Asperger's on the Job: Must-Have Advice for People With Asperger's or High Functioning Autism, and Their Employers, Educators, and Advocates Read Free Page A

regardless of whether they barely made it through high school or had postgraduate degrees, and no matter what color their collar was. In addition to this anecdotal information, many others were contacted: psychologists, autism cause-and-cure researchers, government disability benefit agencies, university disability offices, as well as founders of Asperger’s education/work-study programs. They provided information on the latest research, statistics, laws, rights, programs, and other such information pertaining to all aspects of Asperger’s Syndrome, most notably, employment. I would like to thank all of them for their participation. I would also like to give a special nod of thanks to Dr. Nichols, who graciously shared her expertise; to Roger N. Meyer, who gave me much-needed encouragement during the final stretch; and to Dr. Temple Grandin, whose heart and wit are as great as her intellect.

CHAPTER 1
Why Should You Employ Someone with AS?
    The Advantages of Asperger’s Syndrome in the Workplace
    T he question everyone asks is “why would an employer hire someone for whom he/she has to make special accommodation?”
    First, the ASD population is growing in numbers. So much so, that avoiding hiring someone with AS is nearly infeasible for larger businesses or certain fields. Some experts believe that, due to these rising numbers, it is now necessary to provide employers with autism awareness training, similar to how sexual harassment training is required.
    Second, people with AS by and large have to work, and to find and maintain employment without significant support. Financial benefits are very hard to obtain, at least in the U.S., because in most states one would have to be mentally retarded to be eligible for state or federally-fundedassistance programs designed for people with developmental disabilities. Also, there are still very few vocational support services for people with Asperger’s and other ASDs.
    Third and most importantly, the gifts and abilities that many with AS possess far outweigh the relatively minor inconvenience of making adjustments , which have more to do with mindset than anything else.
    What are these gifts, how do we use them, and how can they sometimes work against us?
     
Focus and diligence . The Aspergian ability to focus on tasks for a long period of time without needing supervision or incentive is legendary. We are hard workers. The downside of this trait is that we can be focusing on the wrong things or getting so involved in what we enjoy doing that other things fall by the wayside. If our passion is not our vocation, we who have Asperger’s may neglect actually making money.
We take pride in our work , no matter how small the task. This ensures a job done with conscience. But again, if money is not a big motivating factor, then a person may do work because they like it, rather than for decent pay or a living wage. And at some point, if the work isn’t meaningful, enthusiasm will wane.
A desire to please . While it may not always seem so, we often really do desire to fit in. We will extend ourselves to do a good job, to get approval.
Independent, unique thinking . People with AS march to their own drum. We tend to spend a lot of time alone and develop our own unique thoughts as opposed to having a “herd” mentality. While a team-player attitude can be a plus in the workplace, a person who has the courage to walk their own line will more likely come up with novel and creative ideas.
Higher fluid intelligence . Scientists in Japan have recently discovered that AS children have a higher fluid intelligence than non-autistic children (Hayashi, Kato, Igarashi, Kashima 2008). Fluid intelligence is “the ability to find meaning in confusion and solve new problems; the ability to draw inferences and understand the relationships of various concepts, independent of acquired knowledge” (Wikipedia 2009). We do not however, have a higher crystallized intelligence—which is the ability to