Many individuals with ASDs would greatly benefit from getting support around everyday life skills, yet often have difficulty accessing it. This is especially true for those who would be considered “high functioning”. Consequently, a large number of these people are left to struggle and live on a [fixed] disability income. From personal experience, I have seen how receiving the right support could make a tremendous difference in the life of someone with an ASD, as well as to one’s ability to realize his/her potential.
Unfortunately, a lot of disability related services tend to have stringent criteria in regards to qualifying for assistance. It typically depends on what they would consider to be a sufficient level of impairment to qualify. This usually makes it very hard for people on the higher end of the autism spectrum (such as Asperger’s Syndrome) to get the support they need to thrive and function well in society.
However, the challenges associated with ASDs are quite severe and can significantly affect many important areas of functioning, such as the ability to get and keep a job. On that note, there was a proposal to discontinue the WorkPlace Skills Training program I took a while back in college. The instructor had each student write a short essay to protest this, with the essays to be compiled into a video presentation I was chosen to present (which resulted in the program being extended for at least two more years). One of my classmates brought up a really good point – that having resources such as this type of program (to teach basic employability skills) could enable more people with disabilities to contribute to the government (be taxpayers) rather than take away from it due to unemployment.
The availability of proper support is essential to allow [more] people with ASDs to be independent and self-sufficient. Therefore, it would be well worth it to make specialized services more accessible for all individuals on the autism spectrum.