Oct 26, 2018, Houston Chronicle: 500,000 teens with autism will become adults in next 10 years. Where will they work? https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/health/article/500-000-teens-with-autism-will-become-adults-in-13338984.php The climb of autism diagnoses is alarming. This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upped its estimate to 1 in 59 U.S. births — twice the 2004 rate of 1 in 125. National advocacy group Autism Speaks estimates 500,000 teens with autism will reach adulthood over the next 10 years. About the workers in this story Most of the young adults in this story have high-functioning autism, or what was called Asperger syndrome until the sub-type was folded into the single diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in 2013. The descriptions “high functioning” and “low functioning” aren’t clinical but in lay terms describe how severely one is affected. “Aspies” have difficulty with social interactions and a restricted range of interests and/or repetitive behaviors. Motor development may be delayed, leading to clumsiness or uncoordinated movements. Compared with people affected by other forms of ASD, however, those with high-functioning autism do not have significant language delay or cognitive impairment. Some demonstrate precocious vocabulary, often in a highly specialized field of interest. Frequently they live and work independently, with varying degrees of support. Sources: The Autism Society; Autism Speaks Autism and employment in the U.S. Striking numbers: More than half of young adults with autism (58 percent, according to one study) remain unemployed and not enrolled in higher education in the two years after high school. This is a lower rate than that of young adults with a learning disability, intellectual disability or speech-language impairment…. Yet nearly half of 25-year-olds with the disorder have never held a paying job, according to Autism Speaks. Ninety percent of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed. Some are too impacted to work once they age out of school-based vocational services by 22. But many who could work face depression and isolation, idle on their parents’ couch, financially dependent on them, government or community organizations. Research shows job activities that encourage independence reduce symptoms and increase daily living skills. Autism spectrum disorder is a complex developmental disability. Symptoms typically appear in early childhood and inhibit communication and interaction to varying degrees. Though some of the increase in incidences can be attributed to better diagnosis, the cause remains unknown. There is no cure. …
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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