Autism: It isn't just for children

[Judge]

So much frustration- locally speaking. Our governor wants to increase funding for autism seven-fold. But then look at how they allocate it all. For children. Not adults. As if autistic people simply grow out of it when they turn nineteen years of age. I just don't understand such a mindset.

Sandoval Seeks to Expand Autism Care Program

Education and tax code changes weren't the only dramatic shifts Gov. Brian Sandoval called for in his State of the State address. He also announced a proposal to pump tens of millions into a program that lawmakers recently considered cutting altogether: child autism support.

Advocates acknowledge that funding increases won't fix every problem, but they say Sandoval's plan could go a long way in helping thousands of Nevada children. No opposition has emerged. But the plan calls for adding $73 million to a program that had a $10 million allocation last budget cycle, a figure that represents a significant chunk of a budget proposal that has drawn criticism from fiscal conservatives.

Sandoval Seeks to Expand Autism Care Program - KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video -

ATAP

 

[AsheSkyler]

I wish there was a little "annoyed" face I could click on under your post. As much as people forget to have support for autistic adults, the conspiracy theorist in me suspects that maybe that maybe they are locking us up in faraway places if we don't learn how to make eye contact and do typical stims.

 

[Judge]

I wish there was a little "annoyed" face I could click on under your post. As much as people forget to have support for autistic adults, the conspiracy theorist in me suspects that maybe that maybe they are locking us up in faraway places if we don't learn how to make eye contact and do typical stims.

Well, you do have to wonder as to why a state government can't seem to include adults on the spectrum of autism.

We aren't any kind of secret.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Well, you do have to wonder as to why a state government can't seem to include adults on the spectrum of autism.

We aren't any kind of secret.

I have a very rude, insulting, impolite, and quite politically incorrect opinion of government officials. But beyond that, I'm coming up short. Want to see how many built-in word filters I can trigger describing what is wrong with politicians so that they don't notice anything due to where their head is located?

 

[Judge]

I have a very rude, insulting, impolite, and quite politically incorrect opinion of government officials. But beyond that, I'm coming up short. Want to see how many built-in word filters I can trigger describing what is wrong with politicians so that they don't notice anything due to where their head is located?

Which reminds me. Surely some of them understand that many of us are registered voters! That's not something they can so conveniently push under any rug.

 

[James K Trefethen]

I don't know of any programs for specifically for adults with autism. It sounds like a great idea- but what would it look like? What should it look like?

 

[Judge]

I don't know of any programs for specifically for adults with autism. It sounds like a great idea- but what would it look like? What should it look like?

Good question. I wouldn't feel professionally qualified to elaborate on that. My main concern though is that when it comes to government funding here, when it comes to autism nothing seems geared to adults at all. As if this were some kind of "disease" as opposed to neurological state, relative only to children.

Personally such a mentality sends me the message that they are essentially writing us adults off, as if we always manage to "mainstream" ourselves into the NT world over time alone, or are condemned as social failures who cannot be "rehabilitated".

Of course IMO either conclusion is patently wrong for government, let alone society to conclude.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

I don't think it's about autism. I think It's about return on investment. Children are cheaper to help and what they learn gets "baked in" if intervention is early enough. Adults with any kind of mental or emotional issues cost more (there's more life experience to wade through) and return less (we have significantly less time for the investment to show itself).

Also, we're not as cute and helpless.

 

[King_Oni]

Judge You're guess is as good as anyones and I don't know if a "professional"opinion warrants for much in terms of elaborating on adult programs.

As someone from across the pond where healthcare doesn't cost an arm and a leg I'm currently going through the intake process at a clinic that, as they say, specialises in autism. The clinic even took their name from Leo Kanner, which I suppose should be on par with Hans Asperger in terms of Autism and the early developments/research.

Anyway; I've had a 2 hour interview there about my situation and asked them what they actually propose as a "program" and in the vagueness of their response I could just taste how clueless they are. The thing with, especially, adults is that our situation is a lot more difficult and broad than a program for kids. For one, children can easily be steered and "educated" since a lot of habits haven't formed strongly yet. Additional support for education to lay a solid foundation for their future seems easier since you can focus it on education and in "worst" case you can even have a kid at a clinic 24/7 for a while to "treat" them, which might help learn them structure.

Adults however; we have lives going on, we have responsibilities, we might have a job, of which we can't get out for a few weeks since we have bills to pay. And we have a right to refuse treatment in a 24/7 setting, unlike kids whose parents can decide. Education is long gone for most and college and university just function on a different level than high school or even schools before that. I reckon it's more like a working environment, which for a lot of people on the spectrum is a struggle as well.

For adults it seems that there's a way, way broader spectrum of what's going on in life and reducing it to less stuff going on isn't viable nor is an approach to cover all fields an adult has to deal with.

And I think what Aspergirl4hire points out is a fair point as well. We're not a return investment anymore... the older you get, the less "return" there is. And no, we're not cute and helpless, unlike a lot of kids who just have issues. Plenty of adults on the spectrum will kindly tell a doctor to F off if they have to do something that doesn't give the impression of helping but just seems to be an easy cashgrab for instance.

 

[Judge]

Locally I can't even seem to find a legitimate and independent adult support group. The few that might appear as such seem to all go back to either a psychologist or psychiatrist who is willing to take you on as an individual patient- at co$t.

Yes, we do live in a society where at a certain age, they simply don't want you any more. At my age it's forced me personally to live off my own resources and nothing else. Seems I was "written off" a long time ago...having nothing to do with my neurological profile. It's a bit like living on death row at times.

I guess societal compassion has age limits. But then perhaps a more cynical outlook would observe that real compassion is little more than a political football.

Truly, I think this place is the only real support that exists for people like me.

 

[James K Trefethen]

I think that a program for adults with autism looks like Specialisterne or Asperitech, except run by the government. I have read of places like that in Europe that hire only people with autism- typically for software testing. I believe Specialisterne has penetrated the Eastern side of the US- but that does not help people in Wyoming (where I am) or Nevada.

I agree that more needs to be done for adults. It's not like you turn 18 and suddenly you don't have autism. It's chronic and ignoring it does not make it go away.

I think part of the problem is that expanding programs for less fortunate people here in the States is not popular- never mind that we'd actually be working for the dollar. It is so much easier to use the existing structure to say that we cannot work- and give us disability.

 

[James K Trefethen]

I was reading about the evidence that therapy for children with autism works. Basically, nobody knows if it works. So what does expanding programs for autistic children do? It pacifies parents of autistic children (who vote).

We really need some good information about what works and what does not. I've read about the therapy for children. Most of it sounds like the regular therapy they give adults. Stuff I have had for years.

With no known cure, the best change would be a world that doesn't make fun of its oddballs, weirdos and freaks. When people get treated poorly by society, they don't feel good about themselves.

The best thing for autistic children would be smaller schools. Not huge high schools with several hundred students, but schools where everybody knows your name and bullying is not tolerated.

 

[JKG]

Locally I can't even seem to find a legitimate and independent adult support group. The few that might appear as such seem to all go back to either a psychologist or psychiatrist who is willing to take you on as an individual patient- at co$t.

Yes, we do live in a society where at a certain age, they simply don't want you any more. At my age it's forced me personally to live off my own resources and nothing else. Seems I was "written off" a long time ago...having nothing to do with my neurological profile. It's a bit like living on death row at times.

I guess societal compassion has age limits. But then perhaps a more cynical outlook would observe that real compassion is little more than a political football.

Truly, I think this place is the only real support that exists for people like me.

I'm experiencing the same situation where I live, and feel the same frustration and abandonment as you. No human group support of any kind. (Thank goodness I found a helpful therapist--but that can't be an ongoing thing. It is temporary and limited.) AspieCentral is all there is--and as good as it is, it doesn't feel like enough. I also long for a group of live adult people that I can see regularly and talk with. When I've inquired, I've been told the same thing: the groups and resources are channeled into kids--or toward adults whose autism is extremely severe. The rest of us fall through the cracks.