Adults with autism

Children with autism get assistance and therapy in school. It is once they graduate school and enter “the real world” where their services are lacking. Few adults with autism get assistance or therapy once they are out of high school. When you look out in the world of disabilities, autism is something that is more acknowledged to be in children. People don’t think about those children with autism growing up and not “growing out” of their autism.

Vision 2025 says that “occupational therapy maximizes health, well-being, and quality of life for all people…” I feel like when it comes to autism the vision has been better applied in the younger population. The issue of serving adults with autism involves working with a population that is underserved and working towards maximizes the quality of life for them. Things that would be beneficial to adults with autism would be going over how to act appropriately in the community and around other people, how to properly show their frustration, and many other social cues. I see many people when in the community, like at Walmart, staring at a young adult who has autism or some other disability. Not only would working with someone, who is an adult with autism, helps the person but it can also work to help the community be more aware.

I have known a boy who has autism, Garrett, for about 16 years. He has been diagnosed with autism since he was about 3 or 4 and is now 17. He is considered low functioning and nonverbal. Garrett is now bigger than most of the people that work with him and can very easily over power them. He is quite a bit taller and bigger than I am. One day I took him to the ballpark while I was babysitting him. He was in a good mood, very happy, and enjoying his time. Sometimes while Garrett is trying to love on you, he ends up unintentionally hurting you. He had his hand around the back of my neck and was squeezing a little bit. I told him that it hurt a couple of times and he moved his hand. There was a lady not too far from me that repositioned her chair so she could better watch what was going on. A little while later, we were sitting by the pavilion on the grass watching the game and Garrett began getting excited and began flapping his arms and was playing with his toy. A little girl, who was up in the pavilion, asked her dad what Garrett was doing. I heard him explain that Garrett was happy and that is how he showed it. This man didn’t know Garrett but was aware that something was different about Garrett. I loved that he took the time to explain to his child that Garrett was different, without making it seem like a problem. A little while later one of the other kids said something about Garrett and the little girl, who again didn’t know Garrett, told her friend that he was happy and that is how he showed it. Once she said that the boy didn’t say anything else about Garrett or how he was acting.

Garrett doesn’t look like a kid anymore and sometimes that can raise people’s interest and make them concerned. While there are many adults in the world that have autism, Garrett is the reason that I think the specialty area of adults with autism is so important- not only for him to receive help but for others to be aware. Knowing somebody that is about to be a young adult with autism, makes this topic much closer to home and makes it something that I am passionate about. No person should have to go without resources just because they have turned a certain age. Vision 2025 addresses this issue some and I feel like the topic of adults with autism really embraces that everyone deserves to have to fullest life possible, regardless of age or ability.