New data from the National Autism Indicators Report reveals that one-third of young adults (ages 18-25) with autism don’t have jobs or attend college. Only 19 percent of young adults with autism have ever lived independently from their parents, compared to 60 percent of their typically developing peers.
Clearly this is not what we want for our students. In many ways, our special education system – which is supposed to be preparing students with disabilities for the real world – has failed them.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
