It happens countless times a day: a Starbucks barista goes through the various steps of preparing a customer’s drink.

This time, a video of that process at a Starbucks location in Toronto has gone viral — not because of the familiar process itself but because of the person who’s doing the work: a young autistic man named Sam who dances as he works.

The video was originally taken by autism advocate Carly Fleischmann, who explained in a Friday post that Sam “never thought he would be able to work behind the bar because of his sudden movements,” but his manager helped him “channel his movements into dance.”

“More people like Sam need to be seen, heard and given a chance to thrive and dance,” Fleischmann wrote.

“ ‘There’s a significant lack of opportunity provided to people with autism when it comes to work. Employers don’t understand what accommodations need to be made.’ ” — Scott Badesch, Autism Society

The heartwarming tale is a rare employment success story for those like Sam.

Despite some progress in recent years, the data suggest that as many as 70% of adults with autism are unemployed, said Scott Badesch, the chief executive of the Autism Society.

“Every one of them could work or should work,” he said. “There’s a significant lack of opportunity provided to people with autism when it comes to work. Employers don’t understand what accommodations need to be made.”

The term autism covers a spectrum of brain-development disorders, manifesting as behavioral difficulties as well as problems communicating and interacting in social settings.

For 17-year-old Sam, the Starbucks SBUX, -1.84% job was a dream gig that arose from a summer-camp partnership between Starbucks and a Toronto-based autism organization. Over 3 million people in the U.S. alone are autistic, according to Autism Speaks.

Sam began about three months ago as a cafe attendant, a position that involves bussing tables and doling out samples but doesn’t involve making Starbucks drinks, according to Starbucks. His promotion came about after Sam told a visiting Starbucks executive that people with disabilities could do more than they were given credit for. His duties were subsequently expanded, and he was given a crack at making drinks, Starbucks said.

The video’s background music is more than just a soundtrack. It gives Sam, who also has a movement disorder, more control, said Starbucks store manager Chris Ali.

Autistic programmer Melanie Altrock, then 27, at work in 2013 at Auticon in Berlin. Getty Images

In recent years, there have seen advances in hiring autistic people, especially in technology companies, said Susanne Bruyere, Ph.D., director of Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute. For technology companies, which are often proactive about trying new and different approaches, “adding the element of disability, or neurodiversity, is not a big stretch,” she said.

But, by and large, “we still see people with disabilities being hired for jobs much under their skill level,” Badesch said.

One reason may be an issue on the front end. In a job interview, candidates are expected to be outgoing, to look the interviewer in the eye and adapt immediately to unfamiliar spaces — all things that people with autism can find challenging.

Modifications to alleviate those factors, like lowering harsh lights in a room, are easy to make, but are something an employer “may not realize … may not have anything to do with a person’s job,” Badesch said.

So what does Badesch see when he watches the video that has been viewed more than 51 million times? “It shows a guy wanting to work and wanting to make the job enjoyable,” he said. “And a company that’s willing to let him do it.”