The transition into adulthood can be daunting and young adults with autism face many life challenges without much support in seeking employment, housing and higher education. In fact, many autistic adults will face discrimination in applying for jobs, and have difficulties navigating the complex system to find suitable housing away from their families. Whilst much of the resources for autistic services and diagnostics are done in earlier childhood and in the early school years, there is a sparsity of supports for the difficult transition into adulthood. Developing strong community supports through local organizations is an important step, and building healthy self-esteem where young adults can realize their unique talents and contribute to the society. In fact high functioning Autistic adults can have superior qualities to offer employers in that they have superior knowledge, detailed oriented and focused on task completion, but can struggle with the sensory and social aspects of the work environment. More needs to be done to support to support these individuals to allow them to reach their true potential and excel in their area of interests. There needs to be a focus on providing supported training programmes to enable young adults to access vocational training and strategies to help them to cope with sensory and social stressors in the workplace.
Reference: Jennifer Van Pelt, MA Autism Into Adulthood — Making the Transition By Social Work Today Vol. 8 No. 5 P. 12