'A New Pace of Life': A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Retirement Plans, Preparations and Experiences in Middle-Aged and Older Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.

Everyone took part online, so people without internet access, and people with intellectual disabilities or higher support needs, were excluded. The sample was predominantly White, well-educated and diagnosed or self-identified as autistic later in life, so it does not represent autistic adults broadly. Participants had to live in the UK, so the pension, income and retirement-age findings are tied to the UK system and do not transfer elsewhere. It is a single snapshot: younger participants were looking ahead to retirement while older ones were recalling plans made years earlier, so memories of past planning may be inaccurate. Both groups were more likely than the national average to qualify for a full state pension, which suggests people already engaged with retirement planning were the ones who took part. As a survey, it could not follow up answers to ask how events such as ill health or bereavement connected to someone's employment and pension history. The authors did not examine differences between men and women, to keep the number of analyses manageable. An estimated 90% of autistic adults over 40 are undiagnosed, so people without a diagnosis, who may have the least access to support, are likely under-represented.

Funded by a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship held by one author, with another author part-funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and King's College London. The authors state the funders had no role in data collection, analysis, interpretation or any other aspect of the study, that they were not paid to write the article, and that they declared no conflicts of interest. No company selling a product or treatment was involved.

Do not read these group differences as proof that autism itself makes retirement harder. The autistic and non-autistic groups also differed in education, ethnicity, marital status and housing, and the sample was a mostly White, well-educated group recruited through autism research networks who were more engaged with retirement planning than average. The authors also note that undiagnosed autistic adults, who may have least access to support, are likely missing from the sample.