Feb 20, 2019, The Atlantic entitled,The Coming Care Crisis as Kids With Autism Grow Up—The number of adults with autism diagnoses is soaring, but there aren’t enough programs and services to meet the demand
by writer and doctoral candidate Noah Remnick
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/02/lack-services-adults-autism/582586/ ...Although people with autism have always existed, the United States saw a tremendous spike in diagnoses beginning in the late 1990s, due in part to increased public awareness of the disorder and improvements in evaluation....
About half a million people on the autism spectrum will legally become adults over the next decade, a swelling tide for which the country is unprepared. When they turn 21, these people leave behind all the programming and funding they received under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and enter a labyrinth of government services that vary wildly from state to state. Although people with other disabilities face similar problems, the staggering rise in diagnoses of autism creates a distinctly troubling dilemma in how to ensure that these people are properly cared for....
“It’s as though we never really considered the fact that all of these kids would eventually grow up,” says Paul Shattuck, a professor at Drexel University who studies autism. “Even compared to those with other disabilities, kids on the autism spectrum are having much worse long-term outcomes.” ...
Comments