The Strengths and Abilities of Autistic People in the Workplace

Abstract

Introduction:

At present, very few autistic people are employed, even though many want to be. It is important that their strengths are identified and valued to help them to find jobs that they enjoy, and that make good use of their skills. The aim of this study was to investigate what strengths autistic people have in the workplace, self-reported by autistic people themselves.

Methods:

In this study, autistic participants (n = 66) completed an online questionnaire that asked their views about employment-related strengths that they experienced. We analyzed these data using thematic analysis to identify commonalities across participants' experiences, and areas where they felt that they could perform better than their nonautistic colleagues.

Results:

The main strengths identified from these data revealed cognitive advantages such as superior creativity, focus, and memory; increased efficiency and personal qualities such as honesty and dedication; and the ability to offer a unique autism-specific perspective.

Conclusions:

Overall, this study suggests that autistic people have many employment-related strengths that should be recognized and valued by autistic people and employers alike. By understanding the strengths that could be associated with autism in the workplace, autistic people may be better able to identify their own strengths in the workplace (with the help of support workers, where necessary). The results should also encourage employers to make an effort to recruit and retain autistic employees, making appropriate adjustments to interview processes and working conditions, and seeking out training when needed.

Community brief

Why was this study done?

At the moment, very few autistic people are employed, even though many want to be. One reason for this might be that nonautistic people focus on things that autistic people find difficult, and ignore things that autistic people can do well. To address this, it is important to make people more aware of strengths that autistic people have, and make sure that they are valued.

What was the purpose of this study?

We did this study to find out what strengths autistic people have in the workplace, as suggested by autistic people themselves.

What did the researchers do?

In this study, we asked autistic people to fill out an online questionnaire that asked their views about the strengths that they experienced at work. A total of 66 people completed the questionnaire. We read through everyone's answers, and put them into groups of similar responses. In that way, we could identify the areas where the autistic participants felt that they could perform better than their nonautistic colleagues.

What were the results of the study?

The participants in our study wrote about many areas of strength and skill at work. The main strengths that they mentioned were advantages related to ways of thinking (like being able to pay attention to tasks well), getting tasks done more efficiently, and personal qualities such as honesty and dedication. They also wrote about how being autistic meant that they could offer a unique view on situations at work.

What do these findings add to what was already known?

This was the first study to look at autistic people's experiences of skills in the workplace. Other studies have considered skills more generally, rather than focusing on employment—or have used other people's views about autistic skills, rather than autistic people's own views.

What are potential weaknesses in the study?

To take part in our study, people had to be able to fill out an online questionnaire. This can be difficult for people with intellectual impairment or other language/communication difficulties, which means that some autistic people might have been excluded from our research. More research should be done to understand the skills of people with a wider range of communication differences. Those who took part in our study were also different from the autistic population as a whole—for example, most were female and worked in education. This means that we should not presume that the strengths found in our study are shared by all autistic people.

How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?

We think that these results could be important to employers, those working with autistic people, and autistic people themselves. By understanding the strengths that could be associated with being autistic in the workplace, autistic people may be better able to identify their own strengths in the workplace. This may enable them to find a job that they enjoy and excel at. The results should also encourage employers to make an effort to give jobs to autistic people, making changes to interview processes and working conditions, and seeking out training when needed. Overall, this study suggests that autistic people have many employment-related strengths that should be recognized and valued by autistic people and employers alike.