Some people talk about something called “mental age”.
People use mental age when they talk about developmental disabilities.
Adults with developmental disabilities need help with a lot of things.
Some of those are things that most kids can do by themselves.
So, people say that in our minds, we are like kids.
Some autistic people have interests that usually only kids have.
We might also talk like kids do.
We might play in the same ways that kids play.
So people say we are like kids.
But these people are wrong.
For example:
Beth is 36 and has an intellectual disability.
She does not know left from right.
She really likes Blue’s Clues.
A doctor says that Beth is like a 5-year-old.
He says she is “mentally 5.”
This doesn’t make sense.
Beth has been alive for 36 years. Her brain is not like a 5-year-old’s brain.
It is rude to say that she is like a child.
Being a kid isn’t about what you can and can’t do.
It isn’t about how you talk or play.
Neither is being an adult.
You learn and grow every year you are alive.
People are the age they are.
Mental ages aren’t real.
Autistic adults don’t have the minds of kids.
We have the minds of autistic adults.
Autistic adults with intellectual disabilitiesDisabilities that affect how you learn and think. People with intellectual disabilities might learn more slowly. are still adults.
Autistic people can do anything that any other adult can do.
Autistic people can have sex.
We can get married.
We can have kids.
We can make our own choices.
We can live our own lives.
We might do things differently than non-autistic people. We might need more help.
But we are still adults.