Transitioning to Adulthood with Autism: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues

This book offers the first ever book-length treatment of the topic of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood with autism and the attendant ethical, legal and social issues for the individual as well as caregivers and professionals. It features experts in a variety of areas (law, bioethics, philosophy, pediatrics, neurology, medicine, psychology, special education, social work, employment, civic participation, social media) who provide commentary on these areas and the relevant ethical/legal/social challenges young autistic adults face in these different areas. This is an indispensable read for educators, therapists, and other professionals who work in transition with young autistic adults.



Chapter “Autism, the Criminal Justice System, and Transition to Adulthood” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Nanette Elster, JD, MPH, is an Associate Professor at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. She is an active educator in the graduate program, teaching courses in areas related to law, pediatrics, oral health, genetics, and professionalism.  She also supervises the graduate program’s writing courses, master's capstone course, and doctoral capstone courses. She has extensive experience in legal, public health and ethical issues related to women’s and children’s health. She has spoken nationally and internationally and is the author of numerous articles on the legal, health policy and ethical implications of a range of public health issues. She has served as the chair of the Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law for the American Bar Association. She is the legal consultant to the Committee on Bioethics for the American Academy of Pediatrics.  She is the Manager of Ethics Outreach for the American DentalAssociation and the Director of Communications for the American College of Dentists. She also serves on the board of the Alliance for Fertility Preservation, the board of the Academy for Professionalism in Health Care  and is a member of the ethics committee of NorthShore University Health System and Lurie Children’s Hospital. 

Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD, HEC-C, is a Professor of Bioethics and Graduate Program Director at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He is the moderator for Loyola Bioethics Live, a monthly webinar featuring the work of Loyola bioethics faculty, students and alumni. In 2018, he was named Graduate Faculty Member of the Year at Loyola University Chicago. He is an active educator in the Stritch School of Medicine and serves on the ethics committee and is an ethics consultant for Loyola Hospital. He received the HEC-C credential in 2018 from the Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified (HEC-C) program. He has published in a variety of areas and has interests in clinical ethics, medical ethics education, professionalism and professional ethics, global health and justice, media and bioethics, and the history of medicine and bioethics. He serves as an associate editor for the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), one of the highest impact journals in bioethics. He has served in a variety of leadership roles for the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH). He was elected president-elect of ASBH in 2019 and is serving a two-year term as President of ASBH from 2021 to 2023.