By Kendall Worth
As usual I am using a fake
name for Bob, to ensure he does not receive criticism for his
invisible disabilities. In
the past when BOB has disclosed his disabilities
e.g. OCD,
Learning Disability and ADHD to community members, he has had
experiences like that
described in this
post.
Bob
has even been accused of “faking” his disabilities! He
has had a lot of
related harassment in the past and he does not want this to happen
again.
I say lets put the stigma aside and focus on moving forward.
This link will take you to all the posts were I have reported on and provided updates about BoB. However if you look at the specific BLOG post Dated October 19, 2025 , you will see that I reported that BOB had recently undergone a psychology assessment to see if there is anything wrong with his social skills. Well the update is that BOB has been diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum. As much as Bob was not expecting to get this diagnosis, the diagnosis did not surprise him either. It took 6 appointments with the psychologist to get this diagnosis.
People think of autism as something a child is born with, but getting a diagnosis is not always easy, some parents do not want to confront it, and there is a cost to getting a diagnosis, in most cases. As a result, many people have their autism diagnosis happen as an adult, especially because they are struggling with every day things, and need to know why.
Bob is now at a point in his life where he is going to have to figure out what it means to live with this new diagnosis. Bob says he already knows what goals he wants to work on moving forward. In Bob’s final assessment appointment with the psychologist, Bob told the psychologist that he want to start having a better community of friends he socializes with. He also mentioned one of my posts, suggesting the physiologist should read this article in the now-folded Nova Scotia Advocate. That article talks about why it is so difficult, on Income Assistance, to have friends who we do things with, like as examples:
Get together for coffee
Go for walks through one of beautiful walking trails here in HRM
Who we can invite over to watch movies with
And the above are only 3 examples of what I am talking about.
Bob told me he also spoke at the assessments about things he sees as solutions. One solution was actually a project, in Halifax, for 10 months. It began as a “Mitigating Social Isolation “ project, operating, as these blogs cover, as All Together Link. Now the reason why this was a solution while it lasted is because it gave people an opportunity to be around people and socialize. But the real Solution is a Social Prescribing Organization which can potentially be an umbrella Organization for a Social Prescription program.
Bob is lucky enough to have a part time job even though he is also on income assistance. He is allowed to the first $450.00 a month under supportive employment before Community Services starts clawing back his earnings. Bob would prefer I not disclose where he works, but he works mostly on his own making it difficult to make friends “at work”.
Over the years, Bob (like myself, as many know) has had trouble with boundaries and people ending friendships over not respecting their boundaries. So the question becomes How can Bob make new friends moving forward?
The psychologist suggested that he remind himself that the professionals he meets are not his friends and cannot become so. . The have to follow the professional code of conduct and conduct their affairs professionally.
The psychologist suggested he access Autism Nova Scotia. Bob told me that he will, In the new year, make an appointment to meet with Autism Nova Scotia, but does question whether he might have access to a new set of potential friends through that organization. As far as Bob, or I know, there is nothing similar to social prescribing available through Autism Nova Scotia.
Before wrapping this post up … one last thing:
In addition to Social Prescribing, I am advocating for a Non Professional Peer Support Worker Program to get up and running here in Halifax. See posts where I talk about the benefits of peer support here. However the specific Peer Support Program I am advocating for, is for people who are on Income Assistance to have the opportunity to get hooked up with a non professional, doing similar work to professionals like like Doctors, psychiatrists, psychiatrists, Social Workers, and Counsellors do.
Bob actually told the psychologist that he thought my ideas about a social prescription organization could work here in Halifax… Bob thought having a non-professional peer support would be a great benefit. For 2 Specific BLOG posts were I make the case for this program see here and here.
I will conclude these thoughts by saying: Lets continue to find solutions to raise awareness and educate the public about invisible disabilities.
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Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
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