Moving into the future with services for Aspies

With Asperger's Syndrome only being formally recognised in the DSM until 1994 and the majority of people being diagnosed as children up until recently there has been a lot more focus on children and adolescents than adults.

As of late there has been some talk and a few implementations of services for Adult Aspies as people have started to realise there are (especially now) a lot of them that require services. It is very important to have Aspies involved in the decision making processes and allow them to gain positions as aids as appropriate to achieve a sense of belonging to these organisations and have them feel as not a dictatorship but rather a helpful environment/service. Some of the services required are:

• Employment - to help increase the number of Aspies employed it is necessary to have specialised employment services that understand Autism and have specific programs in place to help secure appropriate employment. 
• Social therapy and social groups. I believe that both therapy and attending a social group for adult aspies that are run by Aspies is important as it helps us improve our social skills and feel less isolated and alone. It is necessary for more adults to take initiative to start social group like I have in Orange and Garry Burge has in Brisbane. One path of doing so is talking to a local autism parents group and seeing if they can help assist in creating a social group for aspies. Social groups also help in discussing and solving other issues as teamwork can yield new perspectives and solutions better than just oneself.