I just started a new job, part of which entails working some of the time in a nursing home. While I was serving the residents lunch today, I suddenly realized with a shock that every single old person in the room was normal. Noone with Down's syndrome....you see lots of kids with Down's, lot of young people with it, even some middle aged Down's...but no old folks?! Ok, so people with Down's syndrome tend to have a shorter life expectancy.....but what about other retarded people? There was not a single resident there with MR. Cerebral palsy, same thing. Some of the people had stimming type behavior that reminded me of autism, but after some obseervation, I don't think any of the residents are autistic, either.
This leads me to believe that:
A. They are killing us off before we get old
or
B. We all either die of natural causes or kill ourselves off before we reach old age
or
c. There is some other place where old folks with disabilities go to....and as horrifying a prospect as winding up in the place where I work seems, the fact of the matter is that whatever place the disabled old folks go to is probably a heck of a lot worse.
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Why would they want to hide us away like that? Why does it offend them so much to see us, to risk being exposed to non-perfect, non-normal people? Why is it seemingly their goal to segregate and seclude us from the world almost from birth to old age, with only a few exceptions?
OK, does this thought freak anyone else out?
I don't think they kill off old disabled people, it's just that a lot of the conditions that cause mental retardation also tend to cause shorter lifespans (like Down Syndrome, as you mentioned). I had a great aunt who was mentally retarded due to botched delivery causing severe hypoxia, but physically she was healthy for the rest of her life and she lived to be eighty-something.
She lived in a special "institution" her whole life, though (that's what they did back then), which leads me to believe that the third theory you have is most likely. Normal people go to normal old folks' homes, and retarded people go to retarded old folks' homes, or something like that. I'm not sure where Aspies would go, though. Seeing as how it wasn't even a diagnosis until 1994, they probably just got put in normal nursing homes, while LFA (who were often incorrectly regarded as being mentally disabled) went to the "special" nursing homes.
I don't really know.
What I'm wondering: do they look at the medical records of a person before they admit them into the facility? My medical records say things like "Asperger's Syndrome" and "Autism". I *don't* want to spend my last years in some place where almost noone can hole an intelligent conversation or play a game of chess with me, and where I'd be treated as if retarded.
Meh... As long as you don't show some severe disability (the majority of Aspies don't), then I'm sure you'd just go to a normal nursing home. A lot of old people have dementia and Alzheimer's anyway, so I don't think an Aspie would stand out as being too "different".
Good point, plus I could imagine that someone with autistic tendencies would have more of a tendency to remain in their own home for longer (be that because they want to be alone or because they do not have close relatives/children who might step in when they become unable to care for themselves in old age).
Also, ones with more severe disability, if they have no relatives etc. to support them they are likely to already be in some sort of facility and I doubt they'd just kick them out when they get old?
old people tend to be "set in their ways", so tend to like routines which is an aspie thing.
That's a very good point! 
If all that is ture, then why haven't I seen a single person with cerebral palsy in an old folk's home> Seriously, I want to know not just from speculation, but actual experience: have any of you known any old autistic people (HFA, AS, LFA, whatever the label) and where did they go when they got old?
In Norway we have the word "Funksjonshemmet", which is a combination of the words function and weakened, Functionweakened might not be much worse than disabled but people use the short form "hemma" about everything they think is working bad. You wouldn't say that the light-switch is 'disabled' when angry because of it not working.
shorter life expectancy. Often people with autism or whatever do not get premium healthcare and just die of simple infections. They are ignored to death.
Well, most of you seem pretty optimistic. After actually working in an old folk's home, I'm not. People who aren't sociable tend to get neglected, and the nurses have their favorites. Even when they can speak coherently and itelligently, whatever they have to say is very often just blown off or treated in a patronizing way. I'm 34 years old now, have 6 kids, work full time, drive, all that, and my social skills aren't gettign a LOT better. I'm better now than I was as a teen, but I do think there are limitations, and I don't expect that by the time I reach 80, I'll soemhow blend right in. I mean, it could happen...but I'll be pleasantly surprised, especially since they probably will have enacted all kind of cures and preventative measures for our existence by then.
So....what I'm thinking is that it would probably behoove us to be informed and to make fairly bombproof arrangements and plans for our old age, if we can. I would far rather go to, say, a Camphill Village, than some random place full of "special" people (even the word special has now been tainted with notes of prejudice and condescension).
I think it's wise to think about these things and prepare for them if we can.
Sorry I didnt mean to be offensive or anything.
Im currantly trying to teach my grandma how to turn the computer on, i think we have taken two steps back
(I once tried to teach her how to play netendo, and yeah....)
That's very sweet of you, I hope she'll get there in the end
As for dementia, would this present in a similar way to Alzheimer's?
Yes just at a more "appropriate" age, i.e. it doesn't set on at 60 or less and is less progressive.
...but maybe being an Aspie is good for that, because I don't really notice much is different until a few minutes into the conversation. Prevents me from forming any stupid prejudicial ideas about the person on first seeing them, because I'm too oblivious to notice anything's different right away
I am the same, but I must add that I have noticed that a certain percentage of Aspies seem to go the opposite way, being hyper-aware of these things, not just of others being different but of others mocking them etc. That may be partly why certain types of problems like social anxiety are more common in more socially aware Aspies.
...but maybe being an Aspie is good for that, because I don't really notice much is different until a few minutes into the conversation. Prevents me from forming any stupid prejudicial ideas about the person on first seeing them, because I'm too oblivious to notice anything's different right away
I am the same, but I must add that I have noticed that a certain percentage of Aspies seem to go the opposite way, being hyper-aware of these things, not just of others being different but of others mocking them etc. That may be partly why certain types of problems like social anxiety are more common in more socially aware Aspies.
Yes, I think I am like that and can usually tell if people like me or not.
You've just hit the nail on the head, with me at least. This insight defines me to the letter.. the hyper-awareness. It comes in handy but it also causes a lot of its own problems.
I think Donna Williams has called this "hyperconnectivity" or something similar. Too much awareness and connections formed by what you see, not too little.