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Autism and issues with employment

lina-chan

Hi, I wanted to post something regarding the subject of autism and employment (and wanted to get some insight on what kind of experiences people have had). In my case, I have been employed for 5+ years - I started working when I was 19 (as a temp at uni) which lasted for 1 year and 3 ½ months, then I did a part-time job as an admin assistant for a care provider which lasted 2 ½ years and now I work as a receptionist for a local council and have been in this job for 1 year and 3 ½ months. 

I haven't experienced discrimination as such - however I do find that working in office environments is exhausting because of the fluorescent lighting, constant monotony of admin tasks, people (more-so clients) etc and have either been trying to find a work from home office role or one which is term-time only.

I've recently been listening to videos on the topic of autism and employment - (if I am wrong please correct me), according to statistics, around 10% of autistic people are in some form of employment which is quite concerning. Unfortunately, most autistic people are either underemployed or unemployed - one thing I have noticed is that the government/job centres in particular are very out of touch with this issue, often pushing individuals into unsuitable, zero-hour jobs (mainly in retail, care work or warehousing), either that or some other form of customer service. 

I feel modern workplaces are the equivalent of high school settings: if you come across "different" you are automatically a target for others and are one step closer to being pushed out.

Parents

  • I recently asked my employer for some reasonable adjustments and have faced nothing but difficulties. Like Mr T said, there is still a lot of ignorance, and stigma that still exists. There are some good employers out there, but they are hard to find, and often its an uneducated manager who is the issue. 

    I’m now asking for a reconsideration on my adjustments they refused. If they still refuse, I am going to take it further. 

    Unfortunately, there is even some ignorance within the autistic community, as when I shared my particular issue, I had some judgemental comments.

    This is why the stats are so poor, and I don’t think it’ll get any better 

Reply

  • I recently asked my employer for some reasonable adjustments and have faced nothing but difficulties. Like Mr T said, there is still a lot of ignorance, and stigma that still exists. There are some good employers out there, but they are hard to find, and often its an uneducated manager who is the issue. 

    I’m now asking for a reconsideration on my adjustments they refused. If they still refuse, I am going to take it further. 

    Unfortunately, there is even some ignorance within the autistic community, as when I shared my particular issue, I had some judgemental comments.

    This is why the stats are so poor, and I don’t think it’ll get any better 

Children
  • in reply to Andy
    Andy said:
    I’m now asking for a reconsideration on my adjustments they refused. If they still refuse, I am going to take it further. 

    I don't know how much further you can take this I'm afraid - ACAS have a good article on the subject:

    https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments

    An employer does not have to make adjustments that are unreasonable.

    Any requests will hinge on this issue - for example as a receptionist you would need to be onsite to greet visitors etc so working from home is not a reasonable request. If you were an admin assistant then it may be different as some tasks can be done that way.

    As for the employment rate, a little research shows:

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forgotten-women/202406/the-autistic-employment-conundrum

    According to Autism Now, only 32.5 percent of young autistic adults are employed, while 78 percent of neurotypical young adults are employed. (2024 stats)

    So compated to neurotypicals only 2/5ths of autists are working in this group,

    I think the rate does drop off as you get older as more autists cannot sustain the effort.

    I don't see it improving as the impact of AI is likely to result in many more people needing new jobs as we cannot compete as effectively compared to our NT peers.