Dr. ?ine Roddy:

The unemployment rate is at 80% for autistic adults. It is extremely frustrating because so many autistic adults express a deep desire to be in employment. It gives great meaning and dignity to their lives. They wish to be in employment, but there are barriers to accessibility and being involved in employment.

A few studies have looked at the cost-effectiveness of programmes which try to have a support programme in place to help with the interview process and being involved in employment and through which people might advocate for the needs of autistic people and for the employment setting to be appropriate. There is some evidence to say this is an effective way to go about it.

Autistic people have a great many talents to offer. This is where it is so frustrating. They have such potential if they are just given the appropriate supports and opportunities. There are different specialist organisations that work with AsIAm in trying to increase employment rates in Ireland but so much more needs to be done and it needs to be done at an earlier stage than when they hit 18 or are in their 20s. Key progression stages are from primary school to secondary school and finishing secondary school to third level. This needs to be happening at a much earlier stage to get the programmes in place. Unemployment is at 80%.

My concern is that parents were expressing that much of the debt is from paying for private services and supports. The types of services they are going for can be very unregulated. Parents are paying for services with the best intentions in the world, but there may not be an evidence base to back up what they are paying for. Of considerable concern is an overall lack of information and supports for parents, when their child is diagnosed with autism at a later stage and they are paying privately for services.

Some services and supports might be great and parents may find them helpful for the child, but others may be questionable in approach. Parents are doing it with the best of intentions. Debt seems to be more in the direction of parents paying for private services rather than, say, extra living costs. That is what they were focusing on. Parents might decide they will go all out for a special intervention. If the therapist says it will be at least a year, parents may go into debt for the intervention. That is what they were reporting with regard to the debt.