Young adulthood

This is a period in life that is stressful, due to several changes occurring at the same time. For a young adult without autism this is a heavy task to fulfill. For a young adult with autism, this might be a period when it becomes obvious that they are not able to function on their own or can do so only with difficulty..

Starting a higher education often coincides with living on your own. Thus the inability to live on one’s own might only then become clear.

Living in student dorms or your own room outside the family surrounding means running your own household, running errands, cooking and doing administration in addition to studying.

Many students find this too difficult to cope with. Studying while doing all the things mentioned will drain one’s energy, so little to no effort will be put in developing new relationships. A new environment also implies meeting new friends and forming relationships. This is an area in which autistics do not excel.

Sometimes differences in development between young adults with autism become manifest in this period. When a young adult lives at home, parents or family members do many things without even giving them a thought. Everything happens in a well-known surrounding with the structure, rules, etc. he or she is used to. When this young adult leaves home to live alone, this structure vanishes and he must build and get used to a new structure. This appears to be quite difficult for many young adults and even more complicated for sufferers of autism.

In class teachers expect a lot more independent studying than most autistics can handle. They have difficulty planning their study and doing their study assignments.

During this phase the sense of being different and having difficulty fitting in with others has a heavy impact. Where their peers are busy spreading their wings and becoming wholly independent, young autistic adults find themselves lonely and sometimes even depressed. Their cognitive skills no longer provide a safe haven as they discover that bonding with others just doesn’t work the way they would like it to. They notice their peers, old classmates and others from their neighborhood develop relationships and form careers. They notice that their own talents are not developed to the fullest extent and that they fall behind in lifework.

Young adulthood
Autism and course of life
Autism Checklist
Autism Books
Asperger's Syndrome in Laymens Terms. Aspergers Checklist