We Need Them

This was written a few years ago.  But for some reason the great social media platform has deemed my old blog offensive.  In order to share this with a friend I am reposting here.  Stuff in the piece remains true.

 

We Need Them as Much as They Need Us

 

The sun hangs longer in our western sky at this time of year. Longer daylight hours are a good thing. With the school year coming to an end our family is rushing from one child’s teenage event to another. Sometimes I wonder when it will ever end. But I know that day will come too soon. 

 

As I dash from one meeting to another, I sometimes learn something. During the prior evening sandwiched somewhere between a Vito sub at Jimmy John’s and picking up the Moose from Elevation Hockey, Taking Your Game to the Next Level training I learned some facts about the Autism Spectrum that surprised me.

 

In a space between events last night, I went to a meeting with a local autism awareness group. The speaker talked about a program designed to deal with and develop social skill strategies needed by people with Aspergers in maintaining normal ritualized social contact. The nuances of the handshake, the use of greetings, the negotiations of where to go to lunch that invariably come in the workplace are things this group tries to provide guidance and training on. 

 

According to the speaker only about 12 % of the people on the spectrum maintain full time employment. He gave a citation but I didn’t write it down. Other statistics about abuse physical and financial were even more disheartening. In the conversation about employment the speaker indicated the issue for a person like my son who has Aspergers was not the ability to perform the work. ASD people apparently work very well at job tasks. The problems come up for people on the spectrum in transportation to/from work (and movement around the facility) and with dealing with the required social contacts in the workplace. 

 

Neurotypical people don’t deal very well with the manifestations of ASD such as the lack of initiation of eye and other social contact. Conversations can die on the vine with persons on the spectrum. Having an interaction just peter out frustrates “normal” people and they become dissuaded from attempting further contact even on important and meaningful issues. This inability of the general population to be adaptive may become a major problem as time goes on because the spectrum population is growing. 

 

According to the speaker 1 in every 54 boys in America is now falling somewhere on the spectrum. I have seen a statistic that in South Korea the rate is approaching 2.6 % of the juvenile population. To quote from the New York Times, “Among the children with autism spectrum disorder in regular schools, only 16 percent were intellectually disabled, more than two-thirds had a milder form of autism, and the ratio of boys to girls was unusually low: 2.5 to 1. In addition, 12 percent of these children had a superior I.Q. — a higher proportion than found in the general population.” Wallis, Study in Korea Puts Autism’s Prevalence at 2.6%, Surprising Experts May 9, 2011.

 

What we need are not just programs for persons on the spectrum teaching them how to pass themselves off as “ok” in a neurotypical world. We also need programs for employers and managers in all size level of companies on how to adapt to and accommodate ASD workers. We need training for staff in the workplace about respecting the differences that ASD persons have in how they approach social contact and work performance.

 

 Just looking at a business perspective I don’t think we can ignore 2% of our potential workforce if we want to stay competitive. Especially given that the level of higher IQ in this group is greater than in the general population. We will be throwing away/wasting a great deal of talent for innovation if we don’t come to terms with this growing group.

 

[I have used the term neurotypical a number of times here. I also know I have used it in prior posts. Just to be clear this is what the words current usage seems to mean and I am quoting Wikipedia, “Neurotypical (or NT) is a term that was coined in the autistic community as a label for people who are not on the autism spectrum: specifically, neurotypical people have neurological development and states that are consistent with what most people would perceive as normal, particularly with respect to their ability to process linguistic information and social cues.]

 

 

 

Afterward.

 

Since I wrote this article 10 years ago to the day, my son has graduated university.  He has a BS in engineering.  He is full time employed at a telecom company and he engages in meetings multiple times a day.  Working from home has proved a boon for him.  Zoom meetings and the use of Teams have allowed him both the connection he needs to work collaboratively and the isolation he needs to lessen angst and agitation. Some companies seem to get it.

 

A final note.  My son was not diagnosed until he was in middle school.  But several of his teachers seemed to have been aware of his focused abilities.  One math teacher in fifth grade told him, “You are good at math.  You know who uses math?  Engineers.”  From that day on he was pretty much determined to become an engineer. Remember it can be the small things that alter a life's direction.