Navigating the Adult World with Autism
December 4, 2015
Paul Shattuck, PhD, associate professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health and director of the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute's Life Course Outcomes Research Program, is quoted in a National Journal story about adults on the autism spectrum. The article discusses an A.J. Drexel Aut足ism In足sti足tute re足port that Shattuck and colleagues released last year which showed that just 19 per足cent of young adults with aut足ism have lived in足de足pend足ently from their par足ents, com足pared with 80 per足cent of young people with learn足ing dis足ab足il足it足ies. The re足port also found that more than one-third of adults in their early 20s with aut足ism were “dis足con足nec足ted,” mean足ing they were not con足tinu足ing edu足ca足tion or hold足ing a job after high school. “Young people in the aut足ism cat足egory, gen足er足ally they are worse than their peers who have oth足er kinds of dis足ab足il足it足ies in terms of em足ploy足ment and a range of oth足er out足comes,” said Shat足tuck.