WHERE have all the Adults gone???

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I didn't know there was a correlation??? That's very interesting, because I am diagnosed reactive hypoglycemic (boy, getting THAT recognized was a nightmare...you wouldn't believe the doctors that don't believe in hypoglycemia or don't know anything about it. It's almost like the knowledge neurotypicals have of Asperger's.

Come to think of it, I have a friend who has some sort of endocrine disorder and half of her immediate family is on the spectrum...

I feel exhausted because of my depression...but is it any wonder that people with Asperger's are depressed? I think there's a VERY good reason and it's been emphasized in this thread over and over.

Sometimes, it's hard to believe we live in the 21st century.

So I am not the only one realizing that ALMOST every book on Asperger's or Autism is geared towards parents of kids on the Spectrum, or for those kids.
We do not just vanish when we hit 21 years of age. But everyone is doing research on helping/curing children, not on what happens to autistic adults. I mean am I fated to become the ecentric old man talking to the pigeons in the park all day?!

Sincerely,
Matthew

PS.

Just read that last part. seems likely to me, my immune system is COMPLETELY screwed up. I have at least two auto-immune diseases that I know off. Etc..

If you are talking about prioritizing limited funding toward the "most" needy then children win hands down.

They've shortsightely missed an important detail: What do spectrumite children become when they grow up? Spectrumite ADULTS. Even if they are normalized enough to mostly pass, they're brains are still not wired like an NTs, and they never will.

Oh, and what were we when we were children? of course the labels didn't exist then, but our experiences happened anyway, and insights resulted from those experiences.


Don't worry, you won't become an eccentric old man talking to pigeons in the park, unless of course pigeons are one of your special interests *big evil grin*, in which case you'll likely know the subspecies, age and behaviors of each member of the flock.

So they can reach 18-21 and then be abandoned completely to sink or swim. Brilliant plan.

especially since we tend to experience developmental delays. From what I've seen, 21 NT years roughly equals 35 aspie years of age. At 17 I could balance a checkbook, write and execute the weekly shopping list for the family and I finally learned how to drive. If it weren't for the first disastrous marriage that got me out of the house at age 22, I would have been living at home until my mid 30s. It was pressure to grow up and not be a failure that prompted me to jump into that marriage.

There's more money to be made on children with desperate parents than unemployed adults.

OMG, ME TOO !

What got me out at 18 was an abusive parent I couldn't spend one more day around. I ended up in a disastrous, abusive relationship a couple of years later, and eventually ended up moving back home when I was 35, and been rather stuck ever since.

I am not sure on the precise ratios of age vs. maturation, but I think you're on the right track with that comparison of NT to AS years.

They're assuming that we're all unemployed and destitute. I may not be working at the moment, but I'm not destitute. Even unemployed, I still have my 401k to live on for quite some time to come. Even pinching pennies, I can still buy books. I can still come up with some money if I find something that may help me be successful at my next job, hopefully without the rocky first year.

I remember reading about a study done in South Korea that found, when every child was checked for Autism, 1 in 38 were on the spectrum. I seriously doubt that South Korea is any more Autistic than the US, but we're still only finding 1 in 88. The rest are flying under the radar. Some undiagnosed spectrumite adults when thrown into the deep end at 21 managed to do a mean dog paddle -- not swimming, but still staying afloat. Some managed to tread water -- staying afloat but barely. Many more found their feet during their mid 30's, still undiagnosed, and are also doing a mean dog paddle. We aren't counted among the 1 in 88.

Another thing to consider: By focusing the research on only the children who are diagnosed during school, they are focusing on a small subset of the data. In effect, they are looking for the proverbial missing item under the proverbial streetlight when it is unlikely to be there.

I'm stunned that it apparently has never occurred that finding answers to issues experienced by adults will help the youngsters as well. We have seen, on this thread alone, evidence that spectrumites may have a higher than normal incidence of Endocrine disorders. To add my 2 cents, I'm diagnosed hypothyroid and pre-diabetic -- I have to be careful or I'll eventually go full type2. If the same genes that predispose us to Autism also predisposes us to endocrine disorders later in life, the spectrumite children of today will be facing the same realities us old fogeys are now. No amount of cognitive learning, or life skills will prevent this.

I'm not saying it's right, but that's the way it is. I don't think you realize how much parents will spend on books to figure out what makes their kids tick. Estimates for adult ASD unemployment have been as high as 70% but it's hard to estimate when so many adults have not been diagnosed (which is another factor for the 'bean counter' to consider). If I wanted to make money by writing books about autism I'd go for the kids too. It's also why clinical research is focused on kids.

I think that the statistical sample for adult unemployment is actually sufficient to predict that the adults who are not documented probably experience similar difficulties. I don't think being pushed out to succeed or fail on our own merits actually forces many of us to succeed, and I think many often face barriers that have nothing to do with our own merits.

As I posted above I left home at 18 and returned at 35. However, my time in-between was not composed of years spent being self-sufficient or capable of handling all of the adult responsibilities that came my way. That I was able to spend time living away from family (about nine years during that 17-year period) was a consequence of either having a partner who, while abusive, also supported me. And later, having help from relatives to pay rent and other expenses. I eventually hit a point where I had to move but couldn't afford to, which is why I ended up living with family again.

The 8 years I did live with family was with my grandmother, and that was more of a mutual support thing, as I could do things for her that she couldn't do.

I've seen estimates as high as 90%, with the implication that we are so broken that we are not employable. Since the generation of '85 is only about 27 years old, this doesn't surprise me. I expect that those who haven't yet found their feet will do so during the next 8 years. If I was a clinical researcher, I'd look to the untapped markets. If you really want to play it conservative, look at the problems being experienced by those from 18 to 28? Most of them still have doting parents who are ever increasingly eager to get the kids out on their own. Many of these kids even have their own income from SSI. Are there tests that measure emotional maturity? if so, a good test would be to compare a group of diagnosed Aspie/HFAs with a similar group of diagnosed NTs (screen the NTs to make certain there are no undiagnosed Aspies in there). If you are able to find and measure the developmental delay, it will take a great deal of pressure off both the kids and their parents. It may also lead to the development of better protocols that may help the children just now starting in the system get on their feet closer to an NT schedule, thus saving us a bunch in SSI payments.

There has been a lot of research done on young adults up to the mid 20s. There are also a lot of private programs for them. It's the 28+ that are left out.

[quote="Juggernaut". . .
That being said, I love wrongplanet, but I do wish it had a more professional look to it - no offense, but it looks explicitly child-like, with the intentionally child-like alien drawing, etc. Since it's kind of the go to place for people looking into ASDs, I'm afraid the look perpetuates the idea that even older ASD folks are child-like.[/quote]

If WP was more professional, it would change the users we got on here. Probably a lot less. It would probably limit the type of people on here.

I think most ASDs are very childlike in some way, and the alien fits in too perfectly with the general nature of ASDs as well as the name of the website.

Maybe you could start another website called "right" planet or wrong professional planet? There needs to be a wrong planet in our solar system where only aspies are allowed, lol.