindread! i wish someone would have written a book on how to make use of support so i'd have had some prior warning.
