5 Myths About Autism in the Workplace
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We’ve talked about unemployment rates among autistic people, and we’ve talked about what works and what doesn’t work for autistic adults in the workplace. Now let's discuss some of the myths about autistics that leave us on uneven footing while we try to find good jobs.
Autistic people can’t communicate well.
One of the more prevalent myths about autistic adults is that we’re bad at communicating and therefore not fit to work in jobs that require it. While many austistic people experience difficulties with some areas of communication (ie verbalization, reading social cues) that doesn’t mean that we’re bad at communicating.
There are plenty of non-speaking people who communicate effectively through writing, sign language, or AAC devices. Autistic folks can also struggle to maintain speech under pressure, but do great at emails and interactions with familiar faces.
Also, think of how much emphasis is put on aspects of communication that aren’t actually that important. Did you know that you can completely blow an interview by pausing too long to consider an answer to a question? How uptight is that?
A lot of autistic people liken communicating with non-autistics to a constant need to translate. Like we’re speaking different languages. This applies to many aspects of communicating, including both verbal and nonverbal cues.
We show we’re listening by sharing experiences that parallel yours. We might fidget or avoid eye contact to help ourselves gather our thoughts or process your speech. We tend to value honesty and integrity over politics and hierarchies. We take our conversations slow and skip a lot of the small talk in favor of topics we can exchange information on.
Info dumping is an autistic love language, though many non-autistics just assume we’re being snotty and rude.
In many -- if not most -- cases, all it would take to eliminate this myth about autistic people would be to reimagine what a conversation looks like. And maybe for non-autistic people to get off their high horses about autistic facial expressions, tones, and methods of relating information.
Regardless of neurotype, we all have different levels of communication skills. People tend to overlook this fact when it comes to autism and assume we lack them altogether. So many of our skills are overlooked by employers. Another example of overlooking our contributions can be found in our next myth.
2. We don’t have work experience.
There are a number of reasons why autistic people might have unevenly developed skills in the workplace:
They start a new job, begin training, and then lose that job due to workplace discrimination before they can “master” the new skill.
The demands of the job cause them to burn out, which tends to leave them unemployed again. Burnout can come with a noticeable loss in skill. People experiencing burnout will find themselves physically incapable of keeping their jobs.
A lack of social support or mentorship means they learn new skills on their own.
Autism is neurological and directly impacts a person’s development. This in itself can create an uneven skill set. A person might be very detail oriented while editing a spreadsheet, but struggle to recognize when another task needs to be done.
They have co-occurring disabilities (like ADHD or a learning disability) that hinders their ability to consistently perform certain tasks. Having dyscalculia means they might make lots of errors on seemingly simple tasks related to math, music, or directions (like on a map). Executive dysfunction might make it hard for them to consistently apply new knowledge.
Let’s use an example that ties many of these factors together: An autistic writer -- who also has ADHD -- might struggle to find work in a traditional workplace. So they take up freelancing. Because they have to freelance alone, they must learn the entire business of freelancing with only the resources they can find. These will likely be free (therefore incomplete) resources because they struggle to find work so they don’t have money to pay for mentorship.
Still, they learn the skills necessary to run a successful blog. The problem is, they don’t have the executive functioning to write on a set schedule and it takes a lot of extra energy to be a writer, researcher, editor, graphic designer, and social media manager all on your own.
Keep in mind that difficulty managing/maintaining motivation is a huge part of what makes executive dysfunction disabling.
If they had a client that could provide an external source of motivation and/or were part of a team that split the work, it would take pressure off of their executive dysfunction. But they have to prove they have the skills to get the job.
They can’t build a portfolio without support, and they can’t get support without a portfolio.
Add to that the burnout that comes from running every aspect of a thing all by yourself while managing a disability and an autistic person can find that they can’t perform the skills they've learned anymore.
Routines fall apart. They can’t focus or keep writing. They miss deadlines and people lose faith in them, even if only a little. Their reputation is damaged, as is their self-image.
Scenarios like this completely undermine a person’s experience level. People will assume we don’t have experience and relegate us to entry level, minimum wage jobs. They will look at what we managed to do and deem it unimpressive. It will be hard to accurately represent our efforts, regardless of the blood, sweat, and tears poured into the work. And we will question our own worth, driving us to burn ourselves out at the next job.
It’s easy to become resentful and withdrawn with all that misrepresentation at play. Which takes us into our next myth:
3. We don’t like people.
This myth harkens back to the one about communication. It’s assumed that because autistic people would often rather work alone, they don’t like people. Because we tend to be isolated, it’s assumed that we’d rather be alone.
But this isn’t the case at all! A lot of time, working alone helps us manage our sensory and focusing needs. We prefer it because it helps us perform our jobs more comfortably, without interruptions, social demands, or sensory input that we can’t control.
One of the most heartbreaking parts of this myth is the trauma behind it. You’ll often hear autistic people say we don’t like people and are better off alone. But there’s always a sense of loss in those words. A sense of resignation rooted in self-preservation.
We are hurt by being forced to mask our authentic selves. It’s no fun to be called difficult or to be bullied for being obviously different. Our literal bodies and brains are injured from the stress of burning out, getting no social support, and losing everything while the people around us blame us for it.
The lack of understanding or allies in our lives leaves us to advocate for ourselves. Organizations meant to help us spread hateful lies about us that professionals eat up. That’s why so many of us make it well into adulthood before we’re even diagnosed.
So, it’s not that we don’t like people; it’s that we don’t like interpersonal trauma.
The next myth is a prime example of what happens when a lack of understanding meets social discrimination. People will decide our needs are invalid and reject us. In other words, they decide that
4. We’re difficult to accommodate.
Autistic people tend to be labeled as difficult by modern society. It’s another way that we’re dismissed and taken in bad faith. You’d be surprised how much of this is done by people who simply don’t want to try to understand autism better.
We’re frequently told that our needs for accommodation are too hard or too much to ask for. In the United States, the American Disabilities Act states that reasonable accommodations must be granted in the workplace. However, this leaves a huge loophole where employers can just tell us we’re not reasonable.
Do you know the kinds of things autistic people need to thrive? Let me list a few accommodations and what you’d need to accomplish them:
The ability to control sensory demands - you can accomplish this with simple equipment such as noise-canceling headphones, dimmable lights, and a door that closes.
An ally or advocate - maybe a union, a mentor, or a peer who shares the burden of advocacy
The ability to work from home - we can conserve our energy by reducing the need to get ready, travel, and socialize before we get to our work. We can also manage sensory issues, other disabilities, and burnout better this way.
Slight adaptations to workplace culture and interview processes - give us interview questions ahead of time so we don’t freeze up when asked. Give us detailed, direct instructions that tell us what is expected of us. Assume our mistakes are made and our questions are asked in good faith. Create room for our way of communicating and existing. Meet us in the middle.
Every autistic person is different. Therefore, the types of accommodations that we’ll need will differ. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s really that hard to navigate. First, ask us. Second, be creative.
The bulk of our accommodation requests will give us room to manage our needs ourselves. And it cannot be stated enough that ensuring we have social support while we navigate workplace dynamics will be essential to our survival in the workplace. Not because we’re so bad at it, but because we’re so vulnerable to bullying and discrimination.
Implementing changes in how autistic people are viewed and/or treated by employers goes a long way in helping us maintain employment. This level of independence isn’t something that’s envisioned for autistic people, especially those of us who require support at home (which is way more of us than you think). That’s what our last myth seeks to address.
5. Autistic people can’t keep a job.
Given the right environment, many autistic people are able to work long term, even if it’s only part time. There’s this idea that having support needs means you can’t work. There’s a similar idea that the ability to have a job means you won’t need any support. Most autistic people are shades of both.
First of all, assume capability, even if accommodations and lifelong support are needed. There is no one prescribed way of existing or working. We are nuanced and complex beings.
That being said, the fact remains that many autistic people have really inconsistent work histories. Hopefully by this point in the article you should be able to identify many reasons why, but I’ll summarize a few here just in case:
We pick the wrong kinds of jobs - for example, we likely aren’t going to thrive in jobs that are face-paced, full of sensory and social demands, and require rapidly cycling through multiple tasks.
We burn out - there are countless reasons why an autistic person might burn out. Spending too long with an excessive amount of sensory information can burn us out. But autistic people are often stuck in a cycle of proving themselves. They’re trapped into people pleasing their way into a burnout to show themselves and others that they aren’t lazy or bad in some way.
There’s also the fact that disabilities require time and energy to manage, no matter what they are. Most employers don’t allow for that and don’t recognize that energy usage as valid or valuable in a workplace.
Social discrimination - Autistic people are especially vulnerable to bullying. We tend to be accommodating, trusting, and naive, well into adulthood. Social exclusion is one of our biggest obstacles to well being. At work, we aren’t hired if we disclose, or we don’t disclose and we’re pushed out when they figure us out. There is little protection for us, both legally and socially.
In contrast, an autistic person who has a job that supports them socially and professionally won’t burn out at the same rates. Our mental and physical health will be better and our finances more stable.
Not surprisingly, we’d also manage to contribute significantly to the company we work for. We’re curious and creative folk, after all.
Whether you’re an employer trying to adjust your work culture or an autistic adult looking for career advice, keep these 5 myths in mind and don’t fall for the lies. With the proper environment, autistic people won’t just have jobs, but fulfilling careers.
About the writer
I’m a writer, artist, and advocate who loves living in Maine among the trees and oceanside villages. I’m also autistic, ADHD, and PTSD. My education, both academic and personal, has centered around mental health and neurodevelopmental disabilities, as well as discrimination and the socioeconomic consequences of living disabled in America. I work to plant seeds and spread ideas through my writing and will be among the autistic adults helping you understand your autistic kids better on Spectroomz’ Ask An Autistic. You can find me on Twitter @ladysnessa.