This abstract draws on a range of research evidence in order to explore the process of transition to adulthood for high-functioning people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It provides a very brief overview of extended and complex youth transitions in European contexts. It also highlights patterns of vulnerability for people with ASD and provides a theoretical underpinning for a small-scale study. The aim of this project is to encapsulate the dynamism of the transition to adulthood and to depict various experiences taking place in different stages of the process rather than to portray it as a static and definite phenomenon. The findings presented in this abstract focus on the nature of ASD and its impact on the transition, the conceptualisation of this process as well as the ever-changing social, political and economic context of young people’s transitions.

Although ‘overwhelmingly, the transition to adulthood has (...) been studied from the perspective of objective demographic markers (such as entry into marriage and parenthood)’ (Gauthier & Furstenberg, 2002, p. 154), it is the author’s intention to emphasise the subjectivity of these objective demographic markers. The minimum school leaving age in UK has remained unchanged at sixteen since 1972 (Furlong et al., 2003). However, relatively few young people across Europe now leave at this stage and most of them participate in some further education or training. Changing levels of educational participation has led to a ’tightening bond’ between education and employment, leading to new concerns about social exclusion of people with disabilities. Few, especially amongst people with ASD, are able to make the early and direct transitions to adulthood that were relatively common in the 1960s and 70s (Marshall, 1992). In this context, modern transitions have come to be viewed as marked by discontinuities, uncertainties and backtracking (EGRIS, 2001).

Nowadays, most young people’s individual biographical timetables do not follow socially expected and culturally transmitted age-norms (Heinz, 2009). The borders between all phases of the life course have become blurred and fuzzy and the duration of all transitions relies more on individual choices and lifestyles. Moreover, even so called ‘conventional’ course of life brings with it a huge dose of subjectivity in a form of varying degrees of difficulty in coping with these social age markers. For people with autism, there are usually additional obstacles.

Although their transitions may be characterised by risk and uncertainty in general, the question is raised as to the extent to which risk is attributable to individual and family characteristics, educational attainments or to the routes followed by young people with ASD. Perceptions of risk may extend across the social spectrum within the autism spectrum, yet it is clear that, for some young people with ASD discontinuities and fluctuations are associated with marginalisation whilst others may be able to overcome adverse circumstances. This greater complexity makes it increasingly difficult to identify those who are vulnerable to long-term marginalisation and what are the most effective ways of preventing it. One objective of the author’s research project is to further explore these issues.

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