As an adult, what services would you want?

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Howdy. My online handle is Sophist, for those of you who are unfamiliar with me. It's been a long time since I've frequented WP. For those of you who remember me, hi!

As a little background to myself, I'm a dxed aspie, currently in a PhD program, and my research focus is on the development of autism. My partner is a more senior member of the university, and will likely be heading up a local autism center here in Louisville, Kentucky, in the near future. One of the ideas that we've had on how to truly make this center "special" is to focus on expanding services to include autistic adults, since in the US adults are an understudied and ignored population.

So, this isn't official but just me asking for a wee bit of feedback from those interested. What kinds of services, as an autistic adult, do you really feel are lacking in your local communities and which an autism-focused center might be able to help with?

Also, are there any kinds of services you'd like (or would have liked to have had when younger) that involve any co-occurring conditions, e.g., medical like epilepsy, GI problems, etc.?

Feel free to write as little or as much as you want, including life examples if you prefer. All responses are worthwhile and will be read. We hope to get a good cross-section of responses so that you can help us best help autistics within the Louisville area, and perhaps beyond.

Much appreciated in advance!

~Emily (Sophist)...

Last edited by Sophist on 15 Oct 2011, 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

i dont know about others here but something in general that would have reeally made my life much easier is knowing how to approach people. Not just for dating but to ask questions, small conversations, friendship, etc.

So some kind of program that could help with rehearsal, pre-preparing phrases, and acclimating to approaching people if there's anxiety involved? Things like that?

yea just a general program about speech. Helping people feel more relaxed about talking to individuals. Ive always had above average public speaking but on a person to person talking im very limited. Im sure there have to be others that have similar thoughts

I think that this thread would get many more responses in the "General Autism Discussion" forum.

The "adult" forum is for "R-rated" topics, most WPers actually are adults with AS...

For be personally, I think I would benefit tremendously if someone came over once a week or so to help me with any paperwork and things of that nature that I have to do. I'm like a distracted 5 year old with paperwork.

Also, assistance getting places would be nice. My sense of direction is non-existent and often times just the thought of going somewhere I haven't been a hundred times can cause me to shut down.

I agree with the suggestions about teaching interpersonal communication and having a person to come over and help with paperwork and other administrative tasks.

Based on my experience: this [to clarify, by "this I mean the idea I am about to set forth, not the things mentioned above] would require a health-care-systemwide reform that... well I won't place odds of it being implemented but basically my life fell apart starting at 18 because I was undiagnosed and it stayed that way for another five years and is still not to the point it should be even though I was diagnosed three years ago because of all the damage that was done in the five years of not knowing what was wrong with me. Oh to finish my sentence a reform that would make it so that mental health care screenings occur as part of yearly checkups so that ASDs (specifically "higher-functioning" ones like Asperger's) that might not be caught in childhood are caught by the time a person has to deal with the much less structured and more overwhelming world of adulthood.

I'll have to think about this more, this is a good question.

A guide to 'managing autistics' for managers and workshops for people that manage autistic people, also a trusted, knowledgable third party arbitrator & support specialist to deal autism specific issues in the workplace.

Yes, that would help a lot but I live in England so I don't know where I can go to find these types of classes for my benefit, I really want to go to a class where they help teach this.

I hate searching for a place. Not only does it involve a lot of phone time (really dislike the phone ) I am not making much progress. Every time I think I have found a place, I am told I don't make enough money.

Buttholes.

Hello, fellow Louisvillian!

I personally would have loved (back when I was most isolated- am in a much better place now) to find a facillitated social group for adults on the spectrum. If only there was provided a space for/info about the first meet-up, and then suggesting it to people thereafter if it took off, I believe having a group of like-minded Aspergians to meet with in a casual setting regularly would be wonderful.

Good to see you back, Sophist. I was wondering for a sec if this was an old thread brought back to life.

Either way, all I really want in regards to services is a councillor, or someone to talk to.

OP, looks like you've gotten a healthy number of responses so far, but do you think this thread is better suited to another forum to get more people thinking on the topic? if you think it would be better suited to another area of the forum just let me know (i think Grisha has a suggestion above). if you want to keep it here that's fine too - technically it fits though this forum has a naughty flavour.

Actually, I think that's a good suggestion. For some reason, I had a brain fart when reading "adult" and didn't immediately think "Oh, R-rated", hehe. Much appreciated.



If an autism center were able to offer this help but on the center campus, would this also be helpful? At some point we might be able to have social workers who travel to homes, but for the interim we could perhaps have something like this at the center itself.



Understood. There might be a similar difficulty in providing this service without off-campus workers; however, is there something on-campus that workers could help with in these regards that could improve your familiarity with your local area? Help with organizing travel plans, working with maps, etc.?



While we might not be able to implement mandatory screenings, at least locally we could focus on training more counselors and psychologists so that there is a place (this autism center) where there are truly diagnosticians who are familiar with all ranges of autism and how to identify and work with them. I realize, having gone through the ridiculousness of the diagnostic process myself a few years back, how much diagnosis is an art and there's a dearth of artists. If we focus on training better "artists" hopefully this can translate over into more reliable diagnosis and not allow quite as many people to slip through the cracks.



That sounds like an excellent idea. I'll have to see if we already have something to that extent here locally and, if so, we can tie it more closely with the center itself, so that everything is kind of "all in one place" so to speak. This will make it more accessible for employers/managers.



It is frustrating that this kind of help is in its infancy. I hope that if we can successfully apply many of these suggestions, that we can help lead the way and model for other centers to follow suit.



Do you mean searching for a place to live?



Howdy!

That's a good idea. I'm originally from St. Louis and we had a small group back there. I think many of the members have definitely found it beneficial.



Hey, hale. So therapists who also have specialization in ASCs would be really helpful then? I think that's excellent.

How about dressing so that people don't stare at you? Doesn't bother me too much but it does some others. Also, self-advocacy would be a good one - i.e. getting yourself out of danger when asked awkward questions by others or being suddenly dropped into uncomfortable situations with unfamiliar people?

I don't think you want to talk to a councillor. What would you talk about - dog poo on the streets?

Now, a counsellor is a different matter.

/pedant