Friends for my daughter with Asperger's

Thanks so much Steve for all that info - I’m going to have to get very proactive regarding getting professionals on board. My daughter has quite severe Aspergers - diagnosed at 3years old. She attended mainstream primary & a special school for secondary but she left early at 16 due to severe anxiety. She is currently at home & only leaves the house once a week on a Friday to see her cousins children for 2.5 hours. She has no academic qualifications & no motivation with regard to independence skills ( zero money understanding & needs prompting in almost everything ). She has never used a kettle, toaster, microwave or any sort of oven - but because she knew what colour chicken is when raw & cooked ( at the face to face assessment ) they say she can cook a simple meal - if it wasn’t so upsetting it would be laughable. They have totally not understood how autistic she is & how it impacts so greatly on our lives. She is scared of knives & anything hot - & there’s no persuading her to do anything. 
We see no professionals except her GP & we moved areas 2 years ago so we have to start again building up any support - & she’s not interested in engaging with anyone at the moment. I really need advice about whether paying for an autism expert (?) to write a report on her is something that could help us - or if the panel at the tribunal would not take their advice on board. It’s so tiring even thinking about what I’ve got to do to challenge the PIP decision - but we really need the award to help us with caring for her as myself & my husband don’t earn very much.

Thanks for the welcome ?

My daughter isn’t academic unfortunately - but she is artistic. It’s a real worry isn’t it when they have no friends ?. We are in Preston btw in case you are near ?