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Autism and Ageing.

David
over 11 years ago

I am fifty-six so I am now involved with the Autism and Ageing Campaign the National Autistic Society is doing.

I mentioned this campaign on the World Autism Support Network and got a reply from someone involved.

The right place is to discuss it in this Community.

There is not a space for campaigns so I was not sure where to mention this campaign.

It is important for people to realise that children do not grow out of their Autism.

If we live to a hundred we will still be Autistic.

That is why it is important for Doctors and Nurses and other people who work in the National Health Service are aware of Autism.

David

 

Parents
  • over 11 years ago

    Hi David - 

    Can I suggest that the word 'Ageing' might be putting people off? 

    Yes, I understand that some GP's and other health professionals believe that Adults do not have ASC - i.e. we grow out of it - and that opinion needs to be challenged. But is this 'opinion' more to do with funding being directed at the young rather than at older people with the condition?  And in that context, what is to happen to the elderly with ASC's, has to be questioned.

    After all, many Health professionals believe that if you have an ASC and are 'coping', you are not deemed to have the condition. And many Adults with an ASC would have had to learn to 'cope' on the surface, over the years. What goes on underneath is completely different.

    Bizarre isn't it? If I had one leg shorter than the other and was 'coping' with it, I would still be deemed by the medics to have one leg shorter than the other. 

    On the terminology - 'Ageing'. A local Council near me, had a project a couple of years ago which targeted help for 'Older' people  -  believe it or not they classed 'Older' people as anyone over 50. One of the perks of joining was that they gave you a free pair of slippers. I am in my 50's and back at College doing a Post Grad - most of the people I know, of the same age as me, felt insulted they had been classed as 'Older', because they and I considered themselves middle-aged, and the free slippers were just an added insult. 

    All I am trying to point out is, that terminology is important, and although the term 'Ageing' in this context is presumably meant more as, 'as one Ages' - which of course happens from the moment you are born - at first glance it does not come over as anything except 'ASC in the Elderly'. Maybe the use of Adults/Adulthood or some derivation of that word would have been more user friendly.

    Just my personal opinion. Smile

Reply
  • over 11 years ago

    Hi David - 

    Can I suggest that the word 'Ageing' might be putting people off? 

    Yes, I understand that some GP's and other health professionals believe that Adults do not have ASC - i.e. we grow out of it - and that opinion needs to be challenged. But is this 'opinion' more to do with funding being directed at the young rather than at older people with the condition?  And in that context, what is to happen to the elderly with ASC's, has to be questioned.

    After all, many Health professionals believe that if you have an ASC and are 'coping', you are not deemed to have the condition. And many Adults with an ASC would have had to learn to 'cope' on the surface, over the years. What goes on underneath is completely different.

    Bizarre isn't it? If I had one leg shorter than the other and was 'coping' with it, I would still be deemed by the medics to have one leg shorter than the other. 

    On the terminology - 'Ageing'. A local Council near me, had a project a couple of years ago which targeted help for 'Older' people  -  believe it or not they classed 'Older' people as anyone over 50. One of the perks of joining was that they gave you a free pair of slippers. I am in my 50's and back at College doing a Post Grad - most of the people I know, of the same age as me, felt insulted they had been classed as 'Older', because they and I considered themselves middle-aged, and the free slippers were just an added insult. 

    All I am trying to point out is, that terminology is important, and although the term 'Ageing' in this context is presumably meant more as, 'as one Ages' - which of course happens from the moment you are born - at first glance it does not come over as anything except 'ASC in the Elderly'. Maybe the use of Adults/Adulthood or some derivation of that word would have been more user friendly.

    Just my personal opinion. Smile

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