WHERE have all the Adults gone???

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Just kidding, I know where we are.

We EXIST. We are adults. We have Aspergers. We are part of the population too.

Oh, wait, there's more.

There are WOMEN with Asperger's too! Didn't see that one coming, did you? Yeah, we actually exist, and have legitimate needs too.
(*note - the above is sarcasm, fyi)
I really would love to see helpful articles for adults with Asperger's, not just kids. I mean, reading all about Asperger's has gotten me in touch with my inner child since I have to filter out child information and see what actually applies to me.
Or, for example, if I have to look up some advice on a specific topic (let's say, creating routines that work), I really would like some more mature advice on this! I don't have parents to read me a book at night, folks, k?

I'm not talking about Wrong Planet. This place is wonderful. I'm talking other websites, google search, even books in the bookstore. It's all targeted towards kids, or parents of kids.

Why is the world so focused on autistic children only, and missing the rest of the population? Is it some kind of collective social tunnel vision???

Ok, rant over. For now.

*standing ovation* get'um

Not only do we not have parents to read to us at night, we no longer have parents who can kick up a fuss on our behalf, and I suspect that is the problem in nutshell. It is obvious that the reason the kids are getting attention is their parents are putting the spotlight on their needs.

Apparently we don't matter as much. :0

I absolutely know the feeling entirely! I feel like they assume because we made it past middle school, we are "fixed" or irrelevant.

(I also can relate to being female and thus having specific needs, some of which interfere with one another, and wanting *something!! !! !*)

I completely agree with you. For some reason it's ingrained in people's minds to only think of autism as a "childhood disorder" - it never occurs to people that just because we grow up doesn't mean that we stop struggling with it. And since the ratio of males to females with ASDs is 4:1, most people just kind of ignore the fact that even though we're less common, we still actually exist.

I strongly dislike this too - most services that help autistic people are aimed at children... what do they think is going to happen to these children when they grow up in a world where all the support for autistic people is aimed at children?

Tests and diagnostics seem to also be aimed at children, as well.

There also seems to be a very low level of awareness about autism in general.

I notice a lot of female aspies and auties on here, myself. I wasn't aware of the misconception that there are no female auties/aspies until I came here.

Are we truly less common, or just less commonly diagnosed?

I'm glad this thread came up; I am embarking on a quest to get myself properly diagnosed and although I'm in a nearly ideal geographic location I'm growing apprehensive about the likelihood of finding anyone who realizes that this kind of thing doesn't go away. Causes me to shake my head that Social Security has the notion that I'll be feeling much better in a year or two

I really, really, really believe we are less commonly diagnosed.

Think of it. In my case, I was a quiet, nerdy girl in high school. My issues were passed off as spiritual, and my questions as "adolescence."
As a kid, I have no idea, because I was home schooled. My Mom knew I was different, but thought I was simply gifted. That's true, and that's why she home schooled me. The school wouldn't put me in 3rd or 4th grade when I entered school, even though I was reading that level in kindergarten/1st. So, my whole childhood was spent alone with me, and my autistic self, and no one knew.

So, in my case, I had many labels. Gifted. Socially slow. Shy. Quiet. Emotionally immature. Sensitive. Rude. Rigid. Spoiled. Aloof. In her own little world.

I think we as a society label our girls and our women far too heavily based on how socially perfect they are, and forget that they're HUMAN, just like everyone else, and there might be something going on. They're not stereotyped "princesses." They're HUMAN.

Here's what I wonder:

Are people so embroiled in this being an "epidemic" that they figure, "save the kids while you can, and let's leave the older ones because they're a lost cause?" Sort of like, the "early intervention" stuff? What about "late intervention?" What about dropping that term "intervention" and calling it "support" or "acceptance" or something nice, like that?

I don't need intervention. I need you to understand me. kthxbai.

Having been diagnosed very early in life, my 'intervention' could have been much much better than it was. It was really more traumatizing than anything.

Note that I'm not saying that early help for children is a bad thing. I'm just sarcastically pointing out a paradigm problem.

The times when i grew up were different from today. During the 1960's there was much more pressure and also violence towards children who were different. Parents and teachers tried to bend children into shape with very dubious methods for which they would now end up in prison.

Expectations were to behave in a certain way and follow the social rules in the sense of acceptable behavior, i.e., not offending or bothering people, being respectful toward elderly people and authorities, saying please and thank you, which is not bad at all, just the opposite. Today rules and discipline seem to be missing completely.

We were dismissed from school and home in order to find a job and live a life as normal as possible. That's about all there is -- if one can read and write, do their job, pay their taxes and doesn't cause trouble no one cares.

The thing is, society values children more than adults. Thus it is easier to get attention for children, who are seen as the most helpless among us. Plus, like kittens and puppies, they are seen as cute and adorable with the world in front of them. I wish there were free resources for adults with mild disabilities and disorders as I would probably take advantage of them. However, it seems that in this society, if you are not either young, helpless or a threat to the public then you don't matter to anyone. Worse, if you are seen as being in any way "defective", society looks to find ways to marginalize you and treat you as somehow less than human. You find out very quickly that seeking help sometimes means surrendering some of your rights for the rest of your life, so many do not seek help out of fear of how society will seek to take revenge on them for failing to be average.

I was agreeing with you - that 'intervention' is not good, and that help or acceptance is better - agreeing with your statement that it's a paradigm problem.

Oh, I knew you were. I just had a brilliant moment where I realized that someone could take my previous comments the wrong way.