Aspies and legal age?

Post Reply New Topic

Since emotional maturity comes later for autistics, should the legal age be raised a few years for us?

Like I'm near 16 but I feel like 14 (emotions, decision making, social skills,etc.)

I'm about 2 years delayed, though it probably varies according to intensity of the impairment.

No, of course not because: if you've met one Aspie then... you've met one Aspie.
And what would be the point of raising the legal age - and the legal age for what, exactly?

What about kids who simply develop a little later for no obvious reason - should the law be changed for them too?
Hardly.
Besides there is nothing to indicate that having AS presents any sort of risk that might require this sort of heavy-handed and suppressive change to existing legislation.

Well I am 22 and feel like a 22 year old with mental issues, I might be more immature then some people my age and I may be more mature than some people my age. So no I don't like that idea at all, mental issues or not I am still an adult.

Well, you're freaking 22, even Aspies are adults by then.


Hell, even I feel like an adult sometimes, though far less than my age-peers.

Not necessarily, some people can take more time than others to progress to becoming an adult, in the mentality sense. So to assume everyone must be fully developed by this age is a bit insulting. You said yourself you feel behind in some ways so I thought someone such as yourself would be more understanding. I also don't think its a set rule that all Autistics are mentally behind in the ways you mentioned, I certainly don't entirely feel I am.

why would aspies not be adults at the same time others are adults? I don't think I have developed slower than neurotypical adults I just have different struggles than them and different issues it does not mean my brain is younger.

I am still sticking with mentally different...I mean what are we mentally behind exactly? I think its more like we develop differently not slower...I was under the impression there is another disorder that better describes maturing more slowly and its not aspergers or autism though it could exist with it I am sure.

I can say sometimes I feel I function more slowly but that's not slow development of my brain that is trouble processing so much at once so it slows me down.

Well everybody is different on the spectrum. Plus not every aspie has the same trait. As a matter of fact, some aspies may be more emotionally mature than neurotypicals. It all depends on you as an individual.

Legal age to do what? Smoke? Drive? If a person doesn't feel mature enough to do these things, they don't have to, regardless of whether they're of the age of majority.

Its just down to the individual as some people can handle different aspects of adult life better than others. Which applies to people in general not just those on the spectrum. I guess for an area to be considered as developing slower you would have to show some kind of improvement eventually, and with things like social skills and executive functioning, I've not really improved at all. So I agree with you, we are mentally different, behind was poor wording on my part.

Well if improvement is considered functioning like normal neurotypicals, I kind of fail there.......but I feel like my intelligence has developed at the correct speed as well as my emotions for the most part(even if they can be hard to control at times). As for executive functioning if anything mine has gotten worse but there are other factors for that not just AS...depression, anxiety and ptsd are all pretty draining which takes its toll on my executive functioning.

In terms of emotional maturity, I was about 2 years older than I was throughout high school, due to skipping a year level in primary school. I also got along better with my older relatives (most of my older cousins are closer to my mother's age) than my younger relatives and I tended to follow around the older kids in primary school until I was in the highest grade.

Physically, I developed at the same rate as my peers, which was a year ahead of what I'm supposed to be.

In terms of social maturity, I was a year or so behind my peers, which I guess is at the normal rate for my age, so even in year 12 I was as likely to hang out with people in younger years than those in my year (it made up for the fact that most of the girls in my year made it to 18, legal age, before we graduated while I only just turned 17).

So overall, if anything, I was more mature than my age and should have been legal earlier than 18 if life was fair.