Young Adults with Autism and Employment

New research shows that young adults who are dealing with autism are not nearly as likely to continue their education after finishing through high school. Only around 35 percent of the young adults who have autism actually went on to further their education, attending college and only a little more than half of these adults had a job half a year after graduating from high school. Research shows that these individuals are actually facing a much higher rate of being unemployed as well as not going to college, even when compared to other people with different types of disabilities.

Just after two years of graduating high school, nearly half of the autistic individuals were not working nor were they furthering their education. Even six years later, the vast majority of these individuals were still not working or continuing with school. A lot of the families who have children with autism said that once they complete high school, there are simply not many services available to the autistic adults, in getting the help and assistance they need. They believe that it is a constant struggle, not just for them but mainly for the autistic individuals who may want to work but do not know how to do these things on their own because of their disability. A lot of the media is focused primarily on autistic children but most people fail to realize that autism does not just go away over a period of time and many autistic people deal with this disability throughout their adult years.

One of the main reasons young adults generally have a problem after they complete high school is because with their disorder, they have trouble socializing with other people and are not always capable of dealing with different social relationships and situations, which is often needed in the workforce. Researchers also believe that there should be more support for young adults with autism, especially since many children have been diagnosed with the disorder in recent years and will eventually age into adults over the years. It is important that society makes room for these individuals and helps them to get the opportunities they need and desire.

Studies show that there are so many people with disabilities who are now working, whether it is an intellectual disability, learning disability, speech impediment, or something of that nature, because more resources are available to them. However, of these people with disabilities, those with autism had the lowest employment rates and the highest rates of not participating in either work nor furthering their education upon completion of high school, simply because there are no enough resources out there that teaches these individuals how to cope in the work force.