The number of adults with autism is growing

  

The numbers are staggering. One in every 150 babies in the U.S. is now born with autism. The rate for boys is even higher. But what happens to those children when they grow up?

Beth Meyer is a hard worker. Beth has always been good with her hands. But her autism affects her ability to interact with people.

Vicki Obee-Hilty is executive director of Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse where the focus is on adults with autism.

"It is not an institution. It's not where you've just taken a group of people and isolated them. This is a viable farm."

A farm Beth and 29 other adults call home. Beth has an apartment there and a paying job.

Phil Bartus goes for the day program. He has his own apartment off-site, with some help. Phil makes furniture in the woodshop and is also a ham radio operator.

Phil and Beth are both highly functioning. Yet many autistic adults are unable to work. They live with family or in group homes, and their numbers are growing. In the twenty-six years since Bittersweet opened, autism diagnoses have soared nearly 1,000 percent.

Vicki says, "These kids are coming through the system. You're seeing a bubble in the numbers now. Parents now have teenagers and they're saying 'what is the next step'?"

The next step for Melanie Arend was her first job. Melanie got the job through the Autism Model School where she attends classes.

Tom Peters from George F. Peter Son Inc says, "It's pretty simple, she shows up on time, shows up when she's supposed to be here and she shows up with a good attitude."

Melanie has become a valued employee; getting her name on the marquee for her 17th birthday and earning a steady paycheck.

She says working gives her a sense of accomplishment.

Patrick Sabin is Melanie's classmate. He's also seventeen.

Patrick's mother Barb Sabin says, "He would never grow up and move out. I knew that would never happen. It wouldn't be a so-called normal life like everybody else. It was pretty devastating to find that out. I think you just go through a grieving process like everything else. Then you just accept it and try to move on."

Classes there teach life and job skills. But those who provide adult services say there aren't nearly enough.

"To be able to live and have a job, for many people, it's going to take partnership with society, with their communities to make that happen", says Vicki. "It is possible. I'm very optimistic that is possible. But those for whom that are unattainable, families are going to need support."

Experts say people with autism need lifelong support. The growing number of cases means our country will eventually have to fund more services for autistic adults.

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