GROWING ON THE SPECTRUM Teenagers and Young Adults with Autism (TYA) Community Digest - II
04 Jun 2026
EDITOR'S DESK
The first issue of Growing on the Spectrum was released during the Global Autism Convention earlier this year. In the months since, the responses that have come back have been quieter than a launch, but in some ways more useful.
We heard from parents. We heard from grandparents in particular, some with reflections, some with corrections, some just to say that the issue had given them something to talk about at home. What hasn't happened yet is wider uptake from the institutions: colleges, training programmes, professional bodies. A magazine about teenagers and young adults with autism, written largely by the people living it, ought to be reaching the places that train the next generation of clinicians and educators. Issue two is partly an attempt to keep building until we are.
But the bigger question, and the one we want this magazine to carry going forward, is whether we are writing about the things that actually matter to families. The adolescent years bring questions that early intervention manuals do not answer. What does puberty look like when a child cannot tell you what is changing in their body? How do we think about friendships when the social rules shift overnight? What happens to the autistic teenager who finishes school and has nowhere to go on Monday morning? Where is the conversation about sexuality, about money, about safety online, about siblings who are quietly carrying more than anyone realises? What does ageing look like for parents who have spent twenty years being the entire support system?
These are the questions we want future issues to cover. If there is something you have been waiting to read about and have not, please tell us. The magazine works best when it follows where the community is already looking.
Volume 1, Issue 2
April - June 2026
