I kind of thought that the fact I provided a number at all implied that it referred to the diagnosed, but the point that we can't know what we don't know is fair.
Still, my point stands. Most people who have it badly enough to get diagnosed can't hold jobs. Autism isn't some quirky personality trait that makes you a special cool kid on Tik-tok. It's a government recognized disability.
I'm dx'd level 2 and have a job. I think your stats are out of date. Yes, unemployment is high in the autistic community. But it's not to the degree you suggest.
In my case I have uneven capabilities, but my worst functions are still average and my best are very high. It's far more common for the best capabilities to be average and the worst to be far below. It's like one of those character creation screens in a game where you get to distribute skill points and someone hit 'random'. I got lucky and there were plenty of points to distribute randomly. Most seem to have had fewer to start with.
> I think your stats are out of date.
I looked it up before I made that post yesterday. It's pretty current, unfortunately. There is a ton of variation regionally, and there are different definitions, etc... Like all statistics it's more complicated than the headline, but the TLDR is that globally the diagnosed adult population averages around that number and it's literally one of the worst forms of disability to have as far as employment goes.
I think it's less than this. Perhaps 25%-40%. But highly variable based on socioeconomic status.
But the parent post is also wrong. Statistics vary, but employment among autistic people is as high as 58% in the US (which shouldnt be surprising, given that many autistic folks have no diminishment of iq).
So, definitely huge unemployment rate, but not so dire are the gp suggests.
That study suggests that 65% of autistic individuals are undiagnosed. The 90% is only for middle-aged and older.
Skimming a couple (due to time constraints) of the sources mentioned in the study, one source [1] mention that "3 in 10 autistic people of working age are in employment", and the other [2] that "approximately 50% fail to achieve independence in their living status, employment, and close relationships"
It doesn't seem to support the claim that "90% of autistics are undiagnosed and work".
