Why do Autistic People find it very Difficult to find Gainful Employment?

You’re probably aware that autistic people find it very difficult to find gainful employment, especially in conventional, well identified roles. This can still be true among those with lower support needs. Why might that be? Well, if one is to begin to speculate, then with the dense hyperconnectivity in autistic brains, it might mean that for many of us, when we’re picking an action from what seems an over-abundant list of choices, it’s simply too difficult, and we can shut down. That doesn’t seem to explain, however, why when we do make a decision, we quickly burn out on them. There are lots of accessibility issues that can be at least partially solved with some reasonable accommodations. However, when we consider these piece-meal, we often still have trouble performing adequately in the job, and feeling at ease. What if we thought of a new way that we could participate, that could resolve some of these problems?

For many of us, our online communities are essential to our mental health. Unless we find these early, it is very possible for us to experience a profound break with reality, go through burnout, or most likely, both. This often happens in late adolescence, and can last months or even years. Part of the reason these communities may work so well in providing a sense of stability to our lives is that they reduce the sensory ‘gates’ to participation- one can simply maintain one’s own sensory environment and, provided you’re comfortable with keyboards and screens, tune out a lot of the invasive stimuli that stops us from focusing on what we’re trying to pay attention to. Another is that it fosters direct communication- the need to stay concise and precise when messaging, due to the filtering out of body language, that can be hard for us to reciprocate. Indeed, the word ‘focus’ is key, as always, for our self-regulation and productivity. With the advent of online learning platforms, it should even enhance our ability to gain qualifications. Why does this seem not to be the case- and what could be done about it?

It is perhaps indisputable that qualifications such as A-Levels mostly require the memorisation of rote information over a period of years, with the development of analytical reasoning taking a back seat. While many autistics may be comfortable with this, the overall picture is quite different to what is promulgated in the media. For those who are more adapted to creative thinking, this approach, even online, makes learning tedious. A lot of us enjoy recognising patterns and solving problems quickly. If we don’t have the opportunity to, we lose interest. These two different perspectives find separate difficulties in employment. With the prior, they are often found too rigid and unconforming for most workspaces, after having already built up their knowledge of the subject. With the latter, they often cannot complete the qualification in the first place. If they’re lucky, autistics with these dispositions may find some sort of hustle-system to sustain themselves, though this is statistically not the case.

What perhaps all autistic people have in common is their capacity for monotropism, and, in autistic workers, what is perhaps our best contribution is the ability to work through all manner of problems in fine detail. It stands to reason that with the overall polytropic focus in employment, the inclination to be an all-rounder who can thrive in all sorts of roles and environments given the experience, autistic workers simply cannot find a place in the job market. Many autistics need extra time in exams probably because streamlining large amounts of information into a more concise format takes time. It is, also, invaluable. Our current focus in the information economy is the production of information, not the reduction of said information into a usable medium. This opens up all sorts of interesting opportunities for autistic people in the future and may turn a traditionally overlooked resource into a valuable commodity over time.

One such avenue for employment could be the creation of online think-tanks that provide feedback and development of research. These could be filled with people of all kinds of neurotypes estranged from conventional employment, or whose talents simply indicate themselves in that direction. These could strip the contents of said research into its elementary concepts, allowing the more qualified workers space to develop their findings, and to focus on possible applications and inter-usability with other pieces of research. These could have entry requirements focusing on attention to detail and creative thinking, relying on a large repository of individuals with enthusiastic and engaged perspectives. It would, of course, take time and investment to see if this could be run efficiently. However, it is just one of the many ways autistics can provide back, and we are in any case worth the effort it takes to see us productive, healthy, and with opportunity.