Is it really that unusual?
I was just reading about a company that is hiring people on the Spectrum… I also just noticed a meme about how Autism wasn’t diagnosed until 1930, also Pluto wasn’t discovered until 1930 — but it was there the whole time. Same goes with girls on the spectrum. Just because they have only recently started being diagnosed, doesn’t mean there weren’t girls on the spectrum before.
Women now are realizing that they have been on the spectrum all along, seeing themselves in their children that have been diagnosed. Many of these women have been successful in their career. They struggle to fit in socially, are thought to be quirky and say the wrong things sometimes, but they are loyal friends and workers.
75% of Staff at This Successful IT Company Are on the Autism Spectrum | by Fast Company | Fast Company | Medium
“Ultra Testing is helping lead the way for companies embracing neurodiversity: ‘We’re staffing these teams with fantastically capable talent who just haven’t had a fair shot before’”
A lot of hiring and promoting is social. Working with a company that focuses on Neurodiverse (ND) employees, makes being on the spectrum the norm. I know my husband and I have worried a little about the future for our child on the spectrum and thinking that ND will be accepted eases my fear a little. Everyone with autism is different, but many find the small talk that occurs ‘around the watercooler’ to be unneeded.
I remember years ago taking a class in communications while getting my MBA. One of the lessons focused on making your office layout show that you are open to people dropping in. Needless to say, I went back and arranged my office to include moving my desk against the back wall. That placement said, only come in if you really need something, it also gave me a chance to glance out the window at the funny squirrels when I needed to look away from my computer screen. People could send me an email if they wanted something but didn’t want to interrupt. Coworkers dropping in weren’t turned away but gossiping about what everyone was doing wasn’t high on my list of ways to spend my time. Though I did view my coworkers as friends.
More and more shows are being released portraying autism. I have to wonder if the portrayals will make the acceptance of autism easier or go the other direction. Every so often I see the posts looking for a ‘cure’ for autism, they usually aren’t parents or people on the spectrum themselves. They seem to primarily be anti-vaxxers who want to push the incorrect notion that vaccines cause autism. Once in a while it’s a parent that thinks their child was injured with a vaccine, making me wonder if they just didn’t see the signs before. Though my youngest was allergic to eggs and had a bad reaction to the flu vaccine… that’s a known possible reaction, we just didn’t know he had an egg allergy. His reaction was a high temperature, and we had already suspected he was on the spectrum before it happened. I have also noticed though that people messaging me trying to push things they are selling that will ‘cure’ autism are getting less frequent. No idea if that is because of my super cold response, or because more people are coming around?
