Advocates set ambitious goal for jobs for Autistic adults

Post Reply New Topic

Michigan NPR

Full employment for us is impossible until better biological treatments are created that address the real reasons many of us cannot work that go beyond simple discrimination.

Some of us cannot live on our own or make ourselves breakfast let alone have the ability to hold down a job and work to the efficiency and accuracy to make us worthwhile hiring.

Someone has to pay our wages like a shopkeeper for example , would a small business owner be able to keep paying someone who was very inefficient and still stay profitable? after all and a job is not charity.

Looks like political spin to me like a few years back when all the UN Security Council members agreed that all nuclear weapons need to be eliminated in principle.

Everyone knew that was never going to happen, never did happen and Russia, China & US are developing new nukes at the moment.

It sounds all very inclusive and everything, but even if they employ adults with autism at the same rate as neurotypical workers, that doesn't mean the same level jobs.

Just feel good political spin bit like peace on earth, end racism, no more fossil fuels etc etc

The reality is more complicated.

It’s easy to say because nobody takes ownership in ten years the ones saying it will have either retired or moved jobs.

Bit like bad CEO they cream off a 7 figure salary for a few years running a company into the ground while saying some positive business spin nonsense to the media. When the time is right they jump ship to sail off in distance in their super yacht and let someone else pick up the pieces.

The reaction to this post so far is exactly the problem in America today. If 100 percent of what is wanted is not gotten it is a failure and never should have been tried. If this initiative results in some autistics being employed that would not have been that is a good thing. If this initiative fails it presents an opportunity to learn from its mistakes. An important part of learning is finding out what does not work.

I have no idea what it is percentage wise, but I certainly read in posts on WP from people who can’t get on at work for a variety of reasons, many have to do with impaired socialization.

Employers and fellow employees would prefer someone who gets along socially rather than someone who gets the job done. It may not be intentional discrimination. I’m not sure they even know they are doing it. It would be interesting to see if there were to be developed an accommodation that would compensate for impaired socialization.

So that more of us can be employed, we need more autistic-friendly workplaces to be created.

In order for autistic-friendly workplaces to thrive and function well as productive businesses, we also need more of us to be taught what I call autistic-friendly social skills, which would enable us to get along better with each other and with autistic-friendly NT coworkers/managers, but without necessarily blending in with a mainstream NT crowd.