What is your biggest challenge with being an autistic adult?

Accessing services such as healthcare and housing. They're behind a neurotypical communication barrier. Friends and so on I've found quite easy - you just find spaces that are full of autistic people and build connections. But certain jobs seem to be 100% staffed by neurotypicals and if you need to interact with them to get essential services it's difficult to figure out how to accurately transmit information to them and avoid them hating you to the extent they shut you out of services.

In my teens, I was lusting after older men a few years older than myself at the time or at least a gay guy my own age - one guy in our village got a reputation as the village hunk, because in summer heatwaves he would ride around the village on his racing bike shirtless - we never did find out if he was straight or gay because he suddenly disappeared - then another straight guy I’d just thought was a sweet kid when I was growing up came back into the village a few years later and turned out to be this super hot and super fit hunk and it turned out he was married (damn lol) then there was this annoying kid that used to drive us all insane and he came back from Australia a few years later as this strapping hot hunk, this time an actual bodybuilder and he had a boyfriend in tow (damn lol) 

I gave up trying to find a boyfriend/husband a long time ago - at 53 now, I just don’t want to be that kind of gold star gay that is lusting after twinks and gets called a chicken hawk 

I was talking about myself as a teenager and young adult. Now, I wear fancy waistcoats and a range of silver and gold antique pocket watches and watch chains, and carry a walking stick from a large collection, including a rosewood stick with a silver collar and a handle made of a sphere of amethyst, dating to the 1920s. I have no trouble these days in being as eccentric in my dress as I can be.

Instead of hating on it, embrace your individuality...you become the trend setter. I drift in and out of keeping up with fashion, but I don't feel phased by it.I create my own styles...sometimes basic...mostly creative and coordinated statements...I must admit I do need to update my wardrobe as haven't shopped in a while...but it's all bout wearing what you feel good in...what makes you feel attractive and confident...if you truly not happy with your look ask friends to give you a guide in what fashion items are in season and would look good on you or find a department store with a stylist or look in magazines and social media. 

I find dealing with people's preconceptions of autism and their lack of ability to treat you as a viable human just like all everyday people...we may have a few different ways of thinking and doing things but no two people are exactly the same, not even identical twins. I find that many focus on our differences instead of focusing on the things that are alike or similar. 

absolutely this. also if I was interested in someone that would completely lock out any interest in anyone else (and that would stay locked unless there was a very definitive "no interest" from the other party, which seldom came due to my complete inability to properly express an interest in the first place).

I say "interested", with caution too, as this whole idea of men being some kind of predatory creatures who're only interested in "one thing" and not a companionship and taking things very slowly has dominated popular culture which also made me very self-conscious as I was very conscious about any advances towards anyone being taken that way which perhaps made me even more standoffish and confused. A total nightmare.

I think that if you identify with a subculture that has a particular 'look' and dress in that style, you have a certain amount of confidence, confidence I entirely lacked. I just wanted to appear unremarkable in any way, not to stand out. I think a lot of autistics spend a great deal of energy trying not to attract attention, because so much of the attention we get is negative.

I didn't dress for attention, but because how you dressed was part of whatever scene you were into. Punk and New Wave was around and in the charts then I was a teen, but I don't think it was until the 1980's that it really arrived in the town where I lived. I knew lots of young women who were into the bands you mentioned, so I guess it was bad luck on your part that you never met any.

I was very bad at it and ran, fled into the arms of bohemian/budding hippy culture, poets, blues musicians, crash pads, rainbow gatherings, artists and pilgrims,  That's why Subterranean Homesick Blues is my favorite song.

I was exactly the same. Behaved like i was expected. I think my whole 20's i was.in a.teenage phase. I slept most of the time as a teenager. Dont remember much about it lol

I never had the confidence to dress for attention, I just wanted to not stand out - though I probably did in the wrong way. I was into Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd, it did not give you much common ground with the opposite sex. At 17, Punk and New Wave was happening, I couldn't understand it. I even had a cousin who was friends with a member of the Buzzcocks, and was invited to gigs, but never went.

When I was young it was only "straights" that were into main stream fashion and music, all the cool people were into alternative music and clothes.

A complete inability to adopt fashions or popular culture. It just felt too uncomfortable to me to wear anything stylish or be interested in any music that wasn't very niche/geeky. To illustrate this, I recently saw a photo of me and two friends, who I am still in touch with, when we were about 17, they look like Starsky and Hutch and I look like a teenage David Mitchell.

It's very upsetting when no one listens. I found it difficult to express or even know what was upsetting me. 

I also found alot of 'friends' were merely just people i spent time with and found the experience quite hard. The majority were quite self involved and superficial or just involved drinking alcohol. A true friend is very rare and even they come and go but there are people out there.

Im quite happy with my own company but get what you mean 100%. It's just the picture.of what friendship in my head is different from what i've experienced in my life. 

Im sure someone will come into your life when you least expect it.

My biggest ones are

1. The fear of being lonely and isolated -Difficulty finding and maintaining employment.
2. Being accepted by others and making friends.
3. Developing independent living skills - this one especially worries me because despite my best efforts I am still so dependent on people.

Employment is my biggest worry. How am I going to keep a job so I can pay for stuff and be independent when work is so hard and often unsuitable for my needs? 

Next comes loneliness.

I feel that no one is listening to me when I am upset and that how I felt when I was in college and I wish I have some real friends so I can be happy

Missing out on many typical teenage experiences (relationships, sex, drinking, smoking, drugs, driving, ...) when it's 'acceptable' to be learning from your mistakes. I was too busy trying to figure out the world, and behave like a 'good' person was expected to behave, when I was a teenager so I missed all that. I never understood the hidden meaning in my peers' language so didn't pick up on a lot, preferring to read books to make sense of things. Feeling more at home with my grandparents' generation than my peers. Lack of support - after 18 years of being looked after by parents you are now responsible for yourself but you might not have 'it' together enough to be responsible, and if your family don't want to support you any longer you have to succeed or fail on your own. That dichotomy of feeling older than your years in some respects, but younger than your years in others. Feeling like every decision will be with you the rest of your life and being paralysed with fear because you have no information to make the decision. Being good at a lot of different things, having diverse special interests/hobbies but deciding which ones to keep as hobbies and which will make money for you to live off. Coping with neurotypical version of 'honesty'. Not being competitive when the rest of the world is. Lonely - not really.

ditto, although it has gotten easier as more people gain in understanding and have met other autistic people.