In
total, the combined unemployment and underemployment for young adults with
autism is estimated at 90 percent nationwide. People with ASD were said to
have a worse “no participation” rate of unemployment than any other disability
group tracked in a separate 2012 study from Washington University in St. Louis. Bt
it doesn’t have to be this way. As noted in a 2014 report published in the Review Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, some people with ASD possess a number of
particular traits and attributes that are in-demand among employers, such as
excellent visual perception and the ability to remain highly focused in certain
situations.
Recognizing
this, increasing numbers of businesses large and small are stepping up to not
only recruit and employ adults with ASD, but to do so in a way that provides
adequate support to ensure their talents and skills are put to use in an
effective and sustainable way, benefitting both employer and employee.
There is a long
way to go, according to Leslie Long, vice president of adult services at the
national ASD advocacy group
Autism Speaks, which late last month launched
TheSpectrumCareers.com,
a jobs portal aimed at promoting inclusive employment of the autism
community.
“More progress
needs to be made because there’s a whole population of individuals that need
competitive employment,” Long told The Huffington Post. “We need to have a
continued, sustained discussion on this topic.”
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp47yB7ncyvTf5gsuXaMewsnX8MUugwa2R5VNvPw3pNKCyrjjz6y-_7rIr5vrwsBwU29NIkKjf_SO3IBrFapir-JulPzbqZDQmcfYFTRsmyJg5D4i9eBuD8b8gu8JUU6YsaxN6fn9LFPON/s1600/freddie+mac.jpe)
Below are
examples of the work several major companies are doing to foster workplaces
that are inclusive of people with ASD. Long is hopeful their work will inspire
others to take similar steps.
"I still
want to see the impact," Long said. "The leadership on this has to be
across the board, at all levels for a change to happen."
1.
Freddie Mac
In this July 13, 2008, file photo, Freddie Mac
Corporate Office are seen in McLean, Virginia.
McLean,
Virginia-based mortgage-finance firm Freddie Mac has been hiring recent college
graduates with autism as paid interns through
a partnership with
the Autistic Self Advocacy Network since 2011. The graduates
come from fields including computer science, mathematics or finance. ASAN helps
the company train managers who help the interns acclimate to corporate life and
also assists with crafting job descriptions for the company.
In
a 2014 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Aaron Cohen, the
firm’s first full-time hire as a result of the partnership, said, “[I]t’s a
good fit for me. I like number crunching; that's always something I've liked
doing.” Cohen, a data analyst in the firm’s information-technology department,
has Asperger’s syndrome.
"Historically,
there seemed to be a certain perception of this population as being incapable
of performing corporate level work,” Roemer said. “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.’”
2.
Microsoft
The Visitor's Center at Microsoft Headquarters
campus is pictured July 17, 2014 in Redmond, Washington. (Stephen
Brashear/Getty Images)
Last month,
Microsoft announced
it is launching a small pilot program where it will hire
people with autism for full-time positions in collaboration with
Specialisterne, a Danish
firm that assists with job training for people with autism. The program will
begin in May with 10 candidates.
“Microsoft is
stronger when we expand opportunity and we have a diverse workforce that
represents our customers,” Mary Ellen Smith, the Redmond, Washington-based tech
giant’s corporate vice president of worldwide operations, wrote
in a company blog post on April 3. Smith's 19-year-old son was
diagnosed with autism when he was 4 years old. "We believe there is a lot
of untapped potential in the marketplace and we are encouraged by the strong
level of readiness from the vendors who cater to this segment."
3.
SAP
German software company SAP is another
major firm that has partnered with Specialisterne to help people with autism
find employment opportunities. In 2012,SAP launched the
pilot version of its Autism at Work Initiative in India and later expanded it
to Ireland. In India, according to Specialisterne, six people with autism have
been hired as software testers. SAP offices in the U.S., Canada and Germany are
now using the program, too.
Jose Velasco,
the head of SAP’s U.S. autism initiative, told the Gate that the company
remains committed to the program’s continued rollout to the Czech Republic,
Brazil and elsewhere “because of the business value and innovation promise it
delivers.”
“This is not
about social responsibility or philanthropy,” Velasco continued. “SAP values
the unique skills and abilities that people with autism bring to the workplace.”
4.
Walgreens
Walgreens, based in the Chicago suburb
of Deerfield, is another corporate leader when it comes to this issue. The
company employs a high number of individuals with autism and other disabilities
at a distribution center in Anderson, South Carolina, which it opened in 2007.
The pilot program in Anderson had such strong results -- the facility turned
out to be the company’s
most productive, and more than 200
other companies have toured it --
that Walgreens expanded the model to other distribution centers.
The program was
spearheaded by Randy Lewis, formerly a senior vice president of the company.
Lewis’ own son, Austin, has autism.
Walgreens intends to hire and
train more people with autism to work in its stores.
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