A person with autism has an average life expectancy of 54 yrs?!?!

how old are you?

This reminds me of the time when I did a life expectancy test, the results were so vague, 25% chance of me living past 75, 50% chance of me living past 50 and a 75% chance of me living past 25. I saw it as me dying at 25 confirmed, I cried, was 10 to be fair.

Honestly, don't take the number too seriously, childhood deaths are also taken into account so the number is naturally lower.

Yeah, a Swedish study did find that high functioning autistic people die on average aged 54.
Certain illnesses such as depression, epilepsy and heart disease have a higher prevalence in autistic people than in the general population. Autism can also cause individuals to be a poor judge of risk/ danger.

The reasons for this are complex and not fully understood. Looking after yourself, eating well, regularly exercising and adhering to the treatment for whatever health conditions you might or might not have, will increase the chance of a long and healthy life.

Statistics are good when we are thinking about groups of people. However, they generally aren't very useful when thinking about individual people. You aren't an average person, you are an individual.

54 is an average. This means that (probably, I am not exactly sure about how this average was calculated) had longer life spans.

I can understand why this statistic might worry some autistic people, but it doesn't worry me.

You say that like it's a bad thing. Life with autism for the vast majority is virtually a death sentence, so the quicker you can get out the better. It gets worse as you age, because the milestones neurotypical people take for granted - career progress, marriage, children, financial stability and fulfilling social relationships - are almost impossible for people with autism to attain.I'm 33, never had a job that lasted longer than 9 weeks, no friends, no relationships. Two good degrees but a complete inability to learn functional living skills. Robotic speech, no communication skills, odd facial expressions and body language. Im invisible to men, and other women seem to take an instant dislike to me from the moment I introduce myself. I've no idea how to speak to people online or offline, and because I cant communicate with people beyond scripted dialogue like 'hello, how are you?' I've never had friends.If it weren't for my parents I'd be homeless/dead. I cant even communicate with them, so I'm basically trapped inside my own head 24/7. We are 9 times more likely to commute suicide than the general population and autistic women have higher suicide rates than men (source: spectrum.org).Pretty **** way to live really.

Omg I am so scared!

Certain illnesses such as depression, epilepsy and heart disease have a higher prevalence in autistic people than in the general population. Autism can also cause individuals to be a poor judge of risk/ danger.

The reasons for this are complex and not fully understood.