article: Man proves adults with autism have more choices

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It is the fastest growing developmental disorder on the planet. What many people don't consider is that children with autism become adults with autism.

Until recently, those grown men and women lived their adult lives in institutions. 23-year-old Maurice Snell is trying prove that does not have to be the future for youngsters diagnosed with the disorder, these days.

As an adult living with Asperger's Syndrome -- an autism spectrum disorder -- Maurice has been named National Adult Representative for Easter Seals. He travels the country meeting families living the struggles he has managed to overcome....

(full article)

Okay I already don't like the author of the article just from the small bit you copied on here. It makes it look like all Autistics were ALWAYS institutionalized. IMHO the majority of Aspies of the past were not institutionalized. Depending on their functioning ability and exposure to education and books they became great scientists like Einstein and Oppenheimer or lived in their parent's basement, had menial jobs "for someone who seemed smart", were labeled as the town eccentric or witch in olden days. I think some of those labeled mentally ret*d back in the 1970s and earlier may have been autistic instead.

Even today most of us are not in institutions and many are self sufficient.

Yeah, while its true that LFA's and some HFA's are institutionalized you still have the majority of us out there trying to live our lives and hide our condition. Supposedly the higher functioning you are the more the amount of people in your subgroup. We all have different issues and its hard as hell also being an autistic spectrum adult who's trying to pass as normal, is too high functioning at least outwardly to have any choice in the matter, and has to sit there and deny the whole experience to the outside world. Its just amazing that they can't empathetically lock on to that group as well and that you don't see the articles that talk about people who are seemingly normal on so many levels but are wrecking their health inwardly trying to keep their head above water to maintain what society has cast them as, if they don't they're just seen as being lazy or not having their act together - help really doesn't exist on that level either aside from just the normal means that everyone gets.

They always act so surprised when they discover, over and over mind you, that we can indeed function in society.

There is definitely a condescending quality to the article. I don't know anything about the man featured other than what is written but I would guess that he's fairly high functioning. The back handed compliment of him being a 'rare' example of someone with aspergers who has actually accomplished sometime is more do with the author's ignorance than anything malicious. The general public isn't that knowledgeable. Not that long along I didn't know ANYTHING about AS.

The reporter is confuzing AS with low level autism. This guy profiled has AS/hfa maybe but not rainman like autism. Look at the link on that page it's for low level not HFA silly reporter needs a clue