Published on 12, July, 2020
I am an occupational therapist who works with autistic teens and young adults. I am curious- what is the biggest challenge autistic teens and young adults face as they transition to adulthood? Is it the fear of being lonely? Employment? Succeeding in college? Being accepted by others and making friends?
I would say it depends very much on the individual. Although autists are wired differently to neurotypicals, we don't all think and behave the same way. There is a saying that when you have met one autistic person, you have met one autistic person. If I think back to when I was transitioning into adulthood, it would have been difficult for me to state what my biggest challenge was, as there were several things that I found equally challenging.
I think my biggest challenge is that I'm older, I was diagnosed at the age of 50, I'm now 62 and nobody knows what to do with me, the general thinking seems to be that I made it 50 OK, so I don't need any help.
It's great that young people are getting the help they need, but some of us oldies need help too.
At age 53, I agree with this - since my online diagnosis in 2021, I’m “all at sea” as I’ve not had any post-diagnostic assessments to determine level of autism and any supports required and all I’ve had to date is outdated and ill-informed opinions from those who are not experts in the field, assuming that they know what’s best for me in my situation and trying to tell me what I want, shutting me down when I try to explain my situation, telling me that I don’t understand that I’m wrong by default and that the only way to manage my autism is to be subject to ultra strict discipline in an autism boot camp - shutting me up is the name of the game - just like when I came out as gay many years ago it’s the same with autism and of course, there is zero help for autism within the gay community either