Are You "Falling Off a Cliff"?

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When researchers write about autistic adults leaving school and starting to look for employment, they talk about a "transition period" and they almost always talk about how people "fall of the cliff" by losing the services they received in school (speech therapy or whatever).
When you left school, how was your transition? Did you miss the services school provided (if they did provide any)?

Never had any services as I was one who slipped through the net... But I know people in similar circumstances who used to get help when in school here in the UK (Not neccessarily due to autism as they have never been assessed, but one I am sure is autistic) and as adults, they could do with help but are not directly entitled. Both cases are people who are hampered with low IQ levels which effects their lives. They would get extra help while in school, but as adults, they are not classed as needing help. One is living in a right state. The other is managing ok.

Never got services in school

I am currently getting help through my state's DD branch of unemployment services.

Yes I had this problem. I got all the support one could wish for when I was under 18. Then as soon as I turned 18 they wrote me off. We applied for adult services but they didn't accept us because I was too high-functioning (probably because I had a driver's license as well). They basically only helped adults with severe mental disabilities.
I'm doing OK though. I find that adult support can be a hindrance anyway, especially if you're as high-functioning as I am and also very closeted about your AS.

Never got any services. But then again I finished school before there were really services for neurodiversity at all. Still, I've heard from people more recently that yeah, something like 95% of government funding for autism goes towards services for under-18s.

When I was in college, there were only the same services provided for everyone else.  Since I already had something lined up on my own before graduation, I did not partake of those services.  So no, I did not miss them.Kinda rough, but not impossibly so.  The funniest part was learning to NOT raise my hand during meetings, but to just nod my head and look like I agreed with everything being said until it was my turn to speak; but since most of what I had to say was based on valid data and verifiable facts, I made a few enemies right from the start.

I sometimes wonder what ever happened to those people...

Granted I didn't have as far to fall because I didn't get a lot of resources and accommodations (spent much of my childhood and teen years with my parents essentially thinking having Asperger's just made me shy and smart, so was continuously held to NT standards I couldn't meet and accused of just being lazy, not caring, or simply not wanting to do the thing in question, despite a relatively early diagnosis. Had an IEP/504 plan, not sure which, but didn't know about it so didn't know I had any accommodations I could be utilizing, other than being put in the special education class for PE (and only PE) because I physically couldn't keep up with the rest of the regular class and was getting low marks for that), but it does still feel like I fell off of one cliff in the transition from high school to college and another after graduating college.

Essentially through all my pre-college schooling, I could rely entirely on my stereotypical Aspie memory to get me good grades, so when I actually had to study in college, I had basically zero study skills. Having a roommate my first year of college also wreaked havoc on my mental health because I really am not designed to live in such close quarters with anyone (nothing against my roommate personally, entirely due to my temperament and need for alone time). Managed to get a single room in the following years, but the mental health issues stuck around (and still do even today).

After college, I took some sort of class to help people with neurological disabilities transition from school to working life. There I worked on my resume, had it professionally looked over and by the end was told there wasn't really room for improvement, and learned the basics of how to find a job. It didn't do me much good, it took me nine months of applying to several jobs a week to get anything, and I can count the total number of places I heard a peep back from on one hand, despite most of the applications being for crappy part-time jobs that "anyone" (except me, apparently) can get because that's what was available. Eventually I ended up getting a part-time cleaning job with a company so desperate for employees that there was no real interview and my manager was asking me several times if I knew anyone else who might want a part-time job and asking me to cover extra shifts every week when the other part-time janitor for the location quit the day after Black Friday that year (and I was working in a retail store)). A year or so later, that company was sold to another, and it took me another several months (don't remember exactly how many) to get a similar job, though it was at a police training center and was less awful than the retail store. A few months later I had to quit that job due to severe depression, self-harm, and suicidal tendencies that really began with the first job (though I've had depression of varying levels since I was about 12) that had me in and out of the hospital for a year or so, presently I'm on SSI and still living with my parents, despite my efforts to gain some level of independence.

I never got any help in school (I was supposed to have an IEP but didn't) but still fell off a cliff when I graduated because of the loss of structure.

First off I'm in the USA.

While I was in school (prior to college) I was able to get some services like help with my motor skills since my writing was pretty bad (they allowed me to use some keyboard in my classes). I was able to get speech therapy and a number of other things. During HS my teachers told my parents I shouldn't be able to pass HS and they wanted me to get a certification of completion. My parents pushed for it and I was able to get my degree but ONLY after everyone else walked and I believed it was the following day.

After HS all of these services 100% stopped. When I gotten into college the disability group they allowed me to use a pen that recorded audio since my hand writing was slow, and they gave me extra time on test. After my first degree, the rest of them were all on the computer since they were technical in nature. So the only thing I was able to get was extra time on test. Currently I have 4 degrees (aerospace, general computer, networking, and industrial technology with a focus on cyber security). My first degree I tried to take all my classes like a normal student since they were block classes. I was only able to get something like a 1.5 GPA. The following degrees I only took 2 classes at a time outside exact points. My general computer and networking I got at the same time since they were a handful of classes apart. I made honors with that. The other I gotten a few points from honors, but I honestly had no choice but to cheat. When I took more than 2 classes my grades dropped to the point I almost had to retake them, and this is with cheating. Also, when I tried to work at all while doing any of my degrees (even the one I gotten honors) my grades dropped a good bit.

Some of the disability people in the colleges I had to fight with just for them to do their job, and there was a number of teachers I had to report because they didn't want to allow me to have extra time on proctor test. Some were a complete ass.

As far as getting a job, I found NO help. I did try services like vocational rehab and a few other places. Vocational rehab they only wanted to stick me in janitor jobs or jobs you would expect a HS to go into. Like a fast food joint.
It should be noted with their help I was able to go through school without taking a loan. Like when I was going through my aerospace degree I was too young for some of the grants and they helped with that. Also, with my other degrees they walked me through on how I could get Pell grant to cover it, and they promised to cover anything left over.
As far as other places I tried, it was job hunting places of people like us. They wanted me to move away from my support network before we even started applying. Due to the risk of things, I won't.

Right now I 100% would be homeless if it wasn't for my parents. The only way I make money right now is through YouTube, Etsy, and a few other things. But the amount I get is between $100-$200 a month on that. I've looked into disability within my country, and found I might be in a common place. It looks like 85% of us with a degree are unemployed or underemployed. Some studies show slightly more and some slightly less. But everything looks like we are the highest likely to experience this. I've even seen studies in the UK saying 65%+ of the homeless outside of some given towns is autistic.
Sadly, I looked into other options for help and there honestly isn't any as far as I can tell. Like I can and have used groups to help me with my resume and what not. But these are highly general things, and if you graduate college most provide it for free. I even looked into maybe at least getting disability, and found that wasn't possible. Because I saved up all my money and I played in the stock market with my money (keep in mind, if you make a 25% ROI which I do, you only get $125 back if you put $100 in. So it sounds more impressive than it is). I am disqualified for SSI (the max assets you can have $2000, and I think this number hasn't changed since 1989). And the other choice is SSDI, but it requires you to worked for 5 of the last 10 years, and it looks like autistic people have virtually no chance of getting it even if I did qualify for it.


The shocking thing I found was family tended to drop their support. In fact, my parents were about to until we tried to enact my backup plan which was going into the military. But it turned out the military has policies against autistic people from joining, and my parents looked into this and kind of been relax on the job thing lately due to everything.
But when it comes to my extended family, many turned against me. Many even going out of their way to call me names even when it is shown I'm trying. My latest thing I'm trying is independent product development. And while that isn't going well, at least I'm trying my best to make money.

I don't know how people feel about it on here, and I know it's not a popular opinion in the wider world. But I honestly wish assisted suicide was available. Like it seems between everything we are treated as scum of the Earth even if we try, but luck isn't on our side. And then we are locked up in a nut house if we get caught trying to end it. It seems like something many would define as inhuman torture.

Fallen

Too far gone

Beyond repair

Hopeless

Below salvage value

Worthless

Useless