u/New-Needleworker7999

I’m honestly really upset that so many of my friends got their jobs through nepotism or connections, while I’ve been trying to get a job for the last 8 months with no luck. Whenever I ask for a little help or ask if they know anyone hiring, they act like it’s they’re entire family will die, when to me it feels like such a simple thing to do for a mate. What hurts even more is feeling like they make fun of me or bully me for being poor and not having a job, instead of understanding how hard I’m actually trying. I’m not asking anyone to hand me a job—I just wish my friends would actually try to help me the same way they’ve helped from other people.

I’m 17, autistic and have ADHD, and I’m honestly feeling really stuck with my life at the moment.

About 8–9 months ago, I was kicked out of school because my autism made attending school extremely difficult. I wasn’t able to attend every day consistently, and eventually I was kicked out because of my attendance.

The difficult part is that while I was at school, I never really received the support I was supposed to get. I was meant to have a support teacher available in every class I had because of my autism, but that never actually happened. School was already extremely difficult for me, and not having the support I was supposed to have made things even harder.

When I was kicked out, I was given a support worker who I was supposed to be able to talk to and get help from.

However, school holidays happened, my support worker changed jobs, and I was supposed to be given someone new.
The problem is that I never actually received a new support worker.

I tried messaging the number I was given to find out what was happening. I eventually got a response saying something along the lines of, “I’ll let the person know to contact you,” but nobody ever contacted me. Since then, I’ve basically had no support and genuinely feel like I’ve been forgotten about by the education system.

I’ve also been trying really hard to get a job. I’ve applied to so many places, sometimes multiple times, and I’ve been rejected every time so far. I know people tell me not to take rejection personally, but after months of constantly applying and being rejected, it’s getting really hard not to.

I’m starting to feel like a huge reject myself. I know I’m only 17 and obviously have a lot of life ahead of me, but it feels like I’m just stuck while everyone else is moving forward.

I’m not really looking for sympathy. I genuinely want advice from other autistic people who might have been in a similar situation.

If you were in my position, what would you do? Are there any Australian services, programs, education options, disability supports or employment programs that I should be looking into?

And if you’re autistic/ADHD and have struggled with getting a job, especially after leaving school, how did you eventually get your foot in the door?

I really just want to start moving forward with my life and feel like I’m actually doing something with myself. I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have been through something similar.