What is the most important issue facing autistic people?

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Any of you guys following my blog have probably realized that I haven't posted in a month. A whole month. Yeah, writer's block, don'tcha love it?

Anyway, I've decided to go about it the lazy way and start up a topic, and "survey" you guys, as a subsection of the autistic community (obviously, the Internet-dwelling autistic community) about your opinions.

What do you feel is the most important issue facing autistic people, as a whole--as a community? That means the whole autistic community, by the way; autistics, diagnosed and undiagnosed; people who are close to the spectrum but not quite on it; family members and spouses and friends.

What should we be trying to change about the world and about ourselves as a community? What's important; what are we overlooking, and what are we spending too much effort on? What's good about being part of an online (and possibly offline) autistic community, and what should change?

Discuss... Maybe it'll spark a blog post for me. By now, I swear that Livejournal link on my bookmark toolbar is staring balefully at me, poking me for not getting off my butt and writing something!

Its definitely the invisible aspie eating crocodiles Sprox wrote about.

In all seriousness, I'd say it's probably unemployment.

I dunno...awareness? Most people know of one person with autism and that is what autism is. Most people do not actually know what it is. I didn't. So when I first thought I might have aspergers I panicked a little.

Autism.

That was easy.

The most important issue facing autistic people is the idea of "wasted talent". Autistic people are often very talented in strange ways, and they have unique perspectives on things that deserve to be heard. However, there are obstacles that prevent them from fulfilling their potential. Their challenge is to carve out a niche where they can express themselves fully.

I believe that we (as a society) are spending too much time looking for the cause of autism and not enough time treating it. I think the biggest issue that faces us is discrimination in education. It's not much of a problem for me, but I know of autism people who were able to do academic work in middle school and there first block in high school involved sorting recycling or something. On the other end of the scale, some autistic people HATE school because they don't get ANY help from ANYONE and they think they need it. Also, sometimes if a child is getting bullied at school who has autism, the school won't deal with it.

Public perception is number 1 in my book. Too many people still think Autistic= Rainman or even worse, Tommy (from the Who's old rock opera). Or maybe know of one severe autistic person, and think that is it.
This needs to change.

Sincerely,
Matthew

All kinds of support for autistic adults. It seems that once they're 18-21, the kids are just tossed out in the world to sink or swim. In cases where they've pretty much had their lives micromanaged and supported since early childhood, it's easy to see how this could be catastrophic. If you're an adult before you're diagnosed, there's pretty much nowhere to turn, even though a lot of problems could be averted with a little help. The rest of the world needs to learn that people don't stop being autistic when they reach 18.

Socializing. I may speak 4 languages, have a dual degree in bio and computer science and enjoy nature and watching baseball games, but without anyone else to share and discover things with, it can be lonely and takes a huge toll on me at times

That's the one thing that I struggle with. I have other issues as well but socializing by far has the biggest toll on me

It's not one thing. Is this cheating?

It's a "syndrome." Besides, everyone's answers here, to me, just compose a feedback loop.

But then, I can never make heads/tails of anything.

The average person needs to be educated and made aware of autism. Most people don't even know what it really is.
The people that know about view us as emotionless,apathetic robots. They don't understand that everyone of us is different.
We need to kill these ignorant stereotypes. They also need more support groups. The American south has no support groups at all.
The only awareness they have is by parents with aspie kids. Screw the adults because they should learn to conform to society.

When people read a book like "The curios incident of the dog at night -time" a false vision of autism is created in their minds.
People need to stop raping the word aspergers just to make a profit. It is harmful to the entire autistic community.

Unemployment and underemployment.

Discrimination. Measuring Aspies by NT standards and not respecting Aspies for who and what they are/can contribute. TalusJumper's son is a great example of that - because he has difficulty reading, he is disregarded, yet he has great 'hands on' capabilities.