Closing the gap: Improving access to education and employment opportunities for young adults with autism

Although our focus on meeting the challenge of the current autism "epidemic" has been on young children, a growing challenge is the number of young adults who have an ASD – a number that will only increase in the coming years. According to a recent study in Pediatrics, “[y]oung people with an ASD had the highest risk of being completely disengaged from any kind of postsecondary education or employment.” In this presentation, we plan to describe this challenge and how individuals, organizations and communities are facing this challenge. These programs have existed to help young adults with ASD become equipped with certain job skills (e.g. the PACE program at the National Louis University). Such programs are invaluable for individuals who are higher functioning. We will examine several higher education programs that have been established especially to target the needs of those with ASDs. A number of barriers, however, still exist that prevent young people with an ASD from gaining valuable job and life skills. For instance, children age out of public assistance programs that provide support to millions of individuals. Being a spectrum disorder means that no two people with autism have the same needs or the same skills. The onus must be on our social institutions to identify how the unique skill set of each of those with autism can be channeled into an appropriate and productive job which in turn will promote a more productive life overall.