“Autistic adults may very well be the most disadvantaged disability group in the American workplace.”

Employment rates for adults with autism are lower than those for just about any other disability type studies. This is according to this article by Sarah Carr, The Tricky Path to Employment is Trickier When You’re Autistic.

For example, Leigh is a 39-year-old with moderate autism who has a masters degree and years of experience in library science. Yet he has struggled to find a job in his profession. He explains “I’m so high-functioning that I don’t really register as disabled, but I’m not high-functioning enough that I can easily utilize anything social.”

Drexel’s Autism Institute found that only 58 percent of young adults on the spectrum worked at some point in the years after high school. This is compared with 74 percent of those with an intellectual disability and 91 percent of those with an emotional disturbance. “People with autism tend to flounder more,” said Anne Roux, a research scientist at the Autism Institute who worked on the study.

According to the article,  change requires not only greater awareness but concrete alterations to the hiring and employee-support processes. “More employers need to figure out a way to understand the skills of people with autism.”

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Reference: Slate, September 22, 2017,The Tricky Path to Employment is Trickier When You’re Autistic.