The first big wave of kids diagnosed with autism were born starting in 1990. The oldest are 28 years old now so they aren't running much of anything. A small minority of around 25% have a job and live independently. That's lower than any other disability. Most of people with ASD live at home and may not be seen by the public as much as you would think. They don't have wheelchairs or seeing eye dogs so you may not notice them as much.

My daughter is unlikely to become a genius or talented with some special skill so all of those comparisons tend not to apply and they mask the fact the they are ignoring the 75% of ASD folks who will struggle more than most. The more the public thinks ASD isn't a problem, the easier it is to forget about it as a issue for society.

I hear more about Einstein who has been dead for over 60 years (saw his apartment in Switzerland) who was never diagnosed with ASD than I do about the one in 68 kids with ASD alive now. Take that into consideration.

You know my husband turns 37 this year and we're just now pounding out about his autism the only reason we even knew was because it started affecting our son and we started noticing we thought that the upbringing from a rough childhood was what was causing some of his issues he was labeled a bad child when that was not even close what was going on he had autism his whole life and no one even noticed they just thought he was bad kid you know what I believe if people would stop judging and being so mean in this world and wanting to truly help someone if they see them struggling this world we live in might be a better place, I don't know just my thoughts LOL

Thank you.

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AMEN

There are so many more adults in the spectrum in the workplace than we realize. Think back to when you were in high school, or even now in the work force. Remember the geeks and the nerds, the ones who were awkward and didn't really fit in with their oddities. Most of them were really good in math and sciences. These were the unrecorded Autistics. Think of the character in Grease who was the nerd. Classic case. They were ignored because their learning was not impaired, but their social skills were lacking. They learned coping skills and others around them learned, "That's just Bobby," without noticing the signs.