Life Course Library

Course 3: Navigating Adulthood

In this course, we’ll be covering information around navigating adulthood, which includes life skills and self-advocacy. This course teaches the basics around daily living tasks, your rights at work, in the community, and in healthcare, as well as adult services and staying connected.

This course was created for Autistic self-advocates, and can be used by caregivers and professionals to guide access to self-advocates who need more supports. It is written at a high school reading level. 

Module 1: Life Skills

  • Learn more about keeping up with daily living tasks.
  • Understand your needs and priorities around which daily living tasks to focus on
  • Explore strategies and tools to support the completion of daily living tasks. 
START HERE
A close-up of a front-loading washing machine with its door open, showing grey towels inside.
  • Learn more about the types of personal finance.
  • Understand your personal finance needs.
  • Explore strategies and tools for managing personal finances.
START HERE
A smartphone with a calculator app open, placed on top of printed sheets featuring various colorful bar graphs and pie charts related to expenses.
A group of diverse people standing in a circle, with their hands stacked together in the center, smiling and looking down at the camera.
  • Learn more about the types of support networks.
  • Understand your support network needs and goals.
  • Explore strategies and tools for identifying and growing your support network.
START HERE

Module 2: Self-Advocacy

  • Learn more about your rights at work.
  • Understand your current needs in the workplace and match as needed to accommodations.
  • Explore strategies and tools to support your self-advocacy at work.
START HERE
A male store employee in a denim shirt and apron, holding a tablet while examining items on a shelf in a hardware store.
  • Learn more about your rights in the community.
  • Understand your current needs in the community and match as needed to accommodations.
  • Explore strategies and tools to support your self-advocacy in the community.
START HERE
People standing and sitting inside a bus, with a woman in a striped shirt smiling and holding onto a pole.
A stethoscope, a pair of glasses, and a clipboard with papers, placed on a light grey surface.
  • Learn more about navigating healthcare services.
  • Understand your current and upcoming needs in healthcare and getting the services you need.
  • Explore strategies and tools to support your self-advocacy in healthcare.
START HERE

Module 3: Milestones in Adulthood

  • Learn more about staying connected to others online and in-person.
  • Understand your social needs and interests around staying connected.  
  • Explore strategies and tools for connecting with others online and in-person.
START HERE
Several people holding and using their smartphones, with only their hands and devices visible.
  • Learn more about the types of relationships that can be important to us as we get older (e.g., friendships, romantic relationships, being a parent).
  • Understand your needs around navigating these types of relationships.
  • Explore strategies and tools to support you as you navigate these types of relationships.
START HERE
A child holding an adult's hand for support while walking on a path, with the focus on their hands and the child's legs visible in the background.
  • Learn more about the types of services and support available for disabled adults.
  • Understand your needs for disability services and support.
  • Explore strategies and tools to seek out services and support.
START HERE
An office setting where a man in a suit is helping a colleague review documents at a desk cluttered with stacks of papers.

About the Authors

Logo for the Autism Grown Up resource center - background of a plant and the logo which has three leaves, each a different shade of green

Autism Grown Up Resource Center

Autism Grown Up is an online non-profit organization. We create and provide resources for Autistic people and all members of an Autistic person’s support network, including family members, teachers, clinicians, therapists, professionals, peers, employers, and other important stakeholders. 

We primarily make low-cost resources for professionals and caregivers. This funding gets re-invested into making more resources like these and free resources for autistic adults (like the Lifespan Toolbox) and the Life Course Library!

The Life Course Library was written by a neurodiverse team including Autistic writers and informed by feedback from the Autistic community.

Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.

Autism Grown Up is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization

Tax ID number: 84-3479187

Facebook Youtube Instagram Pinterest Linkedin

Grant Information:

This project was supported in part by grant number 2301NCSCDD ($2,168,620.00) from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.