It is never too early to prepare for any skill, but especially skills needed to live independently. Many young adults feel that moving out on their own is a rite of passage, whether that be attending college to live in a dormitory, renting their own apartment, buying their first home, among many other independent living situations.

By age 21, one in five young adults with autism had been stopped and questioned by police and five percent were arrested, according to a 2017 study from the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University. And according to research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, people with disabilities, including those on the autism spectrum, are five times more likely to be incarcerated than people in the general population. Also, “civilian injuries and fatalities during police interactions are disproportionately common among this population.”

For most people with autism, housing is not affordable. It is a myth that Medicaid pays for housing (unless the individual lives in an institutional setting). If a person with autism can access Medicaid Long-term Support Services (LTSS) that pays for staff, transportation or programs necessary to be part of their community but cannot afford housing, they will potentially be displaced into the “next empty bed” of a group home or host home potentially multiple counties away.

Independent living may be conceptualized as a philosophy of individual control, peer support, self-help, self-determination, equal access, and individual and system advocacy, in order to maximize the leadership, empowerment, independence, and productivity of individuals with disabilities, and the integration and full inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of American society (Rehabilitation Act, 1973).