

Although he enjoyed his first job in software development when he left university in the late 1970s, Thomas Madar found difficulty in fitting in. Like many people on the autistic spectrum, the now 58-year-old had problems in the working world and was dismissed as a poor communicator.



Over the coming years, he went from courses in third-level education to jobs and back again, but sometimes struggled in interviews where, by his own admission, he would not sell himself as someone who was likable and who fitted into teams.



When he got his current position as a software tester at Ernst & Young last year, he says his social skills had improved over the years. Also at hand was Specialisterne (Danish for the Specialists), a company which strives to match up people with autism to jobs where characteristics such as attention to detail and a an adherence to structure act as a competitive advantage.



Thorkil Sonne was what he describes as a “traditional career man” before his son Lars was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, leading to questions about what would happen to his child in the future when he and his wife Annette were unable to support him. The answer was very little. By 2004, Sonne had remortgaged his house and set up Specialisterne with the aim of getting people with autism, who are vastly underemployed or unemployed, into jobs where their skills can be taken advantage of, usually in the IT industry where attributes like seamless repetition and attention to detail are cherished.



“The idea that people who formally have a disability can produce and sometimes even outperform non-disabled people in the workspace is quite a disruptive thought for employers,” said Sonne.

The organisation – a trading entity which is owned by a charitable foundation – has now spread to 13 countries, including Britain, where for the last two years it has placed people on the spectrum in positions in the BBC, the NHS and Lockheed Martin in Glasgow among others.



“We are trying to help people who are employable who have what we consider to be needless hurdles put in their way by employers, not in any kind of malicious way, but by kind of not really thinking about the hurdles that do exist,” said Tom Brundage, director of the UK operation.



“Most of the candidates we talk to are living with parents, in many cases ageing parents, and all the ones that come across our radar, are universally keen to work.”



According to the National Autistic Society, there are around 700,000 people with autism in the UK. Of these, Brundage sa id 85% – almost 600,000 – are unemployed even though many of them are employable. The problems can start at the interview stage for a job, should they even get to that stage.



“People with autism are very literal for the most part so they get very confused by metaphors and business speak. They will understand things very directly and they will speak very directly and sometimes without us there to facilitate that interview process, it won’t go well even to the point where people on the spectrum are not very good at selling themselves and touting their skills,” he said.



Where Specialisterne operates is in between – linking up their database of candidates with jobs which would fit, typically in software testing and web development. Candidates are accompanied to their interviews so that they can be assisted to display their best side. If they get the position, they are contracted to the employer via Specialisterne.



The “autism advantage” to employers can be an attention to detail and the ability to repeat tasks numerous times without losing interest or getting bored, coupled with a loyalty to their employer.



“People on the spectrum with their attention to detail and their intolerance for errors, they have very good pattern-recognition skills. Those really fit the big data environment right now. We are talking to a number of the banks to provide our specialists for projects to do with fraud detection and anti-money laundering,” said Brundage. “For people on the spectrum, if they find a place that they like, they won’t move, they tend to stay put.”



Toby Hildon, who works in diversity and inclusion for BBC Digital, describes his experiences working with people with autism as positive. Downsides, he said, were only present if staff were not geared towards inclusiveness in general.



In Britain, up to 20 people have been placed in positions so far, said Brundage. Worldwide that number is in the “three figures” according to Sonne. “What you see is what you get. There is not really a political agenda. They are very honest. Some [employers] have to get used to that. It is really a relief,” he said.



Problems can arise when that honesty is taken in the wrong way, although Brundage maintains that “sometimes fresh talk is good”. Typically those who are placed by Specialisterne are male between 20 and 30. Advancement in positions is not necessarily an aim, as sometimes candidates are happy and content in the position that they find themselves in, he said.



“I think there is much more optimism now. There are many examples of employment projects or concepts and there are a lot of employers who are willing to talk about their experiences. I think the idea that many people with autism can actually be big assets for a company, that message is spreading very well,” said Sonne.



Madar finds his new role in Ernst & Young, where he gets to understand software and tests its performance, technically challenging and satisfying. “I am a very meticulous person and I am ideally suited to software testing,” he said.



“I can detect small discrepancies which neurotypical [not on the autistic spectrum] people can’t detect so my work is done slowly but is of very high quality.”



That same working environment in which he encountered so many problems over 30 years ago, has now changed, he said. “There is a greater recognition of the challenges presented by autism especially in the social setting and also my social skills have progressively improved over the years.”



Making up the 1%

The German software company SAP aims to have 1% of its workforce comprises people with autism within five years - adding up to about 650 people. The multinational works with Specialisterne to employ people with autism as software testers, programmers and in data quality assurance. The project was piloted in Germany, India and Ireland and later spread to North America.

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