Society wants people to be charismatic and outgoing. Autistic people are often introverted and lack social skills. They are the opposite of those who do well in a society that advances extroverts. There is a dark connection between autism and suicide.
Autism And Suicide
Isolation
People with autism tend to isolate themselves. There are many reasons why they may do this. They do not want to be around the bright lights and sounds that come with going out. A person with ASD also becomes fixated on something. They spend all their time working on whatever their fixation is on.
Difficulty With Relationships
By spending time in isolation, many people with autism have difficulty with relationships. A person with ASD may not have many friends. This is because they prefer to spend time alone and usually have an inner monologue with themselves. The mind is always running.
Romantic relationships are complex for many people with autism. They lack the soft skills and the social graces to come across the right way to someone they may want to date.
Lack Of Social Skills
Someone on the spectrum lacks the social and soft skills people expect in everyday interactions. It could be something as simple as not standing too close to a person. But what seems evident to neuro-normative people is not apparent to a neurodiverse person.
The problem with social skills negatively affects an autistic individual’s ability to find stability. Job.
Difficulty Finding Stable Jobs
A vital part of getting a stable job is being able to pass interviews and then deal with office politics. Both of those are difficult for ASD individuals to do. My Disability Jobs writes, “at least 85% of adults that are autistic are unemployed and have a college education.” The high unemployment rate of autistic individuals affects their ability to have a stable income.
Interviewers are trained to treat an interview as a vetting process to determine which candidate best fits a company’s culture while bringing their skills. The lack of soft skills makes an interviewee with ASD come across as cold.
Hard Time Moving Up In Companies
Since many people with ASD have difficulty finding stable jobs, they are unable to move up in companies to increase their income. They lose access to traditional full-time work. Full-time jobs often include healthcare and retirement benefits. Many autistic people get stuck working dead-end jobs that can never pay the bills, which become more expensive as an adult.
Financial Problems
The inability to find stable jobs leads to financial problems. They have difficulty paying the bills. Many are unable to save and invest for their future. They end up in debt.
Financial stress is another common cause that leads to suicide. The combination of the problems that autistic individuals have in finding a job, being unable to cover their bills, and financial anxiety increases the risk of suicide for people with ASD.
As a result of financial problems and being unable to find a career to move up in, many fail to launch.
Failure To Launch
All of these can lead to a failure to launch once an autistic person reaches adulthood. Some may end up living with their parents. Others may get kicked out of where they rent and become homeless.
They fall behind financially, socially, and professionally. This failure to launch may make someone with ASD believe they are a failure. It may result in someone with autism to commit suicide.
Summary
The dark connection between autism and suicide comes down to people with autism lacking soft skills. The lack of social skills affects their personal and professional life. The result is being unable to launch and live a normal adult life.
