Living with ASD in Romania Adolescences and adults

General context  In Romania live almost 20mil people  Autism Romania estimation people live with ASD Above 6200 children in social system-protection above 600 children with ASD, in schools mostly Above 290 children in Bucharest in schools(more then 2 mil population) There is not any official statistics for adults

General context  Opportunities for children under 6  Therapies- educational, occupational, art, kinetotherapy in public mental health centers, educational centers for children with disabilities, not specialized  At home – specialized in ABA therapy, parents pay

Children with ASD 6-18 y.o.  Opportunities for children with ASD 6-18 y.o. few and not efficient, staff is untrained in ASD Schools (special schools for mental retardation; ordinary schools) Vocational schools Educational alternatives –day centers At home (4 hours / weekly, with special ed teacher)

Young adults and adults  Problems with diagnosis and after 18 y.o.  Autism is infantile in DSMIII, so when you are adult you can’t have ‘infantile’ autism  (Schizophrenia, OCD, or just mental retardation)  Those without MR can’t get support services, or financial allowances for people with disabilities are too small/ ex. Under 10 euro/month

Alternatives for young adults and adults with ASD  Staying at home doing nothing without support services, (little financial support, depending on recognized degree of disability 1…4)  In living, lifelong learning, employment,  perspectives are very scary: psychiatric institutions, or rehabilitation centers, where the main treatment is medication and a surrogate of therapies: art, occupational,  Community living facilities are very few and not specialised exceptions

Autism Romania activity  Advocacy for a national strategy for people with ASD  Participation in other work groups initiated by other organization; supporting advocacy initiatives of other org;  Strategic litigation actions;  Development of our own services ( parents support groups, library, toy library, counseling by / phone, direct, art club for children and adolescents, suport-social grup for young people with AS, social enterprise for young people with ASD)