I'm 32, and I have a younger brother who is 27 who has autism, and a pretty severe learning disability(not sure if they go hand-in-hand, but he's had it his whole life). My mother passed away a long time ago sometime after my 17th birthday, and my father and I have raised him as best we can since then. He graduated from high school quite some time back and has had a few jobs, but we haven't been able to find him any real work. We fear for the day that my father passes away and I'm not around to help take care of him :(
My boyfriend is a house director for an organization that takes care of developmentally disabled adults. Unlike the author of the article, he's been doing it for 14 years and loves the work. At his company, each house (there are a dozen houses) has 4-6 adults with full time staff and 24/7 care. It's not an "institution," it's a nice little New England home in the suburbs, everyone has their own bedroom, everyone has jobs or activities they go to every day, they get help managing their finances, they all contribute to cooking (as much as they're able), meal-planning, activity and event decisions. They focus a lot on independence and goal-setting, get their medical appointments managed by people who have known them for years (no getting "lost in the system"), and the organization as a whole has really low turnover -- both with staff, and the clients living in the house (so they form really close friendships). It's really a great place, and most of it is paid for by the state (food stamps, welfare, various grants).
Far from being "institutionalized" the guys he works with (and they're all male -- there's are separate homes for women) really feel like a family, and they get better, and more knowledgeable, support in the house than they often might living with aging, or distant relatives.
I know homes like these have gotten a bad reputation, but there are some really excellent organizations out there, and there's no shame in saying "you'd probably be better off at a place that's designed to support your needs."
I cannot remember where I saw the story but there is a firm in the US that is fully using autism people in some IT tasks..fulltime jobs..it may have been listed on Slashdot 2 months ago..
That kind of gives me some hope, honestly. He's sorta adept at using computers; he can navigate the web fairly easily, though reading is a bit of trouble for him(it takes him 5x as long as a normal person), he's been doing fairly well with online typing tutor sites as well as basic math courses in Khan Academy. I'll have to look around and see what I can find.
I have worked with someone employed through a similar program during an internship at SAP.[1] Maybe there are opportunities available for your brother.
I've read similar stories, and if I remember it was often QA. Those with autism may be more likely to prefer repetitive tasks, and will have a high attention to detail that might be useful in QA work.
