Finding Support For Adult Autism

Toys are a great way to stimulate autistic children, but what about adult autism? All autistics, regardless of their age or degree of autism require proper care and support. That being said, although high functioning autistics do require support, they don’t always require constant care like those who have low functioning autism.

High functioning autistics (HFA)
High functioning autistic adults can be very successful and live relatively normal lives. They can work, care, and support themselves, live independently, and in some cases, even have a family. However, in order to be successfully independent an HFA adult must have had the proper education growing up. If an HFA child is effectively taught and understands accepted behaviors and social responses, by the time they reach adulthood, they can contribute to society like everyone else.

Of course, not all high functioning autistics are independent, and even those that are may still struggle with finding suitable employment and suffer with social interaction. For this reason, those with high functioning adult autism require support to help them take care of themselves, and live the best life they can live.

Support for high functioning autistics
The following are ways in which HFA adults can find support:

Locally – Finding support locally may be a challenge if you don’t know where to look. Nevertheless it doesn’t hurt to try searching with the help of:
- Health care providers – Talk to any doctors or those who provided you therapy over the years. They may be able to get you in touch with local organizations or support groups.
- Government – Call or visit the government website to learn about support for those with adult autism
- Yellow Pages – Search the phone book to see if any support groups are listed locally
- The internet – Conduct a search by using the name of your city and “autism support”
Online - There are many support groups online. The following are some websites that offer support and may be helpful for employment and information:
- http://www.csaac.org
- http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger

Low functioning autistics
Low functioning adult autism means that these individuals are unable to measure up to societal standards and can not function independently, regardless of how they are educated as children. Therefore, these autistics typically live at home with their parents or in special residences where their needs can be continually addressed. Nevertheless, due to the fact that residential facilities or group homes are quite costly, many low functioning adults (and even some HFA adults) live with their families.

In these cases, the ones who require support and assistance are the caregivers. Caring for an autistic can be extremely overwhelming and stressful, especially when you are faced with:

- Learning everything you can about adult autism
- Locating the necessary services, treatments and supports needed
- Dealing with different health care service providers
- Financial burden
- Socially isolating yourself in your home, as making social calls can be difficult
- Focusing all your attention on one child and giving less attention to the rest
- Discrimination from others

Support for caregivers of autistics
There are different services you can look for to help you cope with adult autism, such as counseling, reducing stress, learning new techniques, financial advice, etc. Support can be found in the following ways -

Locally – The same methods used in HFA support listed above can be used to find local support.
- Friends – If you have made friends who also have autistic children, use them as support and find out if they have any new information they can provide for a particular problem you may be facing.

Online – There are many support groups online. Check out the following:
- http://www.autism-society.org
- www.autismsociety.ca
- http://www.bbbautism.com
- http://www.autismlink.com
- http://www.udel.edu

Each provides you with information, resources and support groups for adult autism.