The figure that is been quoted from one side of the world to the other to indicate a dramatic increase in people on the autism spectrum is not new. In fact; the real figure is probably many times higher. It is just that nowadays we have become much more interested in indentifying who has autism and who does not. Why is the question. In children it is easy to understand; interventions that can assist in life skills development, but in the older population - 30 plus nothing could be further from the truth. Western countries do NOT offer people on the autism spectrum aged above the youth determination - generally 24/25 years any support services unless those folks are seriously handicapped in day-to-day living skills. The truth is that it is the over 30s who need intense support; even those who seem to be living normally - remember the expression 'fake it till you make it'. Neither the autism community; predominately made up of people who do not actually have an form of autism but have children or teens on the autism spectrum, nor the support service industry realise the extent of the need in many adult people on the high end of the autism spectrum. Simple things like housework, money management and maintaining contact with the general community and or family are often citied as areas of need. However, because people up this end of the spectrum are seen as 'capable' and look to be what psychologists refer to as within the 'normal range' they are simply told they are too lazy to keep their homes clean and need to pull their socks up and get stuck into the housework, or they just need to use their brains to manage their money and get their act together or they will never have anything - sound familiar? We understand a lot now about the autism spectrum in babies, children and teens - with the goal of giving skills for later in life. Yet, there is a large group of adults living on the autisim spectrum who struggle with the most basic concepts of living skills; yet many can hold a job, usually out of desperation and need-and that job is usually poorly paid and way below the intellectual capacity of the person with autism. Interestingly, the boards, government bodies and other organisations that manage the funds and services for autistic people do not actual have any high functioning autistic people as members. Mainly it is parents or educators - these people mean well but it is a bit like asking the theatre scrub nurse to diagnose a brain tumour and remove it. The autism community must wake up, and very soon and in large numbers, to the needs of the millions of older autistic people living unsupport and often unpleasant lives. This is particularly important as the world moves deeper into debt and the notion of welfare in old age is lost in the Western World. It is not fair to expect older autistic people who seem capable to have built up the property and private pension resources of your average worker. Most people in this group never had the chance to get and keep a long term decent job with an average wage. Some were lucky; some were even luckier and married and had a second income to help build a future in their old age. It is a desperate need in the autism perspective for politicians and others to address this issue. It starts with one voice at a time; will you be that voice?
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