Companies say autism can be valuable asset in the workplace

From MSNBC:
Some revolutionary companies around the globe are leading a new movement to transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autism into sought-after job skills.

Companies like Specialisterne in Denmark and the non-profit Aspiritech in Chicago train people with autism to be software testers, data entry personnel and assembly workers. Such positions, which might be boring and monotonous for many, can capitalize on the detail orientation and repetitive nature that are often displayed by people with autism.

“My career would not have existed at all without the autism,” says Ron Brix (above), a longtime computer systems developer for Wrigley.

Robert Austin, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, wrote about Specialisterne for the Harvard Business School and says, “there’s no reason this couldn’t work in the United States.” He says that redefining conditions like autism as differences, rather than disabilities, is important for a developed economy.

… Austin says we need to recognize special abilities in people, realize that these may come with challenges to working in a traditional workplace, and find a way to minimize disabilities and take advantage of differences.