80% of people on Autism spectrum are unemployed?

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I just read this statistic in a reputable magazine, so I assume it's true... but what about people with Asperger's or High Functioning Autism?

Anyone know what their unemployment rate might be?

LFA is close to 0

HFA is a little better, but still close to 0 (under 10)

AS is a little better still, but the best I've found is around 30 percent employed, and it's usually menial jobs or family businesses

Can either of you provide links to the statistics you have found? I'm still in research mode here .

Thanks in advance.

Sorry, these are from memory (my memory is good, though).

Search for "adult outcomes with AS/HFA/LFA/autism" or similar in PubMed and Google Books and it should come up with studies and textbook passages. That's how I found them out originally (this is several years ago).

Unemployed or not working? Unemployed is where they are searching for work.

Current issue of "Worth" magazine (can find at Barnes & Noble) - article on autism and Silicon Valley or the Tech industry - quote was "75 - 85%" - I simplified to "80%"...

You are using the technical definition, but I'm sure the article, and most people when they say "unemployed", actually mean "not working", regardless of whether they're looking for work.

I always wonder how they get these statistics.

Sorry, maybe I'm not good with search engines but searching "adult outcomes with AS/HFA/LFA/autism" had the first hit of this forum and then nothing else relevant.

The actual link would be great - trying to figure out if there is a particular demographic of ASD that is 80% unemployed.

In the UK the stats on the National Autistic Society website put Autistic paid employment (full time) at 15%. Of the 85% not in full time employment, 79% want to work (which could be counted as the ones who would be seeking employment). For the normal methodology of only including those seeking work, that would put Autistic unemployment in the UK at 67.15% (may want to verify my calculation, as it's early morning and I haven't had coffee yet).

These stats are across the whole spectrum.

Thanks 11:32, appreciate it.

Do they make any distinction between AS and other parts of the ASD spectrum? Also, I'm assuming this is only for those that have been formally diagnosed?

I mean:

adult outcomes autism
adult outcomes Asperger's
adult outcomes high-functioning autism
and so on

I read somewhere that only 40 per cent of people with high-functioning autism have jobs and that is pretty damn low. I wonder what the rate would be if one includes low-functioning autism. Perhaps 80% unemployed is a good figure.

No I don't think so. Since the last DSM, Aspergers is not formally considered as a separate condition.

If you check out their website you may be able to find more information about their methodology though. I'm under the impression that a lot of the data they have is from research they have conducted themselves, being one of the few organisations in the UK who would know enough people/has enough reach to get a statistically relevant sample size for their surveys.

There are quite a few employed persons here on WP.

It's not a foregone conclusion that autism=no job prospects.

I was actually diagnosed with Asperger's because of my work. I had a nasty fall down some stairs and was off work for a long time on workers' comp. The rehab providers thought I was getting depressed and suicidal so they sent me to a big wig psychiatrist and he diagnosed me. My work knows I have it.

I work for a Government department. They're a very EEO, touchy feely kind of employer with touchy feely people who work there so it's not a problem. And my job involves computers and programming. Something I have a natural aptitude for and love doing so, it's all good!

If you find something you enjoy and are good at, go with it. If you can turn your Special Interest into your vocation, 'then you gonna be livin' like a king'.