Surprise! As you can see, I have changed the way this website looks. I didn’t really love the way the old page looked and the print was way too small for me. I like this much better, but the mountain picture has nothing to do with autism or employment, so please bear with me while I find a better picture. If you have any ideas, let me know!!
Anyway, moving on…I read a lot of news articles about autism and employment. After reading a lot of them, they all kind of sound the same because they use pretty much the same data, many feel kind of like puff pieces. In my random internet searches on the topic, however, I recently found an article from Inc. magazine that really surprised me due to the depth with which the reporter analyzed employers/ees with autism. The article, headlined “50,000 People With Autism Need Jobs This Year. Here’s Why You Should Hire Them”, was published June 2015 (so some of you may have already read it).
A Few Things I Found Particularly Interesting:
- First of all, the article reported that some believe that small businesses are more likely to be a better fit for individuals on the spectrum. This is because smaller businesses tend to have the flexibility required to successfully employ people with ASD. I find this interesting because I know several large corporations who employ individuals with ASD and I wonder what they do to address the flexibility issue.
- Secondly, employers have found that employees with ASD are more social and capable of working with others than conventional knowledge would suggest. I have read this elsewhere as well (will update with references later). In conversations with people who have never worked with individuals with ASD, some do seem to have the sense that people with autism are incapable of working in a team. Of course, this depends on the specific characteristics of each person, but many are perfectly capable and even enjoy it.
- Lastly, the business model has to come first. It doesn’t do any one any good if the business is not successful. I don’t really have anything to add to this…seems pretty obvious! The point is that you can’t sell the fact that you hire people with ASD. That’s not a product.
Employing the Spectrum 