Wanted: Jobs for Adults with Autism
September 17, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Ruth Kieffer, whose 21-year-old son has Asperger Syndrome, writes about his difficulties finding long-term employment in a letter in today’s Appleton Post-Crescent:
After many, many job applications, there were two places that seemed eager to hire him — until someone in higher management positions decided they didn’t want to hire someone with an autism disorder.
Do they not understand that this is discrimination? Is there a fear of what they don’t understand? [my emphasis]
Here is a young man with a genius IQ who wants to work, was never late to his job experiences, never called in sick, is honest to a fault — yet is not given a chance because of prejudice, plain and simple.
Adults with autism are a fact of life.[my emphasis] Would we prefer they live on disability income alone, or do we want them to become contributing members of society, paying their own way in this world?
I know what my preference is for my son.
I know mine too—-it’s an ita vero, a really strong YES in Latin—-what is yours?
Absolutely yes.
I would rather work.
But good gravy people are prejudiced. If it isn’t autism, it’s driving, or multitasking, or makes good water cooler conversation. It’s like, if we’re qualified for it, they find a reason to decide we AREN’T.
Illegal, but without the job we cant afford the lawsuit.
Disclosing a dx at the workplace is a hot debate at Wrong Planet, the forum for autistics. It never came up for me because a)I never knew about being autistic when looking for a job and b) I held jobs where neurological dx was irrelevant, that is they hired a variety of people with a variety of dx’es. The only office jobs I’ve had I fit in okay.
I’ve never aimed too high, though, and wonder if that’s because of my “Quirky NOS”. I do worry about my son but not too much because his parents never starved.
Back to the debate, though, there are people who face workplace conflict because no one knows “why” they are “different”. There are people who are accepted (enough) until they disclose their dx. I knew people who couldn’t work if they took their prescribed meds.
I personally don’t see the point of disclosure unless your accomodation needs are such that you need a job coach or help through the hiring process.
That’s just wrong, and illegal. It’s stuff like this why many autistic adults feel they need to conceal their diagnosis.
Hello friends –
Are we sure that the discrimination against autistics in the workplace isn’t being as overblown as the epidemic of autism? After all, a full one percent of American males of every age are on the spectrum, and all indications are that for the most part, they’ve managed to find jobs just fine.
Before the flaming starts, I’m not saying there isn’t discrimination out there; with certainly there is.
But I am saying, that if a full one percent of men of every age were finding it impossible to find work, I’d think the unemployment rate would be well in excess of five percent.
- pD
“But I am saying, that if a full one percent of men of every age were finding it impossible to find work, I’d think the unemployment rate would be well in excess of five percent.”
That does not follow. 1% is 1/5th of 5%. There’s plenty of room for non-autistics to also be unemployed.
But I agree with the other poing; many if not most ASD adults are probably employed, and it’s not far fetched to suppose that they were able to get employment precisely because of the lack of a label, sad as that might be.
Just as institutionalization can screw up a person’s odds of progressing developmentally and in society, I don’t doubt a label could in itself have similar effects. I’m not just referring to discrimination. Consider the level of self-doubt a brain disease label invariably will inflict on someone.
So a generation from now, perhaps the unemployment rate will be higher, and no doubt some professions will suffer more than others.
I’m speculating, but none of this is far fetched.
The moment I started disclosing my dx was the moment I stopped getting job offers. Period. Door slammed shut.
Non-disclosure, on the other hand, has always led to a firestorm of unrealistic expectations and accusations, the likes of which I would defy any neurotypical to manage effectively. I lived with that and went right on trying for decades, without having the first clue as to why it was happening.
Finding out that I was on the spectrum was sine qua non where accepting and understanding myself was concerned.
But when it comes to supporting myself, the diagnosis was a virtual death-sentence. The only way I can find employment is by pretending to be something I’m not, knowing full-well that the pretense will ultimately fail, and in a few months, I’ll be right back where I started. It’s a perfect formula for the systematic destruction of self-confidence and hope.
And I can’t get social services because I can’t afford a decent neuro-psych evaluation. To sign off on my prior dx (by a blatantly incompetent professional) would be to risk direct threat to my freedom, perhaps even my life, but would in no way guarantee my eligibility for services.
“No resource — no recourse.”
Tough luck, huh?
BTW, the unemployment stats in the US only count individuals who have been actively looking for work in the past 4 weeks and are currently available to work.
Brain disease? Trying ur hand at those scare tactic headlines?
Until recently I was working in a very well paying position, due to the inherent honesty (of that brain disease) that may soon end. With all of the conflict going (lack of cause/cure/support) on why shouldn’t I just be happy to give up trying to pretend and go on disability eh?
Wouldn’t know one way nor t’other.
But the day when the CEO’s job at the NAS were open to autistics only, now that would be something.
http://www.onepercentoftheuk.co.uk/
Go for it and tell them I sent you!!!
I haven’t really applied for a job, but I can probably get along without disclosure. But I may chose not to, even if it kills a job opportunity. I’m not sure I’d really want to be employed under that cloud of deception. I guess I’ll have to figure that out. Typically, in various situations, I find a way to prove myself before disclosure, which usually is enough to be secure, but I don’t think that will really work in a workplace.
On a side note, someone said that the label creates self-doubt. I would say it eliminates self-doubt more than creates it. I thought I was mentally deficient or retarded before the diagnosis even after I had tested high on an IQ test. That’s now changed, because the label asserts the differences, which really made sense. It also gave me the language to articulate the differences, which can really be helpful (and was when applying for college).
Cliff
Disclosure is a HIPAA issue. I do not need to inform my employer of Asperger’s any more than my boss needs to tell the company if she is planning on having children or if she/he were gay or if they are diabetic.
Has nothing to do with my ability and they know I am quirky. I work in a field where quirky is the norm and I bring a kind of stability because I enforce routine. I am surrounded by NT’s with short attention spans and I am hyper focused.
Never hand your enemy a weapon. Too many people have this innocent world view that the world is their friend.
Business is a form of war. I go in to every negotiation with the sole concentration of how to get people to GIVE me what my client needs.
~Sarah
Attempting a more positive note, might there not be jobs in which disclosure about having autism might be a plus—-just musing.
Last year at a conference I met a mother who has a college-age son with Asperger Syndrome. He had had to drop out and had lost his scholarship at one college for a variety of reasons that she traced to his having AS. And: She also told me that she was seeking a diagnosis of AS for herself in order to get certain workplace accommodations; she was a secretary/administrative assistant for a state agency and knew she was very much over-qualified, but various aspects of other jobs more suited to her background had proven not possible. She hoped that an AS diagnosis might help, but also had a lot of worries about it.
FindLaw: Discrimination in Employment
http://public.findlaw.com/civil-rights/employee-discrimination/
Frequently Asked Questions about Discrimination
http://www.markwomacklaw.com/cm/fsdp/practicecenter/employment-employee/discrimination.asp?focus=faq
Who cares if they close the doors?
Some of the young people who are mother’s students are buying and selling stocks on the e-trade and other sites getting good at day trading! I am serious. An eleven year old has become so good at it! He even advises others.
I would ask someone to try that. And don’t forget to study the wall-street journals and related ones.
Start with less amount and then dare ahead. Mother taught me when schools in India would not accept me- ‘If there is no way to find, we must make one.’
-
Regards to one and all,
Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay
Gainful employment for my aspie, that’s my hope. In his case, disclosure might help more than harm him. At the very least, employers/colleagues might understand why he says “Who’re you?” when they smile and wave at him and he stares back in puzzlement or worse yet, quickens his pace and hurries on.
If truly there was ever an elephant in the room—if 1 in 150 children have a diagnosis of autism—the next decades will produce a tremendous number of adults with autism. No one talks about what happens if they are not “cured” as a child. Those adults (and their parents) will be looking to for support, care and possible direction. The Federal & State Gov’ts will be overwhelmed with the number of request for services. Those on the aspie end of the spectrum want and need to be employeed, in an environment that allows them to be accepted and flourish despite their quirks. I would like to see business & industry (both public and private) open doors for these individuals judging them by their abilities not their disabilities. There are CEOs, Presidents, Movers and Shakers that families have been touched by an autism dx—they are great at forming foundations, funding research, appearing on TV—but they have the ability to do so much more. They can open the doors….
My aspie son is a bright, Master degree holding 25-year adult that has been unable to find a job. However, he remains my hero —he is also OCD, Tourette’s, suffers face blindness, and has Crohn’s disease (a cruel friend of lots of children with autism) –yet, he gets up every morning and goes to a volunteer job to get the necessary experience– and tries to find meaningful employment. He has been well trained, (note, I didn’t say “cured”) you can’t detect the scope of his issues in just one meeting–but you know there is a slight difference in him. As for disclosure–he doesn’t have a problem with it, but he knows that despite the fact that it is illegal, he won’t get a job if he discloses his issues up front. I know he is frustrated, but I can’t change him, he is wired this way. I just wish that others could delight in his special gifts.
Asperger Technical was founded last year to support highly skilled people such as scientists, engineers, and software developers, with Asperger syndrome and high functioning autism. The organisation is based in Britain but is willing to work with people from any country.