Work Participation In The ASD Community

Work participation is considered as an increasingly important health outcome. On the individual level it contributes to health and welfare. On the societal level the demographic pressure due to ageing and shrinking populations make a broad participation more and more imperative. At the same time participation in work by vulnerable groups is complicated by the increasing demands of the job. Adolescents with disabilities willing to enter the workforce experience barriers in acquiring and retaining work. (Brouwer et al., 2012) Work participation in many societies is the sign of adulthood, independence and pride, in the ASD community this experience is a double edged sword. The daily routine and structure of getting up and going to work, knowing

("Housing and Community Living | Families and Adults/Adult Services | Autism Speaks," 2015) Young adults with an ASD also expe¬rienced the highest rates of postsecondary residential continuity (79.1 percent). (Kristy A, Anderson Paul T, Shattuck Benjamin P, Cooper Anne M, Roux Mary Wagner, 2014) People with ASD often live in group homes or apartments staffed by professionals who help the residents with basic needs, such as meal preparation, housekeeping, and personal care. Higher-functioning adults may be able to live in a home or apartment where support staff visit only a few times a week. These residents with ASD usually prepare their own meals, go to work, and conduct other daily activities on their own. (Turkington & Anan, 2007)

The statistic only go to show that the need for more extensive research on the growing population of adults with ASD that are entering into the community are not doing so independently, and the need for extended home-based services are still vital and important as the individual ages. The difficultly is that the services that were once in abundance are now sparse to the adult and

Although the unemployment and underemployment rates for people with developmental disabilities remain unacceptably high in the late 2000’s, as high as 75%, it is becoming increasingly clear that people with developmental disabilities have the ability to be gainfully employed. As the population increases in the ASD community so does the increasing need for research into and the development of more support structures to keep individuals out in the community and increase the number of individuals in the workforce. As of 2013 only 53.4% of individuals with ASD have worked outside the home after high school and only 20.9% are in fulltime employment. (Ewing, 2013) Knowing that adulthood means securing a job, a residence, and having a social network to interact with, most individuals on the spectrum, as seen in this report, are failing to achieve that level of self-sufficiency that not only a neuro-typical individual achieves, but also that of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The positive aspect of the data outlined in this report is the acknowledgement for the need for more support, research, and funding for the up and coming learner to enter into the workforce. With resources available such as