Isn't harder being an aspie adult than a child?

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I feel being adult is harder than being a child. I wished adults would say to their children the adult world is a way more complicated than a child's world.

It is a lot harder for both groups then it should be.

Autism is hard when it interferes with meeting the common standards for 'fitting in' and that applies to both children and adults. As an adult there are more standards one is required to meet than for a child because adults (theoretically at least) have more control over more parts of their lives than a child would.
So, yes, I would say it is harder as an adult. And the greater the intensity of the effects of autism in a person the greater the increase in difficulty for a person.

I think being an adult has been harder - as a child I was free to wander around and do whatever I liked even if it was mostly solitary play or staring at a flowing river for hours. I remember feeling totally disconnected from people but in a way plugged straight into the Universe/Nature which is a wonderful feeling. I did not care that much about other kids - I've been called a weirdo many times, but I was lucky to escape all sorts of serious bullying, so maybe that's why I have generally good memories of me as a kid - I did not compare myself to others. The problem was family environment, but as soon as I was in my 'zone' away from people, I felt happy.

As an adult (even a young adult) you get thrown into a sea of social-ness and you have to participate (at least to some extent) in adult life which is very much about relating, connecting, interacting. You also tend to get more feedback from people that is... often quite depressing. There's a level of organization you need to maintain not to let your life fall apart, there are romantic relationships that can leave you clueless and hurt, there's work in environments that are not suited for autistic people, physical health problems start creeping up on you... We often don't have solid support networks that many people just take for granted. So yes, at least in my case, "adulting" is a way tougher ride.

Diagnosed or undiagnosed?

Being an adult is much harder for me, even though my symptoms were much worse as a kid. I have Selective Mutism, and childhood was absolute Hell. But now that I'm grown and know more about life and everything else, I have less hope. There is nobody to hide behind. There's no little sister to speak for me. People don't overlook my weirdness and write it off as "being a kid." Everything I see about autism is focused on children. There's little support (NO support in my area) for adults. I couldn't use resources as a kid because I wasn't diagnosed yet and because people didn't know about autism when I was a kid anyway. Now I'm an adult who has never received the needed help and is expected to be normal.

May I share a few tongue-in-cheek "tips for ASD adults" to get by in the social and work realms, learned over 50 years, 48 of which were spent undiagnosed?
1. Asked about sports? Pretend you care.
2. Find out if your interlocutor has children. If so, start asking questions about them. This is a surefire way to get them talking, and you off the hook. Now all you have to do is listen and make delighted noises at intervals.
3. If you are a woman, a good hairstylist is invaluable. Get this person to give you a haircut that requires no fussing and looks good on you. Hair is very important to neurotypical women and a good haircut is a must for purposes of passing as normal to the naked eye.
4. When you meet a baby, make funny faces at him. Open your eyes wide and smile exaggeratedly. Do not ask the baby how he is or what kind of day he is having. This does not work.
5. At the job, work your butt off and always be ready to help others. This makes up (though not entirely, of course) for any deficiencies in relating.
6. Be sure to studiously ignore all the people in charge, if you cannot piss them off directly.

You will, of course, understand that humor has always been my way of dealing with the pain, loneliness and injustice we face as Aspies!

Being an adult is literal hell, I did not get a good education and they did not help me transition whatsoever. I wasn't depressed or super anxious as a kid, I was happy enough up and could occupy myself until a certain age even if my situation growing up was sh***y. Now I feel a lot more resentment towards my parents nowadays for their failures raising me and my siblings, things could of been better in a better situation but I was neglected and left to rot. I don't blame them entirely and maybe 'they did the best they could' but I can't say they did a good job. Now I'm desperately trying to piece it all together at 25 but probably where I should of been at 15, I'm supposed to be an adult but I am basically a child. I feel more locked out and ostracized from my peers than I ever did before, I feel like an absolute freak
and avoid other people to spare myself the humiliation.

I think a lot of parents just do the minimum to get by. Mine certainly did, but they were working-class people, dealing with addiction issues, and Asperger's was unknown. I STILL feel like a child, at 51; I don't think that ever really changes. I think I spent the time till I was about 35 raising myself all over again, the way I wish I could have been the first time. It's been difficult. Underemployed because cannot connect, several degrees, not using them. The toughest thing has been finding environments where I can function -- I mean, where I can use at least some of the skills I have, among people who value and appreciate me (and that last is key). For instance, I'm a medical scribe; I used to be a medical transcriptionist, where I could put on headphones all day and type, and interact with others very little. That job used my ability to intensely focus, but it didn't fulfill my need to be valued by others (and yes, Aspies need that too; I don't think we're meant to spend our lives sealed off in a bubble - that is actually one of my recurrent dreams, that I'm some sort of glassed-off room and no one can hear me). My current job as a scribe allows me to focus on the electronic chart, but I do it among people who are really happy I am there and value what I do. When someone says "We are so lucky to have you!" I could just bust with happiness (though I don't show it, of course )

This sentence no verb.

Schools don't teach you enough adult skills (they dont really teach them at all for the most part). For instance, they don't teach you things like budgeting, paying bills on time, how to find an apartment or buy a house, how to cook, how to tip, how to be smart about spending your money, how to fix your leaky faucet, how to fix your toilet, how to change your oil, how to properly conduct yourself at work, how to schedule a doctor/dentist appointment, how to buy health insurance, how to make friends, how to get a girlfriend, etc.

Those are all things I had to learn on my own.

Try to be content in life. Really! You're not the only one who had problems in life. Sometimes we just let our social problems get the best of us when we should realize that that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the problems in the world.

It would have sometimes been very helpful if people had told me I was getting a simplified version of things - I'd have had better posture if I hadn't thought that was the sole responsibility of my bones. However, we really can't complain about having to learn in stages. Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.