Business is still scared of autism

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I think this is a great article and is well worth sharing with employers and colleagues. it has really caught some of the great strengths that can be utilised in business... but also in recognising that these skills are transferable to all areas of our lives.

http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanageme ... utism.aspx

The article is from the UK but in the US business is scared of everything because of fear of lawsuits and workplace violence. Better to hire a "team player" then take chance is the attitude now. Sad part is most of the great American inventions were the result of a vision of a single person who went against the conventional wisdom, not some board, or a Hunan Resources department. Who is going to replace these people? Tech seems like uber individualism's last stand.

Wow! I didn't know the 85% of people on the spectrum were unemployed or underemployed!

How can anyone rationalise the status quo after reading this!

For those on the lower functioning end, it's not surprising at all, but many of the same problems exist for the higher functioning as the lower functioning. One of the major reasons for underemployment is that interviews are biased against aspies.

At school Career Days and such, they often give out a list of "universal" workplace skills. They're all social and team skills. This depresses me, knowing that skills I will never be able to develop properly are apparently so prized and essential.

Yeah, I was very fortunate that I somehow managed to bypass the interview for my current job. Otherwise, I would not have gotten it.

It really bothers me how much emphasis people put on social skills in the workplace. I had a professor who constantly liked to remind us that eye contact was the only way that you were going to succeed at your career. Drove me nuts.

Evan at a place of disabilities such as vocational rehabilitation the "job readiness" training you get is network, make eye contact, always present a positive attitude no matter how you feel etc. I want to be angry at them, but I can't because they are not wrong. I just wish they were not so chirpy about it. Even if it is just to say sometimes in life you got to do what you hate to be able to afford the rent. But I realize that not liking networking or not having positive attitude 100% of the time is beyond their comprehension.

I have been reading articles talking about how machines and AI are starting to take over many of the jobs that Aspies would normally do well in. If that's true, what that means to me is that social skills and people skills will become even more coveted in jobs as machines start to take more and more of them. Pretty soon, even decent social skills may not be enough. Unless you can charm masses of people like Barack Obama, you may find yourself underemployed at best. If this really is where things are headed, I think it's only going to get tougher for Aspies in the future.