As people with autism struggle to counter an unemployment rate of more than 30 per cent — six times the national level — disability groups are calling on employers to rethink how they can tap the potential of this group of prospective workers.

Key points: The unemployment rate for people on the autism spectrum stands at 31.6 per cent

The unemployment rate for people on the autism spectrum stands at 31.6 per cent Disability advocates say employers would benefit by hiring more autistic staff

Disability advocates say employers would benefit by hiring more autistic staff They say people with disabilities by nature are often very good problem solvers

Almost one third of working-age people on the autism spectrum, 31.6 per cent, are unemployed — about three times more than people with disabilities generally.

Disability advocates and support groups are working with businesses to help them change their recruitment practices and office environments to help meet the needs of people on the autism spectrum.

This goes as far as even looking to replace stressful formal interviews with job trials.

And they are urging disability employment service providers to focus on finding suitable, long-term jobs for their clients to help keep them in the workplace.

'He's hopeless, just cast him off'

Davo Hunter, who was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum last November at the age of 34, struggled for years in jobs because his bosses could not understand him.

"A lot of people will catch you on a bad day and they see the bad day and go, 'he's hopeless, just cast him off'," he said.

Davo Hunter was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum at the age of 34. ( ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch )

Executive manager of the Autism Association of WA's employment program, Russell Thomas, said employers may not be aware people with autism could find regular work environments very stressful.

"A lot might have enhanced sensitivities to sounds and noise and light, so [they] might be sitting in what you think is a quiet environment and they can hear the fluoros [lights] humming, or a squeaky door in the corner," he said.

He said the high unemployment rate for people on the autism spectrum was partly due to their difficulty in getting access to jobs in the first place.

Employers urged to re-examine criteria

Mr Thomas said job advertisements requiring candidates to have high levels of socialisation and communications skills immediately cut out many people with autism.

He recently worked with a large oil and gas company looking to hire IT graduates on the autism spectrum and advised them to drop those requirements.

Mr Thomas said he negotiated with employers to avoid the high anxiety an interview could cause an autistic applicant.

Russell Thomas talks to employers about alternatives to formal job interviews. ( ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch )

An informal chat, a walk around the workplace or a work placement could instead help bring out the person's strengths.

"Let's not worry about what the person's going to tell you they can do, they can show you what they can do," Mr Thomas said.

"And not looking at the person [as having] autism, but [looking at] what this person can do for this business, in terms of eye for detail, love of routines, always turning up, dedicated, committed to the job."

Disability groups and service providers also worked directly with employers and their staff to make them aware of the needs and challenges individual people with autism would encounter at work.

People With Disabilities WA executive director Samantha Jenkinson said it was about creating a work culture open to people with disabilities.

"So that it doesn't have to be a hard sell to anybody, it's just normal practice that you're tailoring your work environment to the individuals that are in your work environment, whether it's with autism, blindness or anything else," Ms Jenkinson said.

"It's about making the adjustment to allow that person whose best at doing the job to be able to do the job."

Not all jobs are the right jobs

Many people with autism receive assistance from disability employment service providers to help them find a job.

A commonly used practice is reverse marketing, where service providers promote their clients directly to prospective employers.

It worked for Davo Hunter.

Davo Hunter says he is not good at selling himself to prospective employers. ( ABC News: Jon Sambell )

"I can't sell myself but others do. I had to learn that letting them do their job is the best thing I can do. They've done a very good job as selling me as a good worker," he said.

Mr Hunter recently picked up casual work as a bus driver for a private company.

"You have this sort of ability to go 'I'm having a rough day' and they'll go 'okay'. This is part of the condition, and you can explain all that and they're very understanding," he said.

But Ms Jenkinson warned some employment service providers were focused on finding any job they could for their clients to meet funding targets.

"Not necessarily a job that's a long-term, secure stable job that's going to be a job the person's happy to stay in," she said.

"So that can sometimes mean trying to get bums on seats so to speak, a person in a job without really thinking about what's the best job for that person, because it might take longer to get to that point.

"And if funding is then predicated on the fact you've got to have so many people in jobs, it can limit then that ability to have that more individualised approach."

Mr Thomas agreed. "What you're doing is you're not fitting the person to a job, you're fitting a job to a person," he said.

"And that's promoted a bit. The reverse marketing is: 'Right, partner with us. We'll give you all the employees you need.'"

Focus on abilities, not disabilities

Trevor Paterson, operations manager at disability employment services provider Bizlink, said getting to know each person and the support they needed with was critical to finding a suitable, long-term job.

"We get to know that person and we get to know what sorts of things they can cope with, what they can't cope with, the challenges they might face. It could be getting to work, so we travel train someone if it's required," Mr Paterson said.

"If we're able to disclose someone's disability, we disclose it in such a way that we talk about their abilities, we talk about the challenges they may face and what we may be able to put in place to overcome those challenges."

Trevor Paterson says people need to be matched with the right jobs. ( ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch )

For Ms Jenkinson, perhaps one of the biggest selling points for people with disabilities to employers was their ability to think outside the box.

She cited a Harvard Business School survey which found companies with employees with disabilities were about 10 per cent more innovative than people without disabilities.

"Because we're solving problems every day to get around in a world that's not built for us," she said.

"There's a higher likelihood that a person with a disability is going to be a good problem solver."