I had not previously seen that article, but it isn’t surprising. I’ll talk about just one part of the autism spectrum, as it’s what I know best - and personally.
I’m high-functioning autistic, and every single day of my life is lived in a strange and unusual world. I have to work hard just to seem ‘normal’ - and am judged based upon ‘normal’ standards. I cannot be ‘me’!
That places a lot of strain on me. Even simple actions like shaking hands take much more ‘conscious’ processing than they do in someone who is ‘neuro-typical’ (NT). Holding a conversation is enormously stressful! I end my day by spending a few hours in my study on my computer. Alone, at last! But my mind doesn’t stop thinking - I analyse what I did that day; should I have said that? Should I have acted differently in that situation? Should I have made a different decision? I am constantly second-guessing myself, and comparing what I have done to what a NT might do. This of course leads to insomnia - my mind simply doesn’t stop thinking about ‘stuff’.
Then of course there are the comorbidities that are common with being on the autism spectrum. Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and depression are two conditions that are common in ‘people like me’. I have both, and have to deal with both. The article this question links to discusses suicide rates in people with high-functioning autism; totally believable - I attempted suicide when I was younger, and suspect that I would be dead by now had I not found a wife who understands and cares about me. Many people on the spectrum are unable to find partners, and end up lonely and misunderstood in a world that simply isn’t designed for them! No wonder we die young.
What can be done? Understanding. I have worked with a bunch of people, and tend nowadays to tell my manager that I am on the spectrum. This has resulted in a range of reactions, but very few managers (or colleagues) really understand what it means. Accordingly I have had several situations where I have had to leave jobs because it just ‘wasn’t working’ - including one manager who decided to tell me that I was using Asperger’s as ‘an excuse’! HOW DARE HE!!!
So - try to understand us. Try to understand that we are struggling every single day just to function in this strange world, and to understand that sometimes we cannot just ‘cope’. Understand that we may not show them very well, but we have feelings too. And understand that difference can be enormously valuable.
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