Prospects dim for autistic young adults

One in 3 young adults with autism have no paid job experience, college or technical school nearly seven years after high school graduation, a study finds. That’s a poorer showing than those with other disabilities including those who are mentally disabled, the researchers said. With roughly half a million autistic kids reaching adulthood in the next decade, experts say it’s an issue policymakers urgently need to address. The study was done well before unemployment peaked from the recession. Ian Wells of Allentown, N.J., is 21, autistic and won’t graduate from high school until next year. He is unlikely to attend college because of his autism. He wants a job but has only found unpaid internships and is currently working part-time and unpaid as a worker at a fastener factory. He’s a hard worker, with good mechanical skills, but has trouble reading and speaking, said his mother, Barbara Wells. The study, published online today in Pediatrics, was based on data from 2007-08. It found that within two years of leaving high school, more than half of those with autism had no job experience, college or technical education. Things improved as they got older. Yet nearly seven years after high school, 35 percent of autistic young adults still had no paid employment or education beyond high school. Those figures compare with 26 percent of mentally disabled young adults, 7 percent of young adults with speech and language problems, and 3 percent of those with learning disabilities.