…If things are tough for typical college students, the college-to-employment pipeline for neurodiverse young adults is clogged with weeds and clumps of despair. Only a lucky few are making it through the system.
Not properly prepared academically and dealing with other problems, most autistic students do not attend college at all. 32 percent of all students with autism attend a 2-year college, and 17 percent attend a 4-year college. However, those college-bound students have a great deal of trouble completing their degrees, due to struggles with social-emotional issues, anxiety, and depression. Only 34 percent of autistic students complete college in six years.
Let’s go over those numbers again. 17 percent of autistic students attend a four-year college. Of those, only 34 percent gradate in SIX years. Then those lucky few try to get a job. Only 15 percent of autistic college graduates are able to find work. A whopping 85% of college grads affected by autism are unemployed, compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.5%.
Nation-wide, a very small percentage of autistic people attend college, finish college, and then find an appropriate job.
Apt. 11d 