Being diagnosed as having High Functioning Autism can come across as a bolt from the blue. However, a few weeks ago I was told that I have the condition at the ripe old age of 24. I am not alone in the country facing this issue; across the country there has been an increase in the number of people diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum Disorder range.
Until around 18 months ago the Government provided funding to the National Autistic Society to allow them to assist people with Autism Spectrum Disorder into full time meaningful work. Despite my best efforts in obtaining a reason no reason has been given for stopping the funding.
The label “Autism” has been around since the 1960s, but it is only in the last decade that there has actually been any measurable progress in the quality of care and support given to people with the condition. Indeed, before Cheryl Gillan’s Private Member’s Bill (The Autism Act) in 2009 it was very difficult to get an actual diagnosis on the NHS as an adult. Since then there has been an improvement in the accessibility of services to adults, despite the fact that there is still several months wait in some areas of the country before an assessment is carried out.
People who have Autism Spectrum Disorder have a number of characterises that need to be navigated; these include having difficulties in social situations such as communicating and being in a group. As a consequence the Aspie (Autistic person) might need to have an office on their own because being in a large open plan office would prove difficult to work in. Avoiding social situations, such as clubbing when I was helping in the Local Elections in 2009 based in Newquay, is perfectly fine but not when entering the workplace.
Another area of concern is our lack of empathy and the ability to see things from another perspective, writing cover letters and getting on with our co-workers. This may not necessarily mean that we are loud; in my experience we can also be too quiet and polite since we are unsure about whom we are dealing with.
The loss of funding meant that there was a loss of knowledge and relationships between the National Autistic Society and firms that have taken on people with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the past, thereby making life harder for us still in this complex world. A lack of understanding of the condition makes employers less likely to hire people with Autism, which contributes to the 85% of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder being unemployed. Unfortunately local Job Centres and Government providers are not equipped to deal with us.
That being said Aspies make for wonderful employers after adjustments have been made. We are extremely loyal, with our superb long term memory combined with our special interests means we are able to get to the top in our field. Notable people today with Autism Spectrum Disorder include Tim Burton and Susan Boyle. This is because we are able to think outside the box, since we do not see a box to restrict our movements. We can be a great asset for the workplace.
“If it weren’t for Aspies humankind would still be sitting in caves because someone would have to invent the wheel and non-Autistics would be gossiping round the fire”
* Matt Casey is the Chair of ASD Lib Dems and a Liberal Democrat activist on the Bexley/Bromley border.
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10 Comments
While the substantive point of this post is valid – the cutting of funding for NAS is a scandal, and employers should be less discriminatory against aspies – there are a couple of things I’d like to say to you as the author.
Firstly, when you’ve been diagnosed for more than a few weeks I hope you will come to realise that ASD folks have considerable advantages over the neurotypical majority in a lot of work arenas, and that your next post will be in less sorrowful tones. There IS discrimination against those who display aspie traits, it’s true, but the problems caused by that are not just for aspies but employers – employers are missing out on a talent pool, not just in terms of loyalty and memory but attention to detail.
The 85% figure DOES surprise me. I realise that the plural of anecdote is not data, but in my experience Aspies simply don’t tell their employers. But then I’ve been around a lot of people who have been diagnosed in adulthood (often in their mid thirties) and have been employed for years without knowing they were on the spectrum.
Finally, there is increasing consensus that “lack of empathy” is a myth. Aspies often shut down in social situations because they empathise TOO MUCH, albeit in a different way to neurotypicals. Rainman was a great film, but incredibly unrealistic in terms of how it portrayed what life is actually like for ASD folks and the people who love them. In particular the idea that aspies are selfish and/or incapable of true love is laughable to anyone who has ever experienced the intensity of devotion an aspie who loves you is capable of.
There is a huge aspie community online. I hope you can connect with it – you’ll get a lot of support that way. Learning about other people’s coping mechanisms might help you develop your own.
Firstly, I hope you find the diagnosis helpful. The lack of funding is frustrating in understand the issues and getting the right support.
I think there is a need to be careful in not confusing Autism with Asperger’s. Autistic spectrum disorders run on a spectrum from serve autism which is extremely debilitating to very high functioning Asperger’s.
While I can believe that 85% of people with diagnosed autism are unemployed I can’t believe the same applies to people with Asperger’s syndrome.
Another key point is that Asperger’s and Autism are spectrums within a spectrum. I like to think of it as a control panel with say 10 traits each turned from 1 (hardly noticeable) to 10 (incredibly debilitating) that gives hundreds of possible combinations.
Especially with regard to Asperger’s people can score higher or lower on a range of functions. Some people are withdrawn in social situations – others are incredibly sociable – just a bit oblivious to the reactions of those around them. Others are happiest with like minded people – other Dr Who fans, playing games etc. The common factor being difficulty understanding the ‘rules’ and judging the reaction of others.
Myths abound – such as people with ASD can’t lie or don’t get jokes. I think the lack of ‘instinctive’ empathy is very real, but people with Asperger’s can have a very intellectual empathy and also a very strong sense of justice and right and wrong. Again like the other part of the syndrome empathy can be relatively high or low. I endorse what Jennie says about tjhere being considerable advantages to and indeed a need for Aspergers and yes people with apsergers can live, love and have a wonderful life.
With regard to employment – some people are incredibly pedantic and routine bound, (good or bad depending on the job) others with their obsessions and enthusiasm make excellent specialists. Most love computers and the internet. Some are very good at spotting patterns and inconsistencies – as that is a coping mechanism for some people.
Well done Matthew for writing this article and bringing an important issue to people’s attention.
One of the difficulties with Asperger’s and other forms of Autism is that, as Caracatus says, it is a wide spectrum and everyone is different. It is also an area where our understanding is still quite basic, and a lot of research is ongoing, so what we know about it will change rapidly.
The important thing for me is that many people on the spectrum have a lot to offer as employees (and employers!), it is just about fitting the right people to the right roles for their skills.
I’m glad to say that my son, who was diagnosed two years ago after serious problems with school, is currently sitting in his 11th GCSE exam of the season, with full attendance so far, something we wouldn’t have dreamed possible even a year ago.
I agree as another person with an autistic spectrum disorder there can be negatives but we do have advantages also.
No-one know where we’re coming from. Like a spitfire diving on a victim (figuratively speaking) we can bring a new perspective on life thus enriching those around us.
Good additional points Caracatus, liberal neil & Edward Thompson.
Matthew, I would take your diagnosis positively rather than negatively – as it gives you an insight into why you are you and why something’s are easy and others difficult or even impossible and hence can be very helpful in your choice of career and specific jobs and tasks you choose to accept. I suggest giving the Mensa admission test a go.
With respect to government funding, I wonder whether this is in part due to changes in the way funding is being routed. So instead of receiving funding directly from government, organisations are having to bid for slices from regionally held funding pots.
((((((( Matthew ))))))) from an octogenarian, “41 on Autism-Spectrum Quotient test,” probable Aspie… a new label for the “Learning different” 1930s dunce-cum-1960s dyslexic-cum-more recently attention deficit disordered me… I am the second generation of four known generations of learning impaired biological males in my family… hence my advocacy for a better understanding of matters gender-variant and the Autism Spectrum… for the record my Learning Different teenage grandsons are yet to be blessed with the extraordinary lifestyles enjoyed by their learning impaired paternal lineage…
The new Children’s and Families Act 2014 includes a revised Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs and Disability (which would also include children and young people on the autistic spectrum). If local authorities, schools, health services and social care services take on the valiant intentions behind the SEND Code of Practice, all people who learn differently (and their families) will have better and more relevant support when growing up that will take them into adulthood as well as equal opportunities in life and greater acceptance. I truly hope all professionals who work in this area fully embrace the new act and make it work the way it is intended.
Part of the problem in the workplace is failing to allow for how different different people can be and assuming that someone who doesn’t fit a model of an employee is a problem, not a resource. Change managers and the like produce neat diagrams straight out of an article and expect everyone to fit into them. This also leads to disaster when relations with outside bodies – such as voluntary organisations to a statutory body – aren’t understood beyond the flow chart.
My last employer was Essex County Council and while I think diversity was better provided for and used than in many organisations – we had an autistic teenager doing work experience with us for a couple of weeks and he left passionately enthusiastic about his reception and the work he’d done – we went from individual and two-person offices to increasingly big open plan to flexible working without anyone (other than the most senior managers, of course) having their own work station, and at every stage equality and diversity issues were not properly considered. But then the planners don’t think about that any more than they think about the broken-legged keyboard that migrates around the flexible working office for months because it’s always easier to sit in another place or fit another keyboard than to report it.
Part of the problem in the workplace is failing to allow for how different different people can be and assuming that someone who doesn’t fit a model of an employee is a problem, not a resource
It’s a question of how much net benefit someone brings, isn’t it? If someone isn’t particularly great, but has no problems and simply slots into the structure like a model employee, then their contribution is likely to be net positive, albeit small. But with every extra effort that has to be made to accommodate someone, their net benefit falls, so unless their positive contribution rises to compensate you can end up with a situation in which someone is costing more in adaptations to practices to accommodate their differences than they are contributing in increased benefit to the employer.
In which case they simply can’t be kept on. It is unfair to the other employees to keep on someone who is a net drain, because it is the other employees who will have to pick up the slack and increase their net benefit in order to cover for the net drain.
I’m reminded of Douglas Adams’s story of the the man who invented the total perspective vortex with “If life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion”.
Bill’s comment is valid, but too often the problem is that the cost-benefit anaylsis is done instinctively. Social skills are beneficial, but there is often a weight put on “lad skills” that is disproportionate to their actual benefit. “He’s got lots of brains but no common sense” is a phrase I heard from someone who weighs social skills, and in particular, the “laddish” aspect of social skills over actual intellectual and analytical skills.
Of course social skills are advantagous, but they are often overweighted, and intellectual skills underweighted when thinking about how employees fit into an environment.
Bill mentions the effort that must be made to fit people into an environment, but often those efforts mean overcoming NEGATIVE aspects of the behaviour and culture of the existing employees. It isn’t fair and right to view efforts overcoming these problems as a problem caused by the new employee.