OLDER ADULTS WITH AUTISM: HOW CAN WE HELP?

What do we know about autism and aging?

We know very little. A recent study from Newcastle University counted some 18,000 articles on autism for all age groups written between 1946 and 2011. Only 111 were about the elderly. What do we need to know?

Researchers need to know how to diagnose older adults; if treatments that work for children work for older people; if older people with autism are more susceptible to depression, anxiety, epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorder and dementia; if they will face new cognitive problems that will impede their ability to live independently; and if drugs commonly used in the general older population are appropriate for people with autism. What can be done to help older adults with autism?

Ensure that every adult on the spectrum is connected to an agency and has a permanent case worker well-versed in ASD to help with transitions — housing, health and physical needs — throughout life.

In Ontario, the narrow definition of developmental disability excludes adults with the higher-functioning Asperger syndrome from some services. The IQ restriction of 70 or less should be removed, and funding should be based on an ASD diagnosis. How much support they have should be based on their needs, not just the ASD diagnosis.

There should be mandatory physician and health-care staff training to understand and help adults with ASD.

Families who stayed at home to care for their children through adulthood should be compensated. Many are now seniors, and since they didn’t have jobs won’t have income from a company pension plan.

Provincial ministries need to collaborate, not create silos that make it difficult for people with ASD to get help. Leslie Scrivener