Jeremy, who is 25, is moving out into his own place within the year. For those that don’t know Jeremy, he communicates by typing and has many sensori-motor challenges. I first started writing about him in Autism Spectrum Disorder (Revised) (Penguin 20014). We are all looking forward to this move. Transitioning to being an independent adult starts early in life and Jeremy has been working on learning different functional living skills since he was little. In the book A Full Life with Autism (Macmillan 2012), Jeremy described how having his own life and independence was important to him.
Over the next months we’ll be describing what Jeremy is doing to prepare for his move. Besides improving upon or learning new living skills, there is all that needs to be done for his self-employment initiative as an artist and advocate (visit his website, Jeremy’s Vision), and his volunteer work. Jeremy is also trying to improve upon his social life, and we’ll report upon that as well.
When Jeremy was little, my husband and I were told to put him in an institution, and to get on with our lives. That was never an option for us. Instead I worked hard at helping him reach his potential so he could live a life of his choosing. We hope that our experiences shared here will encourage parents and educators to realize that even those who appear to be very impacted can learn to do more, no matter their age. The window of opportunity for learning never closes. Never give up! Perhaps you will have your own stories to share; we look forward to reading your comments.