Resources for Adult Autism

As a AuDHD (Autistic with ADHD) therapist who works with adults, I’ve found that it is damn near impossible to find resources for adults who are discovering their Autistic traits and looking for ways to cope. If you google “Autism coping skills” or “Autism accommodations”, you will find pages upon pages of information for Autistic children (likely boys) who struggle with “behavior problems” or need help communicating with pictures. While the resources out there for children (when focused on the child rather than “changing the behavior”) are absolutely necessary; adults struggling with their own Autistic journeys end up with very little useless information or resources due to the lack of research and information specifically catered to adults.

Autism is not a childhood disorder. (It’s not a disorder at all, but we can talk about that in a blog post.) Adults all over the world are on their paths to self-discovery and finding out that their brains aren’t “wrong” or “weird”, but beautifully divergent from the “typical”. You deserve resources of all sorts that are meant FOR YOU. That’s what I want to provide here.

According Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) (which is out of date and non-inclusive) Autism is determined by the following (shortened) criteria:

A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts as manifested by the following, currently or by history:
Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity
Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction
Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history:

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech
Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of behavior/speech
Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus
Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory input

C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities or may be masked by learned strategies in later life).

D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or globaevelopmental delay.


More importantly, according to studies surveying and working with *actual* Autistic people, Autism brings about a wide variety of troubles, often relating to the world around us being un-accommodating rather than having Autism in and of itself. The most common struggles that are recorded and reported by Autistic people are present within the following categories:

* Socializing and Relationship
* Communicating (and feeling understood)
* Sensory Processing
* Emotion Regulation and Empathy
* Burnout/Meltdowns
* Body Awareness/Interoception
* Mental Flexibility/Cognitive Rigidity
* Self-Identity
* Common Comorbid Disorders
* Societal Oppression/Otherness