USnews.com By ANGELA HAUPT
Autistic Young Adults Lack Jobs, Education
Employment prospects are dim for young adults with autism. Seven years after high school graduation, 35 percent will still have no paid employment experience or higher education, according to a study published Monday in Pediatrics. That's higher than adults with other disabilities, including those who are mentally disabled. And it's particularly troubling because more than 500,000 kids with autism will reach adulthood within the next 10 years.
“There is this wave of young children who have been diagnosed with autism who are aging toward adulthood”
“There is this wave of young children who have been diagnosed with autism who are aging toward adulthood,” study author Paul Shattuck, an assistant professor at Washington University's Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, told the Associated Press.
“We're kind of setting ourselves up for a scary situation if we don't think about that and how we're going to help these folks and their families.” People with autism may not be able to hold down a job because they have trouble socializing, which affects their ability to read social cues, deal with the public, and get along with their coworkers. Specialized job training programs and instruction in social cues could ease the transition into adulthood for autistic teens, the study authors suggest.
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