We are usually concerned with finding work in the first place but I wondered to what extent people with autism are affected when they reach that age, around 40, when there is much pressure to move into management.
There has long been a short-sighted policy in this country, more so than other countries so far as I can tell - that you are too old to have useful skills by the time you reach 40, and unless you have made it into the management stream, you risk redundancy, or limited prospects.
In Britain, for some reason, we under value skill and ability, and think that management is the only form of merit (which anyone can see, from the mess they make, is frankly nonsense). We think that skill and innovation is only possible for the young, and that older people are less adaptable and less valuable. So we discard experienced skill.
This must have implications for people with autism who, even if they find a career, come to a point where their specialist skills are no longer valued, and are pushed towards management or slung out.
But for people with autism, management is a difficult arena, relying heavily not only on "people skills", "team Leadership" etc but social skills - engaging with senior managers at social functions that are deemed essential to success.
I wondered if any discussants on here had experience of this transition in the employment world who could contribute ideas on the subject.
It affected me in that by 40 I was redundant (during that recession), having found it harder and harder to keep on doing specialist work, and being quite phobic, from bad experiences, of trying to be a manager, and fitting in to management. I changed from industry to teaching, where however I met the same barriers, and stayed as a plod teacher (though I believe I was a good one) because I couldn't move into management grades (Principal Lecturer etc) or was perceived as not good team leader/manager material. So it capped my career progression, which didn't bother me that much, as at least I kept in work I liked until retirement.
It isn't just that it is hard for people with autism to find work and stay in work for any length of time, there are barriers later which greatly disadvantage those who do
