What now for my ND DD?

[greyduvetcover]

Dd is about to graduate from university. She has a diagnosis of ASD. Getting her to this stage was not easy for anyone and she has done so well to get this far.
She has no plans now, she's back at home and has no job lined up and no idea what she wants to do. It's not been our focus but obviously now something has to change.
I have no clue what she will do and I am terrified for her. For the first time in her life there is no clear path.
I can't tell her any of this so I guess I'm just silently screaming and putting it down here instead. Can anyone else relate?

Hi OP. What course did your DD do? Is she able to volunteer perhaps, something that ties in with her Uni course.
Well done to your DD for getting through!

Yes I can relate - our autistic 18yr old son left special school 6th form with 2 great GCSEs and a few other quals and a level 3 diploma he completed online. However, he’s now taking a year out to rest - he’s been burnt out for years - but doesn’t have a clue about what he’ll do next year.

He isn’t able to to go /doesn’t want to go to uni and currently sleeps in for half the day and games for the rest. He’s not lazy - he just isn’t currently at a stage of being able to cope with anything more. Anything I achieve with him is done in very tiny steps or he gets totally anxious and overwhelmed.

Could you look at the government schemes that help autistic/disabled people into work? There are apprenticeships available where the person can have a mentor, or you could look at the ‘Access to Work’ scheme and you can also look up companies that are signed up to ‘The Disability Confident’ scheme - which helps both employers support autistic and disables people in work.

Marks and Spencer run a scheme with the Prince's Trust that helps young people get into employment and it has a good rate of offering employment after.

jobs.marksandspencer.com/changing-lives-with-marks-and-start

This looks great!

How is your DD now @greyduvetcover?