Asperger Syndrome and Employment

Adults Speak Out about Asperger Syndrome

Genevieve Edmonds, Luke Beardon

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781843106487
• eBook ISBN: 9781846427701
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Labour & Employment Law
• Index: Psychology

This is the book we need for guidance on employment for people with Asperger's syndrome. The contributors describe their employment experiences and offer sound advice. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the success stories and took note of the words of warning of what not to do.'

- Professor Tony Attwood

Employment is an important part of a healthy, balanced and fulfilling life but less than 20 per cent of people with Asperger Syndrome (AS) are in work at any one time. The adults with AS in this book explore the issues surrounding employment, providing advice and insights for others with AS, as well as their employers and colleagues.

Drawing on personal experience and lessons learned, Asperger Syndrome and Employment looks at:

* the transition from education to employment,

* the importance of matching skills to career choices,

* practical coping strategies for employees with AS in the workplace,

* advice for employers, including the need to make `reasonable adjustments' to avoid discrimination,

* ways in which employment services ought to work for people with AS.

This is essential reading for adults with AS, their family and friends, employment services and career advisers, and companies needing to know how, in practical terms, to accommodate employees with AS.

Chapter 1: Employment for People with Asperger Syndrome: What’s Needed?

Giles Harvey

Introduction by Luke Beardon

Giles makes some excellent points in this chapter, and I am particularly interested in the way in which he matches up specific jobs that may or may not be compatible with the nature of AS. As he rightly points out it is not an exact science in any way. I sometimes get asked whether ‘someone with AS’ would be able to do a particular job – the answer is invariably, ‘Well, it depends…’. The bottom line is that nothing is impossible in terms of the working environment, but much is dependent on all the variable environmental factors such as the knowledge of the employers, the physical working environment and what adjustments are put in place. In theory, there is no job that someone with AS would automatically be precluded from applying for. Obviously, on an individual basis there are a number of factors that will need to be taken into account; however, the notion that any particular type of job should exclude someone with AS just because of the nature of AS is irresponsible and inaccurate.

Why is employment for people with Asperger Syndrome necessary at all, you might ask? The answer is quite simply this, employment not only allows people with Asperger Syndrome, but all people, access to friendships, money and well-being, and also occupies the mind. People who are working are less likely to be depressed and less likely to suffer from other health problems in later life, through lack of activity.

Unfortunately, while clear figures are not available, it is thought that less than 20 per cent of people with Asperger Syndrome are in work at any one time, and of those which do manage to find work, generally their jobs only last for short periods. It isn’t uncommon to find people with Asperger Syndrome in their late twenties or early thirties with a chequered employment history of several low-paid jobs. These may have only lasted a few weeks, a few months or perhaps a couple of years. They may have been asked or forced to leave, and have large gaps of unemployment in their record. We know that in many cases this is nothing to do with lack of education, as Asperger Syndrome doesn’t affect people’s intelligence, and many people with Asperger Syndrome are of above-average intelligence. So that must leave other reasons for failure to remain in employment.

One principal reason, I feel, for many failures, is the lack of planning in the early years of education. You do not see people with cerebral palsy, diabetes, heart disease and cancer not taking the effects of their disability into account before looking for work. In my case the careers service was less than helpful, for I had no diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome in 1989 when I was initially looking for work. Indications that perhaps there was something different about me were never acknowledged: never once was any possibility put to me that certain careers might not suit me due to stress or lack of confidence. Only academic reasons for doing or not doing careers were ever discussed. Later on in life, on two occasions, I have asked for advice from the careers service and on both occasions I felt let down. On the first occasion I was told basically they couldn’t help me and to come back when I was less ill, and was given a card for the Samaritans; on the other occasion all I was given was a list of academic careers that with my qualifications I might want to move into. On neither occasion were the limitations of having Asperger Syndrome ever discussed. If this has been happening on a wide scale for many years, perhaps we might understand why so many people with Asperger Syndrome are failing in their jobs.

The system with careers advice is that it obviously influences what young people go on to study in further and higher education and therefore, what career someone eventually does. You can’t, in other words, split education from employment and perhaps in many government departments the two should be linked together at all levels. In the same way, if I didn’t discuss education here first, we wouldn’t be coming up with a full solution to this problem. Some moves have been positive in the United Kingdom, like the move to place careers along with other needs in education, including disabilities and special needs education, under the umbrella of Connexions for all those under the age of 25 with special needs or a disability. However, there is still much to do.

Many people fail to realize or even plan the effect higher education at a particular institution will have upon them. Some colleges work to a formal timetable and setting but many work informally. I have come across many young people who have left education without qualifications because they chose to study in the wrong environment. They have come out traumatized and never gone back into education. Worse still, sometimes they have never done anything else, but have sat around at home.

Higher education was certainly the best period of my life, to date. If all it took was to research into what the facility was like before I went, to ensure it was right for me, I would do so. However, many people fail to ask to look round colleges to see what happens, or fail to ask to visit during the day when the students are around. Neither do they find what the special needs departments can actually offer: at every stage you need to know what you’re letting yourself in for, in order to survive and to make sure you are doing the right thing. No one with high-school qualifications should be sat idly at home without good reason.

Again, another failing that’s perhaps down to the people with Asperger Syndrome themselves (and their careers advisors as well) is the choice of subjects studied at university. Many fail to work out if they might actually be able to use their skill for meaningful employment in the first instance, and if the career it leads to is suitable for a person with Asperger Syndrome. For example, consider space science. NASA only take on a handful of astronauts every year and universities have few lecturers in the subject, so why study it? In business studies, the business environment isn’t suitable for those who can’t handle stress or plan; no matter how good they actually are at the theory. Or perhaps a course playing the guitar interests you? In this case ask, is there any proper use for the skill at the end, what does it involve and what sort of work might it lead to? Playing the guitar can be pleasurable, but it’s likely to be extremely low-paid employment and it’s unlikely, unless you were really gifted, that you could make a full career out of it – or at least one you could live off! It would be better to study music generally as this widens your career options.

Another consideration is whether you could actually use the skill in relation to any physical attributes to the disability, e.g. acting may not be a good idea due to the pedantic way in which people with Asperger Syndrome speak, and the way in which they interpret and pronounce the written word. [Editors’ note: while some individuals with AS do have problems with prosody (voice intonation) many more have excellent mimicking abilities and enjoy and excel in drama.]

If chosen correctly, subjects can lead to long and successful careers. Information technology, certain strands of science, accountancy, music and modern languages are prime examples.

One career we know people to be settled and performing well in is information technology, and the reason why is quite simple. Those in information technology often work on their own in a silent environment, and the role doesn’t involve much direct face-to-face contact.

Some people, however, might decide they want to move straight into employment after school, and that’s fine, but I would urge caution. Jobs which don’t require qualifications are generally the aim of those people who perhaps messed around in school, and who enjoy joking around; people with Asperger Syndrome tend to be exactly the opposite of this. Therefore there is potentially a high likelihood of failure. At an unskilled level, we know employment which works best for people with Asperger Syndrome is in the large supermarkets where staff can have roles which do not involve interfacing with the public, such as positions like shelf stacking and working in the warehouses. In the United Kingdom, Royal Mail has had some success in employing people with Asperger Syndrome, due to its flexibility of roles and the simplicity of the jobs.

Jobs and careers of all types can be sub-divided into those which are, and aren’t, likely to be successful, so that people with Asperger Syndrome and their carers and support workers know where the best types of places are to gain employment. In the table underneath you will see examples of some suitable and unsuitable jobs listed, as well as those which might be suitable for some but not for others. The list is, of course, by no means comprehensive. If anyone is using the book as a study tool they may wish to discuss these further, with a friend or support worker. You may also wish to think about the list alone by taking into account whether or not you have the right attributes, both in terms of qualifications and also social abilities required for the various jobs listed.

Table to show jobs which may suit people with Asperger Syndrome

High risk of failure	May suit some people but not others	Lower risk of failure
Any airport-based customer-facing roles	Lorry driver	Warehouse work
Air traffic control	Lecturer	Piano tuner
Armed forces	Librarian	Musician
Police officer	Warehouse work	Accountant
Fire officer	Decorator	IT technician
Mental health worker	Musical instrument instructor	Tourist guide
Bus driver	Nurse	Town planner
Train guard	Dentist	Funeral director/pall bearer
Salesperson	Primary school teacher	Gardener
Cashier	Factory worker (except target-based)	Postman
Secondary school teacher	Administrator	Web-site designer
Doctor	Receptionist	Van driver
Commission and target-based factory work	Careers advisor	Navigator and route planner
Waiter/waitress	Carer	Farmer/farm labourer
Taxi driver	Optician	Artist
Security work	Electrician	Photographer
Night club/bar worker	Plumber	Appliance engineer
Holiday rep	Window cleaner	Statistician
Vet	Train/tram driver (non-fare collection)	Cleaner
Actor/actress	Mechanic	Academic researcher
Bricklayer/builder	Linguist	Crafts person
Driving instructor	Journalist	Magician
Ambulance driver	Bookshop worker	Milkman
Pilot	Fisherman
Management trainee	Veterinary nurse
Market researcher	Cook/chef

Disclaimer: The above table is no guarantee that a particular career or job will or will not work for every person. The table has been provided in good faith and with the best knowledge of the author and various source material. Jobs vary and people vary in ability and anyone using this table as a resource to gain employment should be aware of this.

Why do the jobs in the high-risk category have a large risk of failure? Simply because of various different reasons in regard to the particular role. If the job involves dealing with tight deadlines, angry customers or very regimented settings and high levels of stress, or the fact that you need intuition skills and good body language reading skills to know how a person feels, then failure is highly likely. Those jobs in the middle category may suit some people and not others. Whether it suits someone’s abilities or not depends on the type of thinking, be that lateral or literal, and also their ability to handle people in conflict situations. Concentration skills and abilities, or the nature of the location where the work actually takes place also need to be taken into account. Lower-risk jobs in the table above are not necessarily jobs that employees with Asperger Syndrome won’t fail at, just that the odds of failing are much lower with most people who reside on the autistic spectrum.

At this stage I feel I ought to elaborate on my own employment history and what I feel could have helped along the way.

I never really searched for work while I was working my way through high school or college as the whole concept of work just simply scared me; I lacked confidence and the prospect of visiting several shops asking for application forms for casual work was just too daunting a prospect, although I knew others who did – and their confidence increased as a result. I did work for two summers, (prior to the introduction of a minimum wage in the United Kingdom) for the construction company my father worked for, for £60 per week during the college vacation. This always seemed to go fine without problems.

Later on, of course, I had experiences which were not satisfactory. My first such experience was between university courses where I had a period of nine months to fill. I went to see the local job centre’s DEA (disability employmen...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Other Books
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Dedication
• Preface to the Series
• Introduction
• 1. Employment for People with Asperger Syndrome: What’s Needed?
• 2. The Job Needs to Work for the Worker
• 3. Experiences of Employment and Stress Before My Diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome
• 4. ‘How Do You Communicate that You Have a Communication Problem…When You Have a Communication Problem?’ Asperger Syndrome and Employment
• 5. Case Study by an Employee with Asperger Syndrome and His Line Manager
• 6. The World of Work (Is Not on Another Planet) and my Journey to Get There
• 7. Finding, Applying For and Starting a Job
• 8. What I have Learned from 25 Years of Employment
• 9. Asperger Syndrome and Employment: My Experiences and Observations
• 10. What Aspies Need to Know When Working in the Neurotypical Environment
• 11. A Melmacian in the Workplace: Asperger Syndrome for Employers
• 12. Surviving the Workplace: Asperger Syndrome at Work
• 13. The Importance of Motivation and Clear Communication at Work
• 14. Continuing to Search for the Right Job for Me
• 15. I’m Just So Willing to Work
• List of Contributors
• Index