Acceptance of Autistic People in the Workplace

Employers often find it difficult to involve an autistic person in their work environment. This is largely because of the difference in skills of a person with autism spectrum disorder and the non-autistic people in the workplace. Nonetheless, employers are increasingly opening up to hire autistic people, and are glad that they did.

Many autistic employees have qualities that make them suitable for some particular types of jobs, like software testing. When asked what she liked the most about her job, Tina Malkovich said, “Computer language programming.” And her favorite hobby? “Computer language programming,” she says insipidly. Tina was diagnosed of high-functioning autism at the age of two.

People with Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism are usually more suited to a formal job environment. Autistic people enjoy doing repetitive tasks that most neuro-typical people find boring. These include organizing file systems, updating records, fixing computers, and similar other things. Employers vouch the loyalty and reliability of their autistic employees. Their desire to observe a routine means that once they find a job which suits them well, they are unlikely to miss or quit it.

People with autism spectrum disorder are brutally honest and that sometimes becomes socially awkward. But it works to the advantage of the employer. An autistic person working in the logistics department of a company found that a particular process could be automated. He immediately brought it to the notice of his manger, instead of keeping quiet, which most non-autistic persons would have done in such a case. The process was automated and the company was able to reduce its operational costs.

Over the last few years, many companies, charities and social organizations have opened up to hire people with autism. Finding employment, despite the hardships, is starting to get easier. There are a few firms in the US and Europe that offer training to special needs people and help them to get gainful employment. Most autistic people excel in software programming, quality testing, and process inspection because these jobs include repetitive processes. Some autistic persons have high intelligence. They are known as autism savants. The firms that train autistic people also provide them with job coaches who help in negotiating salaries and brief potential clients about what to expect from employees with autism spectrum disorder.

Autistic employees with rare technical skills find it easier to land jobs. But it’s usually difficult for those who don’t have such abilities. While their performance is as good as other workers, passing the recruitment process is usually a tall order for most of them.

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The Math on the Farm app helps autistic children to pick up mathematical skills. The Make Sentences app, on its part, imparts English skills to those aged 5-35 years