There are endless initiatives trying to get autistic people into employment. Most portray the autistic people as 'the problem' for employers and society to solve. This builds on the negative view of autistic people from the last 100 years of researching us and writing about us (mostly without us...). We are told that we are a burden, a cost, a deficit, a disorder, a danger - the list is endless, and frankly most of it built on nonsense and guesswork. See https://annsautism.blogspot.com/2019/01/autism-some-vital-research-links.html for some examples.
The attitude of, 'We must get more autistic people into work', also ignores the reality that we've only found about 1 in 10 autistic adults so far. Our workplaces already have autistic employees and managers in them, doing a great job.
But perhaps they don't yet know they are autistic.
Perhaps they cannot yet get a diagnosis due to the barriers in place (financial, practical).
Perhaps they are afraid of getting a diagnosis, because all they will then hear is how much of a 'problem' they are. A real worry about being dismissed for Working Whilst Autistic.
Perhaps they have a diagnosis/have self-identified, and dare not disclose it, because they fear those negative consequences.
This is what happens when we portray marginalised people as nothing but problems and costs, of course. It's not clever.
I've been looking at a piece of new research. There's a fairly steady stream of stuff like it, so I won't name it here. But it claimed that autistic employees, "may act inappropriately with individuals of the opposite sex". Mmm. Let's look at their research evidence for this, eh.
They claimed that a research team in 2010 had proved this.
They claimed that a research team in 2010 had proved this.
I looked at their research paper. They hadn't proved this.. as far as I could see. In fact all they did was rely on three old papers, one from 1991, one from 1997, and one from 2001. Those were from the time when we didn't even have much of an idea that autistic people could exist outside of care homes. Some of the research was on autistic boys. What any of it had to do with modern employment is anyone's guess.
Onwards I went, looking for this proof behind the statement. One paper elsewhere relied on something from 1993, which looked at e.g. 12 year olds. Another had focused on three autistic adults with intellectual disabilities, in 2002. Widening my search, I tried another bit of research from 1999 which relied on an even older paper from 1981 about people with a learning disability (intellectual disability), of which the research team investigated two autistic people.
Another paper found one autistic person to study.
Another only examined eight autistic people, none of them employed.
Another only examined eight autistic people, none of them employed.
Another, from 2013, focused on 19 yr olds, nearly all male, and of which e.g. 1 of them in a group may have made a rude gesture at someone.
I am not joking.
This is the 'evidence' behind this allegation about us. There are millions of autistic people in the world, and that's all we have for 100 years of research.
And, what is it with the 'people of the opposite sex' stuff? A good third of autistic people are e.g. lesbian or gay. Erased entirely from research here, it seems.
I looked for any paper that gave comparative figures for e.g. autistic males versus females (as that's the language used in the papers...). Nothing.
I looked for any paper that explained what 'inappropriate behaviour' allegedly happened. Hardly any detail, anywhere. One paper suggested that being anxious or depressed at work counted as 'inappropriate behaviour' if you're autistic. Really?
I looked for any paper that focused on middle aged and older age groups, e.g. age 40-70. Nothing.
I looked for any paper that compared the rates of 'inappropriate behaviour' from autistic and nonautistic people at work. Proper control research, in other words. Nothing.
I looked for any paper that explained what 'inappropriate behaviour' allegedly happened. Hardly any detail, anywhere. One paper suggested that being anxious or depressed at work counted as 'inappropriate behaviour' if you're autistic. Really?
I looked for any paper that focused on middle aged and older age groups, e.g. age 40-70. Nothing.
I looked for any paper that compared the rates of 'inappropriate behaviour' from autistic and nonautistic people at work. Proper control research, in other words. Nothing.
So, I asked autistic people about whether they'd encountered e.g. sexually inappropriate behaviour at work. It is an informal poll, not research. But it points to a discussion that I haven't seen anywhere in research circles: What the heck is happening to autistic people in workplaces?
Here's the poll result:
The very big majority of the autistic people responding said yes, they had experienced sexually inappropriate behaviour at work. It's not valid as a set of statistics, but as I say, this points to something, doesn't it. And what it points to is pretty horrifying.
Who has kept this negative narrative about us going for the last 100 years, and why?
Whose job is it in Government and services to think about the ethics of constantly portraying a marginalised group as 'the problem', ....and at the same time punishing them for not being in work .....and not investigating the very real harms that some of them encounter at work?
What a mess.
If we are serious about offering autistic people who wish to work - and who can work - meaningful, safe employment, is this the way to go about it? I don't think so. Do you?
Let's do better together, eh?
