'Autistic workers: loyal, talented … ignored'

The guardian記事、'Autistic workers: loyal, talented … ignored'Lynne Wallis (Friday 6 April 2012 22.57)

'Penny Andrews has a long CV for a 31-year-old. Her first job as an editorial assistant ended with her in a disciplinary hearing for publicly discussing colleagues' pay rises. Her next employer let her go for lacking initiative, while yet another insisted she had no common sense and was "ditzy". Both are inaccurate, she insists.

* ditzy 頭の弱い、ぼけてる

Andrews comes across as sharp and self-aware, with a perceptive intelligence. Currently studying for a degree in IT and communications with the Open University, she recalls: "I never fitted in. I was an observer rather than part of the team – 'the tribe' as I thought of them – because I never understood the unwritten rules."

The source of her difficulties was a mystery to everyone including her, until she was diagnosed with autism last year – late diagnosis is typical of females with autism which includes Asperger syndrome. Andrews says she always knew she was different and that the diagnosis was a relief.

"I just thought I was a terrible person who couldn't make a job, or anything else, work out. I dropped out of two previous university degree courses because of similar problems around fitting in and communication," she says.

"Now that I understand more about myself and my autism, I want to raise awareness among employers of what it is; that it isn't a bad thing, just a different thing. I would love a job that took my skills and harnessed them, because of who I am, and what I am, rather than in spite of it."

She says she can be "bubbly" if she tries really hard, but it exhausts her as it is learned behaviour rather than something that comes naturally. "If I was myself, everyone would think I was a boring cow."

Andrews, who wants to secure a place on a graduate scheme for librarianship when she has finished her degree, is one of 100 ambassadors for the National Autistic Society (NAS) and is helping promote its new Undiscovered Workforce campaign.

Launched in the House of Commons in March, with cross-party support, the campaign is aiming to increase employment opportunities. "We need MPs to help us show how much people like me have to contribute," she says. "One in every 100 of their constituents has autism, after all."

Job interviews are a huge barrier to employment because of the requirement for good communications skills. Just 15% of those with autism have full-time jobs according to NAS research, while another 9% are in part-time work. These figures compare unfavourably with the 31% of all disabled people in full-time work in the UK, while more then a quarter of all graduates with autism are unemployed, the highest rate of any disability group nationally.

The key difficulties are social interaction, establishing relationships, lack of emotional reciprocation (which can give an impression of indifference), difficulty with flexibility of thought, forward planning and thinking in abstract ways. The upside, however, is equally considerable.

* reciprocation 返すこと

According to Jane Asher, who is president of NAS, autistic people often make better employees than those known in the word of autism as "neuro-typicals" – ie, the rest of us. She explains: "People with autism tend to be very reliable and punctual. They like routine, and most won't mind doing repetitive tasks. Many are very good with maps and figures. They are usually scrupulously honest – they just don't have the guile to be anything else, and they can't lie.

"There is a huge lack of imagination on the part of employers who are missing out massively by ignoring this untapped pool of labour."