Autism and work

How many autists are forced from work because employers do not make the reasonable adjustments to enable them to work

Fibonacci Squid said:

The some what scarier statistic for me from the Buckland report was the graduate employment gap for autistic adults.

I agree. 

A particularly depressing stat.

The some what scarier statistic for me from the Buckland report was the graduate employment gap for autistic adults. Because you can to some point accept that this will filter some of the really high support needs, and yet they are twice as likely as their non-disabled peers to be unemployed 15 months from graduation, only 36% in work, and are much more likely to  be very overqualified for their role. 

I thought about that too.

They only count people who are diagnosed, so it will be skewed towards younger generations. Diagnosis is improving so the stats may change as the pool gets a bigger. But it is clear a significant majority aren't in work.

I assume many younger people live with their parents. Even many non-autistic adults live at home these days as housing is expensive (something like a third of all men and a quarter of all women under 25). So I expect a good chunk of younger people live with parents who cover the cost.

I suppose with diagnosis focussed on young people over the last 10-20 years many may also be in education still.

I expect some older people are in council accommodation or renting and dependent on benefits. I am not sure how you make ends meet, but people seem to, albeit with some stress.

I suppose some are in relationships, good and bad, and rely on their partner.

I suppose some are part of the prison population, as autism is over represented, although they make only 5-10% I think, as it is easier to be exploited.and/or become desperate.

The Buckland Report has quite a lot of info too, link here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations/the-buckland-review-of-autism-employment-report-and-recommendations

Okay, I don’t know if I should comment on this, but I’ve got thoughts.

One thing you’ve got to keep in mind is that there are some that need low support, but there are many Autistics that need more support. Many employers don’t want to hire Autistics that are going to require a great deal of support because then they will be working at a net negative.

Example, if I were working at a school as a custodian but I cannot clean restrooms, that means another worker is going to have to do extra restrooms to make up for me doing less work. Or they’ll have to hire another worker to make up for me not being able to do all the work.

What I’m talking about is different than accommodations. An accommodation shouldn’t mean that you can’t do essential duties in the job. An accommodation is something that should help you do the essential duties of a job.

Another example: I just had a client lose a job because he cannot write legibly. That was a huge part of the job: Writing on price tags. That was at least 2/3s if not more of the work that he was assigned to. If they kept him, they’d have to hire another worker to do price tags, and he’d be doing 1/3 or less of what a normal worker could do. An accommodation would have been to let him type up prices on a labeler, but they were ultimately unable to allow that in their situation. Don’t worry, I’m going to find this poor guy a new job where they do not require him to handwrite.

The information comes from the ONS (Office for National Statistics):

https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/news/new-data-on-the-autism-employment-gap

I assume though that this is UK only.