Employment for People with Asperger's Syndrome or High-Level Autism

For almost three hours yesterday, I gave a talk on jobs and attempted to answer questions at a meeting of about 50 adults with Asperger's Syndrome or high-level autism, their parents, counselors, job coaches, and advocates.

Media portrayals had led me to view Aspies (that's what they like to be called) as little different than the typical computer geek. My experience yesterday changed that. I found most of the 50 people to have anomalies severe enough to make it unlikely they could find stable employment in today's job market except perhaps doing structured low-level work in isolation. One person couldn't remember his name. Another said he was so exhausted at a job interview trying to appear normal, that he "was useless for three days."  I was exhausted after interacting with them. And it wasn't their lack of eye contact or that sometimes, their bodies or arms were contorted. I quickly got used to that. While some Aspies were quite logical and easy to follow, many were not. One slipped into some mystical foreign language mid-sentence. While some were polite, others were demanding of "my rights to more services," blaming their beleaguered parents, the schools, and society. I was warned that I better call non-aspies, not "normal" but "neurotypical." And their behavior was in a non-threatening, non-demanding, distraction-free context: a support group meeting. I can only imagine what they'd be like in the workplace.

Note: All these photos have been previously published

I spoke at length with two of their advocates who have been working with Aspies for two decades. They said that despite massive effort, 90+% are unemployed. "It's pulling teeth just to get them a job pushing shopping carts out to the car. And even if you finally get them a job, they're often quickly fired. I mean, it's sometimes hard just to keep them from flapping their arms like a bird." (That's a self-soothing behavior common among Aspies.)

One of their leaders mentioned that both the federal and state governments have programs that give preference to disabled job applicants. A job developer said, "That's great!." No one disagreed...except me. I asked, "Imagine you owned a business or ran a government agency or nonprofit and you were forced to give preference in hiring to someone with Asperger's/Autism or other such disability? Is that fair to you? To other candidates for the job? To the coworkers? To your customers? To the viability of your business? I thought but did not say, "Beyond preferences given to the disabled, because of the Justice Department's increased used of the Disparate Impact legal theory, if an employer doesn't employ a proportionate percentage of the long-term unemployed or ex-felons, it's evidence that can trigger a discrimination lawsuit. Isn't that, along with the other heavy costs that government imposes on employers (most recently ObamaCare) a major reason it's a jobless non-recovery?"


But I digress. If I had an adult child with Asperger's/high-level autism, I'd try to employ him myself. I'd be able to accommodate to his needs to a far greater extent than would most employers.

If I couldn't, I'd probably try to find him sheltered employment rather than try to help him land a job in the competitive job market. For the reasons I mentioned above, I'd feel unfair to employers teaching an Aspie the job-search strategies that make him look better than he is. After an employer would hire him, s/he'd soon find out what he's really like but he'd then have additional rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act so the employer would have a hard time firing him.


At the end of my presentation, a number of parents asked me to help their Aspie/Autistic adult child find a job. I felt guilty but ethical in turning them down.