THE QUESTION ? What happens to the autistic child in later adult years....Reflecting a chronological inevitability: children with autism will grow up to become adults with autism, in most cases ultimately outliving the parents who provided their primary support.
WHATS NEXT? It’s a question that has yet to grab society’s attention, as the discussion of autism to date has skewed, understandably, toward its impact on childhood. The stark fact is that an epidemic among children today means an epidemic among adults tomorrow. The statistics are dramatic: within a decade or so, more than 500,000 children diagnosed with autism will enter adulthood. Some of them will have the less severe variants—Asperger’s syndrome, might be able to live more independent and fulfilling lives. Even that subgroup will require some support, and the needs of those with other variables and varieties of autism will be profound and constant.
How we respond to those needs will be shaped in great measure by how we choose to view adults with autism. We can help society see them in regards as humans here to show us a new way of embracing humanity as opposed to tragically broken persons, and help as a fellowship that is humane enough to to help them in meeting their basic needs. This is the view that sees the disabled in general as wards of the community, morally and perhaps legally, and that, in the relatively recent past, often “solved” the “problem” of these disabled adults by warehousing them for life, and/or forgetting them.
Alternatively, we can dispense with the layers of sorrow, and interpret autism as as one more wrinkle in the fabric of humanity. Practically speaking, this does not mean pretending that adults with autism do not need help. We absolutely do. Even I do, yet most dont even realize that piece in the reality of the experience. In society, it means replacing pity toward them with ambition and opportunity and support for them. The key to this view is a recognition that “they” are part of “us,” so that those who don’t have autism are actively rooting for those who do.
