I think I keep on mentioning this everytime I write a blog post about autism. Like every parent of child with autism I’m scared for their future. At times there seem to be more snakes than ladders out there. Relationships, living independently, healthy living and , of course, earning money to do any of these.

So I was fascinated then I read an article on the CDS website this morning by Michelle Miller entitled “Software company hires autistic adults for specialized skills”. The company in question is SAP who describe themselves on their web site as “the world leader in enterprise software and software-related services”. Now I have no idea what that means but it does sound, well, very grown up.

She writes that the idea of recruiting people with ASD “is the brainchild of Thorkil Sonne whose 17-year-old son Lars is autistic. He realized that while those with autism might lack the social skills recruiters are looking for, they possess many attributes high on their radar as well: intelligence and memory, the ability to see patterns and attention to detail on repetitive tasks.

“If we could use skills like I saw among people with autism in software testing, data analysis, quality control, that would be phenomenal,” Sonne said. “There is no reason why we should leave these people unemployed when they have so much talent and there are so many vacant jobs in the high tech sector.”

Interestingly the project has been rolled out at SAP Labs in Bangalore in India. SAP have put this fascinating video up on their website which includes an interview with a web browser testing who has been diagnosed with autism. You can watch it here.

From watching the video I had two big takeaways. Firstly the importance of both mentoring by the employer and the need for support from parents and other family members. Secondly the SAP are hoping that by 2020 1% of their global workforce with be on the autistic spectrum.

For SAP and its staff with autism it seems to be a win win. SAP get the untapped talents of the ASD community and the staff get rewarding (and paid) employment.

What is there not to like?

I’d like to throw the discussion open if I may and focus on ASD in the workplace. Please use the comments box to share your experience of “Autism at Work”. In particular it would be interesting if you thought about some of the following questions:-

a) What barriers do you think exist for people with autism to enter the workplace?
b) What support should companies provide specifically for people with ASD?
c) Have you had any experience of mentoring either giving or receiving?
d) Once employed is their a “glass ceiling” for people on the autistic spectrum at work?
e) What are your overall impressions of the SAP programme “Autism at Work”?

These are of course just a guide and I’m sure our readers are interested in any of your thoughts on the subject of “Autism at work”

Thanks very much in advance!

PS. A message for Thorkil Sonne. If you are in london I would be very happy to buy you a drink to say thanks for thinking up the programme.