Transportation Use and Barriers for Employed and Unemployed Autistic Adults

Autistic adults are significantly unemployed or underemployed even compared with other disability groups. Employment is a social determinant that, when satisfied, closely influences health-related quality of life. For autistic adults, environmental barriers to transportation can impact the ability to get to employment resulting in limited employment opportunities. This study provides a closer examination of the association between transportation use and employment status.

To examine the use of different types of transportation and barriers to public transit by employed and unemployed autistic adults.

The data were from a large statewide study conducted between May 2017 and June 2018 using the Pennsylvania Autism Needs Assessment (PANA), in which information about employment and transportation use was obtained from autistic adults who were residents of Pennsylvania. The study sample included 1120 autistic adults (M_age = 28.03 years, standard deviation = 9.84; 70% men; 82% non-Hispanic White).

Participants who were employed were more likely to drive themselves than those who were unemployed (45% vs. 21%, p < 0.001), while they were less likely to take rides from others (62% vs. 75%, p < 0.001) or use service transportation (11% vs. 18%, p = 0.001). For barriers to public transit, the results identified that employed participants reported fewer barriers to public transportation than unemployed participants with a small effect size (1.98 vs. 2.54, d = 0.22).

Employed autistic adults exercise more transportation independence. Unemployed autistic adults report more barriers to participation and lower ability to independently use public transportation. Future transportation and employment studies are necessary.