Published on 12, July, 2020
To me there still seems to be a gap in the market, with most resources focussing on autistic children and young adults and hardly anything for older people. So it makes a change to see a video on the experience of older autistic people. We could really due with resources that cover the whole lifespan, I think, including end of life care (my unidentified autistic dad died on a busy, noisy ward (radio 2 blaring constantly, as if this would automatically be helpful to patients) which, even though I wasn't aware of our neurodivergence even just a few years ago, I know would have made him much less comfortable).Dad enjoyed peace and quiet, or maybe a little Radio 4 and I remember thinking that it was a pity he wouldn't wear earphones (great difficulty putting up with anything around his head or face, including glasses). We all need and deserve much better as we grow older. www.youtube.com/watch
I actually find it scocking to hear that I am satistically likey to live a shorter life, never occured to me. However how many people over 40 have actually been disgnosed? I guess those that have been diagnosed back in the 1970-90's had more severe issues to get diagnosed in the first place. I would think there are probably 250,000 undiagnosed older adults, maybe twice that.
Good point, and that study says 'We first identified all individuals with an ASD diagnosis in the National Patient Register between 1987 and 2009.' So I wonder what 'high functioning' in 1987 was like compared to 2009 and how much that distorts towards a possibly more pessimistic average than is warranted?