Where is the scaffolding beyond adolescence?

To begin this post I firstly want to quote Shakespeare.  Shakespeare in Richard II Act III Scene II to remind us each and everyone of us of our own mortality and how we need to relish the lives we lead more.

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs.

Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes

Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.

Let's choose executors and talk of wills.

And yet not so, for what can we bequeath

Save our deposed bodies to the ground?

Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's,

And nothing can we call our own but Death

And that small model of the barren earth

Which serves as paste to cover our bones.

For heaven's sake, let us sit upon the ground

And tell sad stories of the death of kings

I often wonder how many adults find the transition from school which for many may be a difficult period into adulthood?  It seems at times just getting outside the front door is in itself a challenge.  As I am now 41, I think if I hadn't been as helped where I have been, would I have made it this far?  I find that scaffolding is needed to assist Aspies but what is difficult is that for many Aspies is that often they can never really be who they are unless of course there is tolerant people around them.  Recently when I was talking with some other adults, we wanted to find statistics that accurately reflect adults in terms of support, employment and other statistical information.  This information seems hard to find unless you can find the relevant data.  

It concerns me in Australia that often people's attitude are not always both accommodating and understanding of various issues on their part of understanding.  I have found that through my own advocacy work that I am able to assist many. However what can be a challenge is the journey forward. It is hard to know for anyone what the future will bring.  Will I still be able to hold it all together in a health sense and will some of the difficulties confronting unemployment, social isolation and overcoming tolerance be met?  

All adults are different and my thoughts may not always be shared with others.  I have had my own ways of dealing with things.  In Australia I think mental health is overcome with this involvement in excessive exercise in some areas and the reliance of alcohol and drugs on the other.  Seldom do people talk about mental health as it contains this negative stigma still.  There are days when life is just mentally challenging and no matter how hard you work and think outside the box, you still are treated differently.  It is sad in a society when a younger person thinks that you are interested in them sexually when all you are trying to do is to help them and communicate.  For a lot of younger people I believe that communication issues are a real problem. Recently a study was undertaken into young children in Australia finding many irritable and having sleep issues.  Perhaps the over reliance on computer games, gadgets and the lack of face to face interaction is having a real impact?  

For me the biggest issue is the lack of services and scaffolding for adults on the Autism Spectrum.  In my life, my adolescence was spent in fending off bullies and ignorant teachers in school and having very few friends at the same time.  If you can then imagine this transitioning into adulthood perhaps you can see why I am self conscious of bullying and my need to defend myself?  If it didn't happen in the classroom is it going to happen for many adults in adulthood?  Services are needed in terms of finding strategies to deal with survival in the neuro typical world but it is important that Aspies have their own playgrounds of inclusion with other Aspies to know we are not alone.  This is one of the reasons why I formed the Aspie Adult Group here in Brisbane.  I found it tedious that after a while the pressures of conformity would force me to seek medical attention and medication.  A feeling of aloneness and desperation just to manage anxiety and social isolation as well as trying to make sense of the wider world.  

Perhaps this post has strayed away from the original topic of asking the question of where is the scaffolding for adults beyond schooling, but I invite you to ask yourself the question of how the lives of persons on the Autism Spectrum be when they reach adulthood?  Such a question needs a lot of well and careful thought.