5 ms·

Beautiful story but with a sad undertone. A large percentage of the homeless have autism [1]. And that really sucks. If these people don't have support, thei

by cogman10 11mo ago

Beautiful story but with a sad undertone. A large percentage of the homeless have autism [1]. And that really sucks. If these people don't have support, their lives can turn miserable fast. And unfortunately it's just way too easy for these people to end up in abusive situations. It's a lot of work to care for people with autism (moderate to severe). There is no standard for what they need, their capabilities can be all over the board. Some of them are capable like ronny in this story and they can hold down jobs. But others need 24/7 caregiving in order to survive. Unfortunately I don't think those with severe autism survive for long when they become homeless. I hope this story at very least gets people to view the homeless a little differently. They aren't all there because of vices or failure. A large percentage are there because society does not care for those with mental disabilities. It was good on this story to highlight that Ron had problems with gambling. Autism does, in fact, make an individual more prone to various addictions. My point in writing this, please have some humanity about the homeless. I get that they can be inconvenient. They are people and they aren't necessarily bad people due to their circumstances. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29633853/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29633853/

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
ChrisMarshallNY 11mo ago
Happy Christmas, folks! > please have some humanity about the homeless In the US, the homeless population exploded, in the 1980s, when they closed down all the mental institutions. Before that, there was a far less pervasive homeless population in urban areas. Being "on the spectrum," myself (but highly functional), I can attest to how easy it is for an autistic person's life to go sideways. Many autistic folks have very specialized and advanced skills, which can sometimes be applicable to making a living (like programming, or visual design). However, we're "different," which often leads to being shunned/traumatized by neurotypicals. I got used to folks eventually walking away from relationships, for no discernible reason. Used to really bother me, until I figured it out. Now, I just take it in stride, and appreciate whatever time I get to spend with folks. If anyone has seen The Accountant (the first one), there's a scene, near the end, where Ben Affleck's character is considering putting the moves on Anna Kendrick's character, but remembers his father, admonishing him that people will always end up being frightened of "the difference," and he sneaks out, instead. That scene almost brought me to tears, I could relate so well. For some folks, it's much worse. They can be relentlessly bullied, abused, locked up, or shunned, which leaves psychological scars that manifest as antisocial behavior, so they are never given a chance to show what they can do.
- globalnode 11mo ago
  People like this really are at the mercy of fate, and the people they come into contact with throughout their lives. Its so unfair. But thankfully this story had a good outcome. Happy Christmas to you and everyone else here as well :)
- fragmede 11mo ago
  Thankfully LLMs have ingested enough of human writing that one afflicted in such a way can describe the exact set of circumstances and ask the LLM how they made the other people feel, and figure out why they got expelled from the group this time. It never stops happening for us. I'm 42 now and it's happened twice this past year. But at least now I can figure out what it is I did wrong and how to prevent that from happening again.
  - namanyayg 11mo ago
    I'm trying to understand this better, possible to share any examples?
    - fragmede 11mo ago
      Not going to share a personal example, but eg plug "I bought my mom a vacuum cleaner for her birthday. Why did she get mad at me? she keeps complaining about the old one!" into ChatGPT vs find me any human willing to sit down and have that as an actual discussion with me as a human of any age. I'm just supposed to get it? I'm a fucking monster and unworthy of being loved because I need that explained to me? "You should just know!" Fuck people.
      - catlikesshrimp 11mo ago
        To be honest, that can happen to any kid depending on the background I grew up at a time when a home appliance was an acceptable gift for the woman in charge. I heard women complaining progressively more through time, and now it is not an acceptable gift.
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
fny 11mo ago
In the US, homeless individuals foremost suffer from financial hardship not mental illness. Consider 39% of homeless individuals are in families [0: Page 17] while 40% have a serious mental illness or drug problem.[1] Many develop these problems while homeless. Homelessness in the US has also increased by 47% since 2018. [0: Page 2] I doubt homelessness or drug abuse has increased accordingly. People make the mistake to think otherwise because its not the homelessness you often see. [0]: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-... [1]: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/five-key-facts-about-people-experiencing-homelessness/ https://www.kff.org/medicaid/five-key-facts-about-people-exp...
- broretore 11mo ago
  Do you want to fix the typo?
- zahlman 11mo ago
  > People make the mistake to think otherwise because its not the homelessness you often see. Indeed. Those homeless people without mental illness likely have more interest in not being seen, and more ability to avoid it. > Homelessness in the US has also increased by 47% since 2018. [0: Page 2] I doubt homelessness or drug abuse has increased accordingly. Not sure what the typo is in here. Surely homelessness has indeed increased in accordance with homelessness.
- nickff 11mo ago
  Take a look at Figure 7 on this page, which indicates that (annual) overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2018: https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overd... If have lived anywhere with a significant drug-addict (opioid or fentanyl) population through this time period, you’ve seen the increase; if you haven’t, you may be lucky for it.
- hamdingers 11mo ago
  > People make the mistake to think otherwise because its not the homelessness you often see. I don't think this is a mistake so much as people do not care about the homelessness they don't see. Ironically when you use the specific words for the homelessness they do care about (unsheltered or unhoused) you're accused of being woke or whatever.
EgregiousCube 11mo ago
The article you linked shows 12-13% autism-positive rate over N~100 cases, in the UK - and it doesn't distinguish, in the free abstract at least, between minor/moderate/severe, or comorbidities among that population. I agree that we should be kind to individuals and that understanding an individual's problems can help with that. That said, this paper does not appear to provide convincing evidence that autism is a major contributor to homelessness.
- cogman10 11mo ago
  I was pretty careful not to say that autism causes homelessness. Rather, that a significant portion of the homeless have autism. The abstract says the same thing.
la64710 11mo ago
I wonder if AI can help them ?
- ThePowerOfFuet 11mo ago
  >I wonder if AI can help them ? No. No, it can't.
  - mettamage 11mo ago
    I mostly agree but I think it may be able to help with social skills training in the future.
  - fragmede 11mo ago
    It can and it does.
wnevets 11mo ago
>A large percentage are there because society does not care for those with mental disabilities. This is why it's so frustrating to hear people smugly say we just need to build more houses to solve the homeless crisis.
- mmooss 11mo ago
  Attributing 'smugness' is a way to duck the merits of the issue. People with mental disabilities also need a stable roof over their head, security, privacy, heat, a bathroom, a bed. I expect they need it more (very broadly speaking; people have very different disabilities do different degrees), because it's harder to adapt and survive without it, and therefore more traumatizing and destabilizing. There is plenty of evidence, and it's common sense, that having a stable shelter and all the things I listed above would greatly help anyone. Humans in every culture have sought shelter for all of history - it's absolutely fundamental to humanity (and other animals!). Depriving people of it results in unending trauma - not a state to begin getting your life together, harm from others and the environment, an inability to accumulate assets, and spending all your time trying to survive.
  - wnevets 11mo ago
    > Attributing 'smugness' is a way to duck the merits of the issue. People with mental disabilities also need a stable roof over their head, security, privacy, heat, a bathroom, a bed But it's only one piece of a very complex problem, it's akin to the magical thinking that is incredibly provision everywhere these days. "Just stop using seed oils and America will be healthy again!" People who have personally dealt with this know the hard truth that simply providing food and shelter isn't enough to stop a significant portion of people ending up in the streets.
    - mmooss 11mo ago
      > it's only one piece of a very complex problem Right, who is disagreeing? Name someone. You've created a strawperson. The knee-jerk anti-liberal responses (maybe that's not your motive, but it is for many) do enormous damage, by preventing good solutions from being implemented. The same thing happens with climate change, now vaccines, and other things. People are so focused on politics that they sacrifice lives and welfare of lots of people. There are good ideas from conservatives too - cutting off half the ideas is stupidity. > People who have personally dealt with this know the hard truth that simply providing food and shelter isn't enough to stop a significant portion of people ending up in the streets. In fact, the evidence and advocacy comes from people who have personally dealth with it, and providing housing does result in housing for a significant portion of people. People need more than housing and that's where it becomes especially complex.
eeeficus 11mo ago
There’s always someone with the buzzkill. Do you think is really that hard, for those who care, yo find all these sad facts? FFS man, let us celebrate the good a little bit. In this world is really not that hard to find the bad!
- sieabahlpark 11mo ago
  [dead]
NedF 11mo ago
[dead]
rurban 11mo ago
It's much simplier than autism. Most homeless just get divorced and get into alcohol. I've worked for homeless shelters. But in my country we do have proper care for homeless and autitisc people automatically. No need for private families to care for them. Some still do though.

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

ChrisMarshallNY 11mo ago

Happy Christmas, folks! > please have some humanity about the homeless In the US, the homeless population exploded, in the 1980s, when they closed down all the mental institutions. Before that, there was a far less pervasive homeless population in urban areas. Being "on the spectrum," myself (but highly functional), I can attest to how easy it is for an autistic person's life to go sideways. Many autistic folks have very specialized and advanced skills, which can sometimes be applicable to making a living (like programming, or visual design). However, we're "different," which often leads to being shunned/traumatized by neurotypicals. I got used to folks eventually walking away from relationships, for no discernible reason. Used to really bother me, until I figured it out. Now, I just take it in stride, and appreciate whatever time I get to spend with folks. If anyone has seen The Accountant (the first one), there's a scene, near the end, where Ben Affleck's character is considering putting the moves on Anna Kendrick's character, but remembers his father, admonishing him that people will always end up being frightened of "the difference," and he sneaks out, instead. That scene almost brought me to tears, I could relate so well. For some folks, it's much worse. They can be relentlessly bullied, abused, locked up, or shunned, which leaves psychological scars that manifest as antisocial behavior, so they are never given a chance to show what they can do.

globalnode 11mo ago
People like this really are at the mercy of fate, and the people they come into contact with throughout their lives. Its so unfair. But thankfully this story had a good outcome. Happy Christmas to you and everyone else here as well :)
fragmede 11mo ago
Thankfully LLMs have ingested enough of human writing that one afflicted in such a way can describe the exact set of circumstances and ask the LLM how they made the other people feel, and figure out why they got expelled from the group this time. It never stops happening for us. I'm 42 now and it's happened twice this past year. But at least now I can figure out what it is I did wrong and how to prevent that from happening again.
- namanyayg 11mo ago
  I'm trying to understand this better, possible to share any examples?
  - fragmede 11mo ago
    Not going to share a personal example, but eg plug "I bought my mom a vacuum cleaner for her birthday. Why did she get mad at me? she keeps complaining about the old one!" into ChatGPT vs find me any human willing to sit down and have that as an actual discussion with me as a human of any age. I'm just supposed to get it? I'm a fucking monster and unworthy of being loved because I need that explained to me? "You should just know!" Fuck people.
    - catlikesshrimp 11mo ago
      To be honest, that can happen to any kid depending on the background I grew up at a time when a home appliance was an acceptable gift for the woman in charge. I heard women complaining progressively more through time, and now it is not an acceptable gift.

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

fny 11mo ago

In the US, homeless individuals foremost suffer from financial hardship not mental illness. Consider 39% of homeless individuals are in families [0: Page 17] while 40% have a serious mental illness or drug problem.[1] Many develop these problems while homeless. Homelessness in the US has also increased by 47% since 2018. [0: Page 2] I doubt homelessness or drug abuse has increased accordingly. People make the mistake to think otherwise because its not the homelessness you often see. [0]: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-... [1]: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/five-key-facts-about-people-experiencing-homelessness/ https://www.kff.org/medicaid/five-key-facts-about-people-exp...

broretore 11mo ago
Do you want to fix the typo?
zahlman 11mo ago
> People make the mistake to think otherwise because its not the homelessness you often see. Indeed. Those homeless people without mental illness likely have more interest in not being seen, and more ability to avoid it. > Homelessness in the US has also increased by 47% since 2018. [0: Page 2] I doubt homelessness or drug abuse has increased accordingly. Not sure what the typo is in here. Surely homelessness has indeed increased in accordance with homelessness.
nickff 11mo ago
Take a look at Figure 7 on this page, which indicates that (annual) overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2018: https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overd... If have lived anywhere with a significant drug-addict (opioid or fentanyl) population through this time period, you’ve seen the increase; if you haven’t, you may be lucky for it.
hamdingers 11mo ago
> People make the mistake to think otherwise because its not the homelessness you often see. I don't think this is a mistake so much as people do not care about the homelessness they don't see. Ironically when you use the specific words for the homelessness they do care about (unsheltered or unhoused) you're accused of being woke or whatever.

EgregiousCube 11mo ago

The article you linked shows 12-13% autism-positive rate over N~100 cases, in the UK - and it doesn't distinguish, in the free abstract at least, between minor/moderate/severe, or comorbidities among that population. I agree that we should be kind to individuals and that understanding an individual's problems can help with that. That said, this paper does not appear to provide convincing evidence that autism is a major contributor to homelessness.

cogman10 11mo ago
I was pretty careful not to say that autism causes homelessness. Rather, that a significant portion of the homeless have autism. The abstract says the same thing.

la64710 11mo ago

I wonder if AI can help them ?

ThePowerOfFuet 11mo ago
>I wonder if AI can help them ? No. No, it can't.
- mettamage 11mo ago
  I mostly agree but I think it may be able to help with social skills training in the future.
- fragmede 11mo ago
  It can and it does.

wnevets 11mo ago

>A large percentage are there because society does not care for those with mental disabilities. This is why it's so frustrating to hear people smugly say we just need to build more houses to solve the homeless crisis.

mmooss 11mo ago
Attributing 'smugness' is a way to duck the merits of the issue. People with mental disabilities also need a stable roof over their head, security, privacy, heat, a bathroom, a bed. I expect they need it more (very broadly speaking; people have very different disabilities do different degrees), because it's harder to adapt and survive without it, and therefore more traumatizing and destabilizing. There is plenty of evidence, and it's common sense, that having a stable shelter and all the things I listed above would greatly help anyone. Humans in every culture have sought shelter for all of history - it's absolutely fundamental to humanity (and other animals!). Depriving people of it results in unending trauma - not a state to begin getting your life together, harm from others and the environment, an inability to accumulate assets, and spending all your time trying to survive.
- wnevets 11mo ago
  > Attributing 'smugness' is a way to duck the merits of the issue. People with mental disabilities also need a stable roof over their head, security, privacy, heat, a bathroom, a bed But it's only one piece of a very complex problem, it's akin to the magical thinking that is incredibly provision everywhere these days. "Just stop using seed oils and America will be healthy again!" People who have personally dealt with this know the hard truth that simply providing food and shelter isn't enough to stop a significant portion of people ending up in the streets.
  - mmooss 11mo ago
    > it's only one piece of a very complex problem Right, who is disagreeing? Name someone. You've created a strawperson. The knee-jerk anti-liberal responses (maybe that's not your motive, but it is for many) do enormous damage, by preventing good solutions from being implemented. The same thing happens with climate change, now vaccines, and other things. People are so focused on politics that they sacrifice lives and welfare of lots of people. There are good ideas from conservatives too - cutting off half the ideas is stupidity. > People who have personally dealt with this know the hard truth that simply providing food and shelter isn't enough to stop a significant portion of people ending up in the streets. In fact, the evidence and advocacy comes from people who have personally dealth with it, and providing housing does result in housing for a significant portion of people. People need more than housing and that's where it becomes especially complex.

eeeficus 11mo ago

There’s always someone with the buzzkill. Do you think is really that hard, for those who care, yo find all these sad facts? FFS man, let us celebrate the good a little bit. In this world is really not that hard to find the bad!

sieabahlpark 11mo ago
[dead]

NedF 11mo ago

[dead]

rurban 11mo ago

It's much simplier than autism. Most homeless just get divorced and get into alcohol. I've worked for homeless shelters. But in my country we do have proper care for homeless and autitisc people automatically. No need for private families to care for them. Some still do though.