Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone,
One of my siblings is in their early 72s and is sole parent for their autistic child now in their early 20s. The young adult (K) was diagnosed as autistic when they were 11 and was in and out of various schools. They have no qualifications. My sibling (M) has tried hard to get K into voluntary work but it has never worked. Although K is high-functioning, they have major issues (sensory etc) which means they find it extremely hard to get on with anyone. They have always lived at home and M looks after them. However, what's going to happen in the future?? Is residential care an option?? How would they cope in a shared house?? Has any other parent or carer been in this situation? I apologise for vagueness but I don't want to give anything away about their identity. They live in Cambridge.
Or does anyone know a forum like this for parents and carers of young autistic adults who are high functioning but unable to live independently?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.
Mary
Hi Mary Aunt of young autistic adult,
Thank you for sharing this with the community. You may like to contact our Parent to Parent service who offers emotional support to parents and carers of children or adults with autism. This service is confidential and run by trained parent volunteers who are all parents themselves of a child or adult with autism
You contact the team on 0808 800 4106. Please leave a message and the team will call you back as soon as possible at a time that suits you, including evenings and weekends. Alternatively you can use contact the team via web form: https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/parent-to-parent
You may like to contact our Autism Helpline team who can provide you with information and advice.
https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/helpline
You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm.Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an adviser.
All the best,
ChloeMod