Adults Need Help Too

[HughG]

God bless the children!

How is it that in one of the largest & fastest growing cities of the USA, finding good support & resources for adults with Asperger's is like searching for a needle in a haystack??? I don't mean to come across as downplaying parents and children's issues related to AS/ASD. But does anyone out there ever consider that whether or not they were ever diagnosed as children, AS/ASD children do actually become adults? And just because their AD/ASD may not have been recognized or diagnosed during childhood, it doesn't mean that the problem just went away... In fact, if anything, then like any other issues you don't recognize or deal with early on, their disorders just grew up with them.

Blessings to the children who struggle!
But what about the adults who struggle as well? Does anyone else out there recognize that there is a HUGE growing market out there called "adults with Aspergers who need help"? Furthermore, just out of curiosity, whatever happens to the AS/ASD diagnosed children who grow up? Are there any continued resources for them during & after their transition into adulthood? Or do they just have to hope they can get all the help they can before they hit that age mark of adulthood?

 

[ChrisN]

Easy cowboy!
In the past 2 years I self-diagnosed and discussed with my Dr. He says cos my father was treated for Manic-Depression I must have it in my genes too. I can agree but keep in mind my old man was diagnosed before AS was even recognized.
researching M/D and AS, I have traits of both. I hope that the medical community will recognize the people who:
Dont feel like they fit in
Are clumsy
Are acutely affect by smells
Hate loud sounds
Hate large groups
Have a phenomenal memory
Love to focus on the minutiae
etc etc

 

[Suzanne]

I so agree with you on this Hugh.

Children do not stay children for ever and aspergers is not something that one "catches" when a child and they "get better"; it is something we are born with and thus, stays right until, well death and so, it is inane to not also consider adults with aspergers.

It honestly seems like the "professional" field see adults and children as two separate needs. I guess in one sense, it is understandable, because the needs of children and adults are different.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

But what about the adults who struggle as well?

This is a really valid concern. I don't know what it's like over there in the States, it's probably similar. Here in Britain only 16% of autistic adults are in full time employment. This is a big problem, the major problem needing to be tackled with adults.

The government and charities they help fund should be concentrating on closing the employment gap, finding people proper long term employment, not worrying about finding some phantom cure. They should be working towards a goal that is actually achievable.

 

[Axeman52]

I think this applies to pretty much any kind of help anyone might need with anything, not just people on the spectrum. So many resources for helping children or parents with children, but once you turn 18 you're on your own, unless you have a child of your own. I think that this is why we have so many people who don't really want kids but have a whole load of them just because having them gives them access to support that essentially stops them from being homeless and left out on the street to starve or freeze to death. And then all the schools, hospitals etc. get overcrowded, because of excessive population growth driven by this absurd system that essentially ignores the needs of childless adults and denies them access to any kind of support regardless of how much they might actually need it.

And the people who insist you should be able to take care of yourself by that age are usually the ones who also believe we should let kids be kids and let them mess around doing useless and unproductive stuff for 'fun' all the time, rather than teach them practical skills that will help to prepare them for adulthood.

 

[WereBear]

I'm a case of not being diagnosed as a child (since the concept was not known yet) and I need help NOW. Which is not going to come.

All the oligarchs have this concept that we are just ambulatory net worth they can drain into their own pockets.

 

[xudo]

This is a really valid concern. I don't know what it's like over there in the States, it's probably similar. Here in Britain only 16% of autistic adults are in full time employment. This is a big problem, the major problem needing to be tackled with adults.

The government and charities they help fund should be concentrating on closing the employment gap, finding people proper long term employment, not worrying about finding some phantom cure. They should be working towards a goal that is actually achievable.

I had no idea that the percentage of us in full time work was that low here. In Cardiff we do have some services for adults on the spectrum, but the majority of the support out there is still aimed at children.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I had no idea that the percentage of us in full time work was that low here. In Cardiff we do have some services for adults on the spectrum, but the majority of the support out there is still aimed at children.

Yeah, they're thinking that early intervention is going to save a lot of pain - and also money - in the future. But this method leaves people who are no longer kids or those that slip through the diagnosis 'net' as basically the autistic Generation X.

 

[OkRad]

I agree. We are adults for a much longer period that we are children. Further, we are alone as adults. This is one reason why they are finding the 2nd cause of death is suicide in autistics, and we die 20 years early. Even higher than mental illnesses.

Unlike many mental illnesses, autism does not seem to have much of a cure. There are meds for schizophrenia and I have seen them tranform the lives of those with schizophrenia. It is not always and they, too, need support, but they are able to get it more than adults with autism.

At 21 most are ppushed off a cliff. If they don't have great families and trust fuinds, well, it sure could be homelessness. Sometimes I think we are where schizphrenics were in the 1950s. Misunderstood and not helped and accused.

 

[xudo]

At 21 most are ppushed off a cliff.

I find also that it appears to be even worse for those of us who weren't even diagnosed until adulthood. We've never had any of the help and just trying to access it after diagnosis, when there's no history of having had any help is ridiculous.

 

[FreeDiver]

Why is there more support for children than there is for adults? Why do you think that Autism Speaks is so big? I'll tell you. It's because the parents of autistic children that are the ones doing all the avocating work, and since the parents are more than likely NT, that give them a big advantage that we don't have.

 

[Nitro]

I feel the need to add my own two cents to this discussion.

I think we can all agree that the number of persons with an autism spectrum disorder is an unknown.
To claim that a certain percentage of an unknown still leaves you with a false number. The numbers being used for the statistics are based on assessed cases alone and don't take into consideration those who were misdiagnosed with something else,or possibly never requiring professional help that would lead to a diagnosis to begin with. 25% of an unknown still equals an unknown in other words.

I come from a generation that took the attitude of suck it up buttercup,and unless you were causing an extreme ruckus,they more or less left you to your own devices.I was largely ignores as a child for not speaking on time,with my Dr. telling my parents that it would best be left alone until I was ready for primary school.

Low and behold...the "mute" did start to talk after he turned five,and boy did he have a lot to say then...in fact,they still can't shut him up

 

[midlife aspie]

I think that another factor in this is money. Children are more likely to be covered by insurance plans (private and government), and thus payment is more of a sure thing. This goes along with the advocacy mentioned in a previous post. I am inclined to think that autistic adults over the cut off for parental dependency don't present a profitable market due to generally lower incomes or unemployment. Health coverage for such folks tends to be second tier more often than not. I've simply started taking the cynical view that when one wonders why something in the way of a product or service exists or does not exist, a big part of the equation is the answer to the question: "where's the money?".

 

[the_tortoise]

I think this applies to pretty much any kind of help anyone might need with anything,

I agree.