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Autism finds space in the workplaceJune 5, 2013

LONDON: Some call it

neurological diversity, others see it as autisms fight back. People diagnosed as on the

spectrum are suddenly in demand by employers seeking a competitive advantage from

autistic workers more used to being considered disabled than special.

Expressing a belief that innovationcomes from the edges, German computer softwaregiant

SAP last month launched a recruitment drive to attract people with autism to join it as

software testers.

A week later, US home financing firm Freddie Mac advertised a second round of paid

internships aimed specifically at autistic students or new graduates.

The multinationals both say they hope to harness the unique talents of autistic people as well

as giving people previously marginalized in the workforce a chance to flourish in a job.

Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to

handle the challenges of the 21st Century, SAPs board member for human resources, Luisa

Delgado, said as she announced the plan.

For Ari Neeman, president of the Washington DC-based Autistic Self Advocacy Network

(ASAN) and a member of the US National Council on Disability, the moves are welcome and

well overdue. Its high time autism fought back, he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

We need to see neurological diversityin much the same way as weve seen workplace

diversity efforts in the past on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation, he said.

Were now seeing a growing level of interest in this.

Autistic spectrum disorders, including Aspergers syndrome orhigh-functioning autism, are

thought to affect around 1% of the population worldwide.

The disorders are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors and can

range from severe mental retardation with a profound inability to communicate, to relatively

mild symptoms combined with some high levels of function such as those seen in people with

Aspergers.

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Among the core features of autism are poor communication skills and social difficulties. In

high-functioning autism, features such as intense or obsessive focus and unwavering

attention to detail are also common.

These latter qualities, experts say, as well an ability to approach an issue in a different way

often a creative or counterintuitive onemake autistic people potentially attractive as

employees in large corporations.

Historically, there seemed to be a certain perception of this population as being incapable of

performing corporate level work, Freddie Macs diversity manager Stephanie Roemer told

Reuters. In reality people on the spectrum offer so much to an organization willing to think

outside of the box and view this cadre of talent as a value add.

Obsession and success

Joshua Kendall, author of Americas Obsessives, which argues that some of historys

greatest American business and political leaders became successful partly because of

obsessive personality traits, says the firms that get in first on this trend are likely to reap

rewards.

These big companies arent doing it out of the kindness of their heart; they are doing it

because they now realize theyve been missing something, he said in a telephone interview.

He said the crucial question if such recruitment drives are to prove successful and

sustainable is how much society will seek to accommodate people who think differently, or

how much it would seek to cure them of their disorder.

These are people who have traditionally been labeled as disabled. So do we want to treat

them, or do we want to allow them to be as they are and adapt to them?

SAP says its global autism recruitment drive, which aims to employ 650 autistic people

around 1 percent of its workforceby 2020, comes after successful pilot projects in India and

Ireland. It is a collaborative project with Specialisterne, a Danish consultancy that gets people

with autism into jobs where they can shine.

Neeman says so far most of the firms expressing interest in autistic workers tend to be in

science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. In future, he says he hopes

their success will encourage others to take notice.

Many of us can and do succeed in a wide variety of professions, he said. I, for instance, am

an autistic person working in politics and public policy, which is certainly not a stereotypical

field.

In Britain, only 15 percent of adults with autism are in full-time employment, says Carol

Povey, a director at the UKs National Autistic Society a fraction, she adds, of those who

could contribute to the world of work.

In the United States, according to Neeman, studies of the working lives of autistic people

have not been done, so no comparable data is available.

Its great to see organizations not just doing from corporate social responsibility, but actually

recognizing there is a good business case behind having more people with autism in the

workforce, Povey said. These people will contribute to the effectiveness and growth of the

business.

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Yet autism campaigners, and the firms seeking to recruit people on the spectrum, know there

will be problems, too. Povey notes that the social aspects of being in a workplace or office

may pose particular challenges for autistic recruits.

They may be great at doing the task in hand, but really struggle when it comes to water

cooler moments or lunchtime.

In fact they may even make other colleagues feel inadequate or awkward. They are unlikely

to get involved in the banter of the workplace, and more likely to just get on with the job.

- Reuters