Some jobs seeking out people with autism.

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =123567371

I second that movement.

Good for them. I hope they are massively successful. Much better to build on strengths than keep bashing anyone who's different. Kudos.

a good way to build self esteem is to make strengths even stronger rather then focusing on weakness all the time.

It's fantastic that more companies are seeing that we have skills to offer and are providing us with oppertunities

This sounds great! I had an idea that they should have a business where they hire people with OCD to do extremely detailed jobs, except I don't know how well that would work. I like the idea, as said, that they are building off of strengths as compared to trying to change differences, almost like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole so to speak. Besides, everyone has something to offer to the world. Sometimes we focus too much on being overly different, if there is such a thing. Also, this is a situation where both parties can benefit. I would suppose that, on average, most aspies could work longer on jobs like data entry positions than most neurotypicals, which could mean that they may perform better on the job. Plus, the aspies could be doing something that they may enjoy doing, which in turn would make them happier. It's a good start seeing that people are beginning to see that people could use people for their strengths rather than shunning them for their weaknesses. Maybe I should move to Chicago too, except I like it where I am so far; I think there's a bit more fresh air where I am, plus I'm going to school here.

Two main things bother me about this article. First of all, I believe people on the spectrum can do better than sitting at a computer typing mindlessly all day. That is a good part of my job as an electronic filer, and while I actually do LIKE my job, I plan to move on to bigger and better things at some point. I believe ASers should be working their dream jobs, running their own businesses, not just working the only job they could grab because the employers at other companies wouldn't hire them. I realize the point of this article is that we are moving towards this, *EDIT* but it should be happening sooner. (XD I forgot to conclude my sentence...) *END EDIT*

Second, it may have just been me, but it came across as if they were talking about the winners of the Special Olympics. Some cases of ASDs may be more severe than others, but I don't think we're talking about mental retardation in the case of this article. We can do more than type at computers. We do everything that NTs do, we just think about it differently when we do it.


Just some food for thought.

Sound boring jobs. That's not for me...

I think it's a very good thing that a company can recognize the natural gifts of aspies and use them to a good effect. I know I myself enjoy organizational work like software testing and programming. I am a little offended though at the stereotyping of aspies in this article. There are many, many things that aspies are very good at. This article makes them sound like some disabled special interest group, needing special help to find something useful with them. I wonder why this is a non-profit, and what the opportunities are for education and career advancement, which seem almost non-existent. It's definitely a start, but more needs to be done. I would like to see what it's like though at this company, having all those aspies in one place.

It is kind of demeaning to stereotype aspies this way, but (as said earlier) I think that it's definitely a start. They have other programs for people with disabilities, such as DVR (Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, or something of the like). This is a program of the government that encourages those with disabilities to get post-secondary education, or to get further job training. From what I heard from my school, they can help people for up to four years or so with things like textbooks or tuition. I'm not an expert on it, though, but it sounds pretty good. Aspies aren't really that disabled compared to the rest of the disabled world, it's just that we tend to have social issues among other things. The reason why I was told about it is that I'm looking to be part of an aspie support group, and many of those groups can cost a lot of money. The one closest to me costs $160/month, which is a lot for a college budget. The head of my university's Disability Support Services office told me that DVR would help me pay for up to 3 months of going to this group. I'm mainly looking to start my own group at my university, though, as 3 months isn't really a long time in the long run, and I would end up paying out the end after that. It sounds like a really good thing, though. They also have another federal program (I forget what it's called) that places disabled individuals (without naming their disability) into state or federal jobs of many various fields. It's not guaranteed that one will get a job, however; it's mainly a tool that helps employers fill quotas, as a certain percentage of their office needs to have a disability. I applied mainly for the interview experience or for a fallback just in case I didn't get the job I wanted. But I ended up getting my desired job, which was working at a summer camp. I think that these are great opportunities for disabled people. In the end, though, I decided that if I was able to get a job by myself without the need for government assistance that I should get the job that I earned on my own. I felt good that I did it on my own. However, there are probably people on the spectrum who may have lots of trouble with interviews and social skills that may need something like this. Anyways, I hope this helps.