Abstract
A small but growing body of research has been conducted on vocational outcomes for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); however, limited resources have been directed towards understanding outcomes for competitive employers. While ASD does present with a range of social communication and adaptive behavior deficits, adults on the spectrum may be extremely efficient, trustworthy, reliable, and cost-effective employees. Nevertheless, fewer than half of young adults with ASD maintain a job. Many businesses are unwilling to hire these capable candidates, concerned among other things about an increase in supervision costs and a decrease in productivity. This is a bias based on misperceptions; the financial and social benefits of hiring adults with ASD, for businesses and the individual, often outweigh the costs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adreon, D., & Durocher, J. S. (2007). Evaluating the college transition needs of individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Intervention in School and Clinic, 42(5), 271–279.
Autism Society. (2019). Employment. Retrieved from https://www.autism-society.org/living-with-autism/autism-through-the-lifespan/adulthood/employment/.
Autism Speaks. (2018a). The job interview. Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/tool-kit-excerpt/job-interview.
Autism Speaks. (2018b). FY19 federal budget strengthens support for autism. Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/advocacy-news/fy19-federal-budget-strengthens-support-autism.
Baldwin, S., Costley, D., & Warren, A. (2014). Employment activities and experiences of adults with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(10), 2440–2449.
Bodfish, J. W., Symons, F. J., Parker, D. E., & Lewis, M. H. (2000). Varieties of repetitive behavior in autism: Comparisons to mental retardation. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 30(3), 237–243.
Brookman-Frazee, L., Baker-Ericzén, M., Stahmer, A., Mandell, D., Haine, R. A., & Hough, R. L. (2009). Involvement of youths with autism spectrum disorders or intellectual disabilities in multiple public service systems. Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 2(3), 201–219.
Butler, R. C., & Gillis, J. M. (2011). The impact of labels and behaviors on the stigmatization of adults with Asperger’s disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 41(6), 741–749.
Butterworth, J., Smith, F. A., Hall, A. C., Migliore, A., Winsor, J., Domin, D., et al. (2012). State data: The national report on employment services and outcomes. Boston: University of Massachusetts Boston, Institute for Community Inclusion.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Community Report on Autism.
Cimera, R. E., & Cowan, R. J. (2009). The costs of services and employment outcomes achieved by adults with autism in the US. Autism, 13(3), 285–302.
García-Villamisar, D., & Hughes, C. (2007). Supported employment improves cognitive performance in adults with autism. Journal of intellectual disability research, 51(2), 142–150.
Gerhardt, P. F., Cicero, F., & Mayville, E. (2014). Employment and related services for adults with ASD. Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Fourth Edition.
Hagner, D., & Cooney, B. F. (2005). “I do that for everybody”: Supervising employees with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 20(2), 91–97.
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2018). World happiness report 2018. New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Hernandez, B., & McDonald, K. (2010). Exploring the Costs and Benefits of Workers with Disabilities. Journal of Rehabilitation, 76(3).
Hillier, A., Campbell, H., Mastriani, K., Izzo, M. V., Kool-Tucker, A. K., Cherry, L., et al. (2007). Two-year evaluation of a vocational support program for adults on the autism spectrum. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 30(1), 35–47.
Internal Revenue Service. (2019). Tax Benefits for Businesses Who Have Employees with Disabilities, May 10
Johnson, T. D., & Joshi, A. (2014). Disclosure on the spectrum: Understanding disclosure among employees on the autism spectrum. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7(2), 278–281.
Kim, C. (2014). Nerdy, shy, and socially inappropriate: A user guide to an Asperger life. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Kelly, J. (2019). Perspective | Mesh bags and shredded documents: Answer Man gets into the recycling weeds, November 9
Lawler, L., Brusilovskiy, E., Salzer, M. S., & Mandell, D. S. (2009). Use of vocational rehabilitative services among adults with autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 39(3), 487–494.
Loth, E., Garrido, L., Ahmad, J., Watson, E., Duff, A., & Duchaine, B. (2018). Facial expression recognition as a candidate marker for autism spectrum disorder: how frequent and severe are deficits? Molecular autism, 9(1), 7.
Matson, J. L., Dempsey, T., & Fodstad, J. C. (2009). The effect of autism spectrum disorders on adaptive independent living skills in adults with severe intellectual disability. Research in developmental disabilities, 30(6), 1203–1211.
Mawhood, L., & Howlin, P. (1999). The outcome of a supported employment scheme for high-functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome. Autism, 3(3), 229–254.
Mavranezouli, I., Megnin-Viggars, O., Cheema, N., Howlin, P., Baron-Cohen, S., & Pilling, S. (2014). The cost-effectiveness of supported employment for adults with autism in the United Kingdom. Autism, 18(8), 975–984.
McDonough, J. T., & Revell, G. (2010). Accessing employ- ment supports in the adult system for transitioning youth with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 32, 89–100.
Moriuchi, J. M., Klin, A., & Jones, W. (2016). Mechanisms of diminished attention to eyes in autism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(1), 26–35.
Mouridsen, S. E., Rich, B., Isager, T., & Nedergaard, N. J. (2008). Pervasive developmental disorders and criminal behaviour: A case control study. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52(2), 196–205.
National Justice Institute. (2013) Overview of Offender Reentry. Retrieved from https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/overview-offender-reentry
Olivet Nazarene University. (2019). Research On Friends At Work. Retrieved from ttps://online.olivet.edu/news/research-friends-work.
Roux, Anne M., Shattuck, Paul T., Rast, Jessica E., Rava, Julianna A., and Anderson, Kristy, A. National Autism Indicators Report: Transition into Young Adulthood. Philadelphia, PA: Life Course Outcomes Research Program, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, 2015.
Rudy, L. J. (2019). Top 10 Employers Seeking Autistic Employees. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/top-autism-friendly-employers-4159784.
Scott, M., Jacob, A., Hendrie, D., Parsons, R., Girdler, S., Falkmer, T., et al. (2017). Employers’ perception of the costs and the benefits of hiring individuals with autism spectrum disorder in open employment in Australia. PLoS ONE, 12(5), e0177607.
U.S. Social Security Administration. (2020). Benefits planner: Disability. Retrieved April 27, 2020 from https://www.ssa.gov/planners/disability/index.html
Stins, J. F., & Emck, C. (2018). Balance performance in autism: A brief overview. Frontiers in psychology, 9.
Stone, B. (2019). ‘The domino effect’: pathways in and out of homelessness for autistic adults. Disability & Society, 34(1), 169–174.
Thorpe, D. (2018). Why CSR? The Benefits Of Corporate Social Responsibility Will Move You To Act. United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. (2019, March 20).
U.S. Census Bureau. (2018). American community survey. 1-year estimates.
U.S. Department of Labor. (2018). Employee tenure summary. September 20.
U.S. Department of Labor. (2019). Employment situation summary. November 1.
U.S. Department of Labor. (2020). Usual weekly earnings of wage and salary workers first quarter 2020. April 15.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2019). Autism spectrum disorder. October 29.
Wang, L., Mandell, D. S., Lawer, L., Cidav, Z., & Leslie, D. L. (2013). Healthcare service use and costs for autism spectrum disorder: A comparison between Medicaid and private insurance. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(5), 1057–1064.
Warr, P. B., & Clapperton, G. (2010). The joy of work?: jobs, happiness, and you. London: Routledge, Taylor & Franics Group.
Wei, X., Yu, J. W., Wagner, M., Hudson, L., Roux, A. M., Shattuck, P., et al. (2018). Job searching, job duration, and job loss among young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 48(1), 1–10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The author declares that they have no conflict of interest and no ethical approval is required.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Solomon, C. Autism and Employment: Implications for Employers and Adults with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 4209–4217 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04537-w
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04537-w