Published on 12, July, 2020
In May last year the TUC launched its guide to employment of people on the autistic spectrum. It was written for them by Janine Booth who runs autism in the workplace training events for the Workers' Educational association.
This is a different route into the problem from the mainly NAS led approach, the trades union perspective. It is directed at trade union officers who come across autism issues in the workplace, and therefore might potentially have a strong influence on how peple at work treat autistic spectrum colleagues.
It starts off by establishing a Social Model of Disability perspective (my pet hate from an educational point of view - I don't think this works for autism). The social model looks at barriers in the work environment which clash with autistic impairment. All you have to do it seems is make some environmental and material adjustments and then people on the autistic spectrum will have the same chances as everyone else. Simples.....
It then explains the Triad of Impairment. There's a long section with lots of examples of thinking literally. On executive function - this is the set of abilities that enable people to translate motivation into action. START doing someting, CHANGE what you are doing, STOP doing something once started, and Managing Time. Then Motor Function, Sensory Sensitivity, Sensory Overload, two-line description each. This leads to distress, meltdowns sometimes, and stimming.
Then the usual platitudes debunking the mythology - behaviour is a product of distress, difference not disability, apparently 60-70 percent of people on the autistic spectrum have a learning disability, many people with autism do not want to be cured. - you know all this stuff.
The great mystery is the lack of references - what is all this based on? All they provide are 6 websites - the all party paliamentary group, autism europe, the autism hub, autistic uk, DANDA and NAS. An autism timeline in an appendix reaches 2013 without mentioning the Autism Act or Leading Rewarding and Fulfilling Lives... The last UK contribution was the formation of the All Party Parliamentary Group in 2000.
In other words - lets not bother doing this properly - lets just package together a lot of opinionated rubbish and that's good enough for the TUC.
To the TUC: - "Most Autistic people can work, including in normal (whatever that may mean) workplaces"
"People with autism have various means of communication - some are more verbal than others"
They list a lot of reasons why workplaces create difficulties for autistic workers: discrimination, bullying, lack of communication and support, preventing an autistic person carrying out duties or using equipment when there is no valid reason to do so. Also lower pay, imposition of new arrangements at work, working conditions in the past, autistic workers are more likely to have periods without work, decreased self confidence, work environments, bossy managers, disruption of routines, contracting out, and latterly "expecting people to abide by social rules without ever specifying what they are", "making judgements about a worker's social interaction" " issues with assessment and/or pronotional processes".
Now those last three I'd say were priority ones. Most of the preceding material is standard TUC issues, discussed at length. When we get down to these three, we are on unexplained one-liners. They are followed by more and repetitive one-liners. They are just adding on things they've read somewhere but dont understand. Right at the bottom of this long list comes "sensory issues, eg noise, light, smell".
There follows a section on workers with autistic dependents. It is again standard trade union stuff.
What they propose is, even without knowing staff might have autism, make the work-place more autism friendly. Provide a relaxation space, changes to working practices to be negoiated with the union, occupational health and managemnent training about autism, time off for trade union representatives to attend training, all instructions and policies to be written clearly, anti-harrassment, time off.
That's the solution apparently - social model, remove the "barriers" and it will all be hunky dorey. There's some standard stuff about politically correct language and hate crime. Then some stuff about the impact of auterity and autism in parliament, which ends with APPG in 2000. Nothing about the Autism Act. However the Autism Act is mentioned under a section on the law.
My problem with this document is there is no real undderstanding of autism. There's no sign of any effort to understand autism. Just the usual social model tripe - make a few wee anticipatory adjustments - nothing to autism really.
The whole document is a disgrace. I'm not anti-union. I was in a union most of my life and even for a while a rep. But this document is a sham. The TUC should be thoroyughly ashamed. They've not taken autism seriously, merely adapted autism to a general moan about workplace conditions for all employees, which is not fair.
The TUC document relies on the Social Model. I do so detest the social model.
The social model versus the medical model is a nice idea in theory. The medical approach to disability puts the blame on the disabled individual. They have to approach some sort of cure, or acquire compensations, in order to participate in the able world.
The social model transfers this responsibility to society. Society has created barriers for some people perceived as impaired, and all society has to do is remove these barriers, and disability disappears. The barriers include prejudice and discrimination (resolved by training and education), physical access (disabled ramps), environmental changes (appropriate lighting) etc.
But there's another side to the social model. It is supposed to involve adjustments sufficient to overcome impairment. The disabled person must not have an unfair advantage. They cannot expect to exploit the system or ask people to go to unreasonable lengths (hence I think this conditions many peoples' reactions to autistic behaviours).
The principle is a ramp here, someone to help you get started, a piece of computing software to overcome any difficulties, a prosthetic (artificial foot or arm) and so on. But there mustn't be any unfair advantages that give disabled people an edge over able people, so once the barriers are alleviated, no more special allowances are to be made.
This doesn't work for autism. For a start autism has always been treated using the medical model - CBT, medication, many hours spent on Thinking in Pictures, or learning how to engage with NTs, or learning how to control and restrict behaviours. The notion that this can then be handled in the workplace by "we've removed the barriers, now it is up to you" - is truly ludicrous and unfair.
Secondly we still don't properly understand what these barriers are. They are complex and vary greatly between individuals. Without that understanding no-one has yet come up with a prosthetic or a box of tricks that removes the barriers.
Thirdly, to a large extent, people with autism get on with their lives (if we ignore the fact that many need to be financially supported, provided with accommodation etc.). The barriers are that able people perceive people on the autistic spectrum as significantly different. They don't understand this difference. Indeed they may be very prejudiced towards autism related behaviours and intolerant, and unwilling to make allowances.
In the face of that, how do you remove social barriers? They are all still there - prejudice, different ways of doing things that autistic people cannot fit into, and where neurotypical people are not willing to consider dramatic changes to their way of life to accommodate it.
Autism is still hung up on the medical model. It is truly ludicrous and blinkered for the TUC to come up with the social model, propose a few anticipatory adustments, like relaxation space for quiet room, and think that's their obligations over.
It is time the Social Model of Disability was thrown out. It is archaic. It clearly cannot work for autism, but I submit it doesn't really work well for any other disability. A few wheelchair ramps do not magically transform the lives of people in wheelchairs. Its a lazy way for society to claim "we've made a gesture, now stay out of sight"
Autism sadly still needs the medical model. In order to fit into the real world people with autism are expected to try to adapt to the "real world", change their ways, learn "normal" ways of doing things, effect a cure. That's hardly the social model.
We need to apply our thinking to making the medical model easier to adapt to and live around. The social model has no place in treating autism.