Pathways to Autistic Employment

With an 85 percent unemployment rate, how can autistic youth beat the odds?

Americans do not agree about the purpose of higher education. Some believe that colleges should be places for building knowledge. There, students should read, and even struggle through, thick books written by the smartest people in history. The end goal of college, they believe, isn’t about producing anything tangible or profitable, but about sharing Plato, deTocqueville, and Shakespeare with a new generation of learners.

Because college is a highly expensive proposition, others believe that the primary purpose of college is to provide skills that will increase the employment propositions for its graduates. Even if college doesn’t provide a concrete skill in accounting or architecture, the degree should open some doors to middle class employment after graduation.

The disability movement has added a new purpose to the college mission. Disability advocates believe that college should be a place that reflects the diversity of the larger world, which includes people with disabilities. A college campus, and even the advanced academic classes, should be a home for everyone regardless of intellectual or developmental disabilities.

I believe that colleges can manage all three missions — excellence, employment, and equity. But let’s focus on employment for the moment. 

Currently, 85 percent of all people with autism — even those that graduate from college — are unemployed. This number is far higher than those with other disabilities. I frequently drop that statistic, because I believe that parents should make decisions with maximum information about reality. 

Parents might send their autistic students to college for lots of reasons that have nothing to do with employment. They might want their children to experience independence on a college campus. Or maybe a college is the best place for them to pursue their intellectual passions. All great reasons to go to college. But if employment is the main purpose of college, then parents and students must make some strategic decisions to increase the odds of finding a good paying job. 

All career-oriented college students — typical and neurodivergent — can make two decisions that will increase their chances of finding employment after graduation. The first move is to choose the right major. Research shows that some majors have a higher ROI than others. Clearly, a major in engineering will provide a more guaranteed route to employment than a major in the arts. Second, growing research shows that having an internship during college increases the chances of employment, so try to get one of those on a resume. 

Now, most student with English majors will work after graduation. Even pottery students find jobs. But a computer science major will have an increased probability of finding a job in their field and one that pays big time bucks. Those are just straight facts. 

Choosing the right major and finding internships is important for all career-oriented students, but it is doubly important for students with autism. People with autism do not do well on interviews. They have a hard time managing the open-ended chores that are necessary when one is looking for a job. They don’t have social networks that will open opportunities for them. So, they and their families must make tough strategic decisions. 

If your kids can be nudged into a STEM field or a STEM-adjacent major, then nudge them. Businesses are willing to overlook a great deal of social awkwardness, if they come across a programmer who codes for 18 hours a day. In addition, those fields already employ many neurodivergent people, so a passion for anime and Magic cards is seen as totally normal at many tech companies. 

There is a certain subtype of autism that is obsessed with maps and historical facts. Those students might excel in college as history or political science majors, but they struggle after graduation. Very few job descriptions include the ability to recite all the battles of the Civil War in chronological order. Typical students in those majors often end up with positions that put a premium on social skills, which can be challenging for autistic people. 

People must choose the path that is right for them. A student with a passion for maps will have to pursue their dreams. But if an autistic student is equally interested in engineering and in Victorian literature, then it wouldn’t hurt to nudge them towards engineering. 

Internships are important for all students, but they are especially useful for people with autism to gain experience with practical social skills in an office. Yet, autistic people may struggle to land an internship for the same reason that finding work after college is difficult — the interviews derail too many smart autistic young people. 

Disability advocates are working with employment companies to change up their interview process, but in the meantime, we have work extra hard to train our kids to improve their interview performance. If students cannot get a high-level internship during the summer breaks from college, they should still work. Any kind of experience — bagging groceries at the supermarket or dusting inventory at the pharmacy — is useful. 

Alternatives To the Four-Year College

A four-year college isn’t the only path towards employment. Parents might want to investigate the many options at the local community college. Certificates degrees in professions like cyber security or hospitality can provide a student with a concrete job path. Certificates also enable students to bypass some of the academic requirements in Associate Degree programs.

On average, students earn more with a BA than an AA degree. And, on average, students with BAs are less vulnerable to economic downturns. But those are just averages. A lot depends on a major. A student with a community college degree in Cybersecurity is going to earn more money than a pottery major from Harvard. 

Community colleges are making a huge effort to reach out to neurodiverse students. In part, they’re doing this, because neurodivergent students are already there. 80 percent of neurodivergent students attend some a community college for at least a few classes. They are also seeing a decrease in enrollment and see marginalized populations as an opportunity. So, check out the options there, along with the offerings at four-year schools

There are some obstacles at community colleges, like poor support systems and a transient faculty. But new special programs at these two-year schools are helping autistic students overcome those deficits. Involved parents can also fill in some of the gaps. 

DVRS

The Department of Labor in DC provides funds to the state labor departments to help get disabled or injured workers back into the workforce. It’s a weirdly named program — Vocational Rehabilitation. Every state has their own program that distributes these funds and provides other services. In New Jersey, this program is the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS). 

After a quick approval process, the DVRS Office provides eligible clients with pre-employment training, job coaches, and assistance with finding work. Third-party contractors do this work, with supervision from an agent from DVRS. 

DVRS puts several caveats on their services. They do not create jobs; they only help workers get the jobs that are currently available. They will provide a job coach but only temporarily. Those are big caveats, which weed out workers that need a specialized work environment. Too many applicants end up spending a year doing silly worksheets about employment, before DVRS begins to help them find a real job. 

DVRS will also pay for training, including college tuition. They don’t like to advertise these services, and the rules can be a little vague. But if you get past the word salad instructions and patiently work with DVRS staff, your student can get a nice college scholarship. 

Last Thoughts

We want our kids to be employed. A job isn’t just a way to earn money to pay the rent. A workplace can be a haven for people with poor social skills. It’s an island of routine for those that crave it. Jobs are good for their mental health. 

Some are afraid to let their students work, even for a few hours at the supermarket, because they fear that the income will make them ineligible for government benefits. But there are ways to safeguard government disability payments and services. A disabled adult can work and still retain many of their benefits. 

But, as we said in the beginning, employment doesn’t come easily to people with autism. To beat the odds, your autistic student needs to focus on choosing majors and schools that have a good track record for employing its graduates. They need to choose careers that have the reputation of being autism-friendly. They need to gain practice with employment with the help of VR departments. 

Although the barriers to employment are high for our kids with autism, we can get them on the right path with strategic decisions and partnerships with state agencies.