Hello, everyone. My name is Brianna Raquel Peterson. I'm female, I'm 34 years old, I live with my Mom and our dog in York, South Carolina, and I was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 4. I need help. I have anxiety issues that I've been struggling with all my life; I don't have a job; I don't drive; apart from trips to either a grocery store, or to some restaurant from which my Mom and I order a meal, or to any hardware store for house projects, or going off to an annual visit to my Dad in another state, I'm at home all the time. I was in Special Education in my earlier school years (where the teachers were good and understanding), before starting to be mainstreamed after moving to another state (where some teachers yelled at me, I was bullied by half of my classmates, and there was no understanding, and my parents and I were without certain crucial resources). I've spent the first part of my life not knowing better on how to respectfully ask for help or clarity on a task or a situation. I am on SSI (Social Supplemental Income); I've got a good therapist from this group called Thrive Family Services, down here in South Carolina. I'm an artist who is good at drawing (I've been focused on fantasy for as long as I can remember); I've been helping my Mom by keeping the house clean while she telecommutes Monday through Friday; and when I'm not drawing or doing chores or contributing to the upkeep of our house, I'm either surfing the internet, reading a book, or playing a video-game (mostly Blizzard's 'World of WarCraft' online multiplayer game, or Bethesda's 'The Elder Scrolls Online'). I've got anxiety and fear issues--fears of doing anything that would make a boss or superior irritated or angry with me; I cringe or flinch whenever Mom is irritated about something going on with her work or with whatever is going on at home. My therapist has hopes to help me become more independent, more responsible for myself. She's been trying to help me work through my anxiety and my fears; she's been trying to help me get past my unhappy past, to forgive myself and to forgive others. She's been looking through resources that might be feasible for me (and feasible for my budget), looking at groups built to assist neurodivergent adults in learning independence and learning skills for a job in which they could successfully earn their own money. I have heard things about some other 'Aspies' who are successfully self-employed (I vaguely remember a story about this one neurodivergent who got successfully self-employed by making his (or her?) own independent brand of bar soap)--and I've been considering the idea of starting self-employment through my artwork (via designs for shirts, or pins, or hats, maybe). I've also been contemplating starting a comic or graphic novel about a fictional world inhabited by the fictional creatures and people I've been drawing. Do you guys know of any resources my Mom and I could go to locally in York county that could help me? Do you know about any organizations that could train me in social interactions, and in (maybe) driving safely and responsibly, and in self-employment that isn't too demanding (because I do want to see if I'm up for writing a graphic novel series, and also because I value my time and freedom in the evenings and weekends--as well as my creative autonomy)? Do you guys know anyone in South Carolina who can help me get a job (maybe) or self-employment without my anxiety or my fear of people getting angry at me get the better of me? Please send me some feedback, or some ideas of what or who could help me and my Mom down here--and also with more effectively training our dog Luna, our female, soon-to-be-two-years-old, Boxer-German-Shepherd-Great-Pyrenees mix who lives here with us, and who has lots of energy, is a prankster (she snatches our socks/napkins/eye-glass-wipers/scrunchies/handkerchiefs/slippers whenever they are unguarded), and really loves us. Please, if you can--help me. -Brianna Raquel Peterson

Posted by Bree Bree, Autistic Gamer at 2025-04-22 15:35:57 UTC