Alexis Prendergast, a Brooklyn 25-year-old who has autism spectrum disorder, is the first to admit there are skills she hasn’t mastered. “Mostly it’s social stuff. I miss some cues,” she says. Her wiring also lends unusual strengths, like an ability to focus for long stretches on tasks requiring great attention to detail. Happily, she found an employer looking for someone just like her.

Daivergent, a Manhattan tech startup, provides autistic contractors to clients seeking high accuracy and speed on tasks including data entry...