Pongo Resume

As the mother of a teenager on the autistic spectrum, I was excited to watch the HBO movie about Temple Grandin last week. The movie was outstanding, and Clare Danes was phenomenal in the title role. Temple Grandin is probably the most famous autistic person today. She has a PhD and has written several books that have helped us understand so much more about how she and, by extension, other people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) experience the world.

In Temple Grandin's case, her autism makes her uniquely suited to her line of work. She has innate understanding of animals, along with uncanny visual thinking skills, and has used them to make cattle ranches more humane.

The movie was pretty realistic about how autism can make a person seem very unpleasant in the workplace. Temple shouted at others when they couldn't see the logic of her arguments. With no sense of diplomacy or persuasion, she (accurately) pointed out that they were too stupid to understand. Obviously, that behavior won't cut it in 99% of workplaces.

When Brazen Careerist blogger Penelope Trunk began talking about her own Asperger's Syndrome (a high-functioning form of autism), a lot of her outlandish, unfiltered, seemingly inappropriate posts suddenly made a lot more sense—and after all, she did warn us she'd be brazen.

What many people don't realize, unless they're close to someone on the spectrum, is that people with ASDs play by different rules. It's not by choice; they just aren't wired to easily understand all the emotional, social, intangible things that most of us are able to pick up on automatically. And therefore a lot of people with ASDs aren't as successful in the working world as Temple Grandin or Penelope Trunk. 

Imagine yourself attempting to do your job if you couldn't recognize facial expressions, body language, subtle hints, or sarcasm. And maybe you can't process spoken language quickly, so by the time you decode the last string of sounds into words, you've missed some other important point. Then add to that a heightened sensitivity to background noise, sudden sounds, strange smells, flickering lights, physical irritants such as clothing labels… the list goes on and on.

With current statistics telling us as many as one in 100 children may have some form of ASD, we'd better come up with some innovative ideas for more autism-friendly work options, pronto. ASDs can be valuable assets in the right work setting, both in spite of and because of the person's unique traits. Many of the world's great thinkers—composers, engineers, scientists, inventors, mathematicians, and creative artists—have had autistic traits.

As Temple Grandin's mother put it, people with autism are "different, not less." When we find better ways to accommodate differences and tap unique strengths, we bring greater diversity and some amazing, out-of-the-box thinking into the mix. 

Are you, or do you work with someone, on the autistic spectrum? What is your workplace doing (or could they be doing) to help make the relationship successful?  Please share your thoughts or comments below.

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This concept can be applied across a broad spectrum of cases, and I think autism is a good example. There are plenty of people with autism who could be valuable assets to the workforce.

This is especially true if companies would make the effort to accommodate people with special needs. This accommodation should not be viewed as charity but as an investment designed to access untapped human potential.

Thanks for that article. Although it is about a person who was mentally ill, I agree that the concept applies. As the article pointed out, a good manager can control a lot of problems and nip them in the bud. Maybe it's the business schools that should be addressing autism in the workplace.

One thing I neglected to say explicitly in the post is that plenty of people with Asperger's or high-functioning autism do just fine in the workplace. In many cases, superior intelligence makes it easy to "learn" the social skills required in the workplace. But for those more severely affected, it's a challenge.

To be able to find that niche employers need to pay attention to this type of information and be able to identify areas in which they could assist in making someone with autism succeed.

Unfortunately, one role most managers are supposed to grasp is giving their employees an environment where they can be successful. Most don't get it and most wouldn't know where to start.

We have made great strides in the area of improving the workplace and offering equal opportunities to those with handicaps mental and physical. But factor in the realm of those with varying levels of autism and you can see quite clearly that we haven't made enough of an effort to assist them and help make them successful.

I'm sure your son is a great kid and I'm sure he has questions about everything as all kids do. I hope one day we can provide him with real answers that will help him be a successful, fulfilled adult just like everyone else can be...if they so choose to be.

Thank you -- both for the compliments, and for the fact that I will now be humming "HR Puffinstuf...who's your friend when things get rough?..." in my head for the rest of the day.

I've seen such great strides in school settings for accommodating all the different learning styles and abilities -- I have a lot of hope that there will be a natural progression of these changes into at least some workplaces.

And yes, my son is absolutely wonderful and one of the greatest joys of my life. He keeps us laughing and seeing the world in new and amazing ways. And he, for instance, could be a great accountant if his boss will let him do his calculations on a MagnaDoodle! Is that so much to ask? ;)

-- Julie

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad your son has a loving, supportive mom to help him find his own unique path to success.

Obviously not every job or every business can accommodate the gamut of special needs. Safety has to be top priority, and poor communication skills or attention problems, for instance, rule out a lot of options.

But if we all become more educated about the specialized skills (not just the deficits) these different learners bring to the table, we'll all benefit, and so will the bottom line.

-- Julie

Diversity is not about skin color or other superficial differences. Diversity is more about embracing diversities of thought, perception and problem solving. Average thought and perception is not responsible for innovation. And business is starving for innovation.

Individuals who see, think and feel the world uniquely are always the ones responsible for quantum innovation in business, technology and society. Einstein, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Mapplethorpe, Edison, Lincoln, Mandela were each considered weird and misunderstood characters that changed the world with their unique way of seeing the world. Bravo!