Growing Old with Autism

Karl Taro Greenfeld's piece in this week's Time magazine provides insight not only in the struggles his family faced in raising his brother Noah, who has autism, but also what life is like today for his 42-year-old sibling.

Greenfeld writes, "Despite the successful marketing of the affliction by activists and interest groups, autism is not a childhood condition. It is nondegenerative and nonterminal: the boys and girls grow up. For all the interventions and therapies and the restrictive diets and innovative treatments, the majority of very low-functioning autistics like Noah will require intensive support throughout their lives. If recent estimates of prevalence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are accurate, then 1 in 150 of today's children is autistic. That means we are in for a vast number of adult autistics — most better adjusted than Noah, some as bad off — who will be a burden to parents, siblings and, eventually, society.

"We are largely unprepared to deal with this crisis. Autism funding and research, so far, have predominantly focused on children."