Beverley Breen calls on all employers to give young people with Asperger’s a chance
April Ryan has Asperger’s syndrome. She graduated from university with a slew of language qualifications, yet despite her “fantastic” applications – she was complimented on these by more than one potential employer – she found herself stuttering and stumbling through every job interview. Talented but jobless, she began to believe that her Asperger’s rendered her automatically unemployable.
April’s story is not unusual. The fate of young adults with AS after they leave education is a significant issue. Only 15 per cent of people with autism work full- or part-time. Three quarters would like to work but are claiming state benefits. If employers would only open their eyes, they’d realise that many of these young people are highly employable. Given the right support, they can make steady, reliable employees who can excel at certain types of roles. However, when I approach larger organisations to suggest work placements for the students I work with, virtually all of them give me an outright rejection. In this climate, it is not surprising that many young adults end up leading solitary “online” lives.
Changing lives
There are some glimmers of hope. This year, the Department of Health has introduced a community-based programme called Think Autism. It aims to help make community members – including businesses – more autism aware and accessible. Why stop there, though? Let’s not just teach businesses how to cope with autistic people, let’s teach them how to employ autistic people.
I’m grateful, though, to the smaller organisations with the courage to take a young adult with Asperger’s under their wings. The story of Ralph Smith shows what can be achieved with the right support. When I first met Ralph, he was extremely withdrawn and very easily stressed. His anxiety was triggered by heat and he’d storm out of an airless room. He also struggled with handwriting, although he had good computer skills. We sent Ralph off for a work placement with the charity Home Start. His job was to catalogue second hand books, to photograph them and then to sell them on Ebay. The role required precision and organisation but there was no time pressure and the employer understood that Ralph might need time out to de-stress during his working day.
Six weeks later, Ralph came to see me. He was like a different person. He had shorter hair and was clean shaven. His clothes were tidy and his complexion had improved. Best of all, he looked straight at me. I asked him to type a report about his work placement. He wrote a fabulous piece. His language and style were a true revelation. He’d been with us for ten weeks before that work placement and we’d never seen that depth and intelligence in him. It was like a light had been switched on.
Mark Hayward’s story is a little different. His pressure point is that he needs a lot of processing time to understand and respond to an instruction. Once he’s on board with what’s needed, though, he’ll deliver work of a very high standard.
Mark is football crazy. He works in the kit room of Tranmere Rovers Football Club. It’s not a paid role and Mark prefers it this way, as there’s less pressure. He’s been taught to wash and dry the kit of all the teams at the club, including the first team. It’s a role that requires a steady, methodical approach and he has plenty of time to think through each next step. Mark’s mentors at the club say he’s becoming more and more open with them. He’ll make eye contact and even share a joke with them about his one true love: Manchester United.
An employer’s guide to Asperger’s
My plea to employers is simple; give these young people a try. There are a few things employers should know, though, when considering a role for a young adult with Asperger’s:
- people with Asperger’s are not disabled; they just have a different outlook on life. A good way to think about this is to imagine that you are making tea and toast. You may find this straightforward but people with Asperger’s might falter because there are so many small steps involved. They need to understand how to enact each and every step and the detail of this will be very important to them. An employer briefing an employee with Asperger’s would need to think through a task at this level of detail
- think about language carefully. For example, when asked the question, “Can you turn the computer on?” an individual with Asperger’s may respond that, yes, s/he can indeed turn the computer on. S/he may not understand that s/he is being asked to switch it on. The instruction should have been much more explicit – for example, “Will you turn the computer on please.”
- as the employer of someone with Asperger’s, you need to understand that your employee may take a little longer to process an instruction than you’d expect. It’s not that s/he won’t understand; s/he is just working out how to react
- for someone with Asperger’s, unfamiliar things are harder to remember, so don’t be surprised if the employee tends to do what is familiar instead
- if people with Asperger’s become upset, they are likely to become very introverted or agitated. This may happen if they try to process too much information. It is important to allow an employee time out for a walk or a drink, or some time to listen to music
- people with AS tend to enjoy repetitive, predictable roles. They are excellent at time-keeping, dedicated and dependable and they won’t leave a task half finished. They may be good at the types of roles others may find limiting. Data input is a good example. The data itself may change, but the process of inputting it will not.
Employers in any doubt about the difference they can make to a young person’s life – and on how much someone with AS could contribute to their business – should spend five minutes with Chris Birss. Chris loved cinema but had no idea how to find employment in that environment. He was beautifully polite when we first met, though very quiet, and his easy courtesy made him a natural for a job in customer services.
Chris was trusted with a front-of-house role at a local cinema as a temporary placement. He sold tickets in the box office and worked behind the food counter, performing the same tasks as other team members. Over the weeks, Chris blossomed. He clearly enjoyed his role and felt safe and well supported. He became a chatty, jokey person and a valued team member; his employers are incredibly proud of his achievements. Chris did so well that he has since been offered a permanent, paid role.
I’ve been shocked at the outright rejection our queries about work placements have received from large employers, but increasingly heartened by the friendliness and humanity of the many smaller organisations I’ve worked with. My hope is that employers of all sizes will come to understand that young adults with Asperger’s can be real assets to their teams.
Author: Beverley Breen
Beverley Breen
Beverley Breen is Programme Manager for Step into Work Plus, a scheme run by Wirral Autistic Society:
www.autistic.org
