AUTISM SPECTRUM AT WORK

Transcription

1 AUTISM SPECTRUM AT WORK Building together a barrier-free Europe Celebrating the Day of Persons with Disabilities Brussels, 2-3 December 2014

2 EUROPEAN AFFILIATIONS Information and Communication Technologies Expert Group Member -EDF 121 organizations in 36 countries EDF-FEPH.org Board of Directors Member as Self-Advocate Autism-Europe 84 organizations in over 30 countries AutismEurope.org - AUTISM-EUROPE aisbl 2

3 ITALIAN AFFILIATIONS Vice-President - Gruppo Asperger Onlus Regional Association Italian Association of Families Asperger.it in Lazio AspergerLazio.it Delegate - Fantasia (Federazione Nazionale delle Associazioni a Tutela delle persone con Autismo e Sindrome di Asperger) - FantasiAutismo.org Member - LEM (Laboratorio di Esplorazione Multimediale) LEM.coop cooperative of work for people with Asperger Syndrome and publisher LEM Libraria Member - AspergerPride.it Self-Adocacy Association driven by People with Asperger Syndrome - AUTISM-EUROPE aisbl 3

4 AUTISM SPECTRUM CONDITION: 1% IN GENERAL POPULATION Prevalence of autism spectrum is 1% 1% of general population is in autism spectrum 7% of people with disabilities are in autism spectrum; to get correct diagnosis in adult age is difficult in many countries, so there is lack of self-awareness. Neurodevelopmental disorder social communication impairments; stereotyped or repetitive behaviors and interests; sensory issues, and in half cases, intellectual disability 4

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6 un.org/en/events/autismday/2014/sgmessage.shtml

7 Autismo e lavoro Insieme si può 7

8 AUTISM AND WORK. TOGETHER WE CAN Autism-Europe campaign in 2014 to let Europe know about the potential and needs of adults with autism in the field of employment and education. What are these needs? Education Access to lifelong education, adapted to personal needs, including higher education and vocational training; Jobs 76-90% of adults with autism are currently unemployed*; Unique skills People with autism can have unique skills that may produce a high quality of work, a valuable asset to their employers; Investment Education, training and employment initiatives for adults with autism are investments that require both public and private funding; Social inclusion Adults suffer from social exclusion. Education and employment give active roles, instead being dependent on family and social support. *Aspiritech, Autism Speaks, Specialisterne / The National Autistic Society (NAS) via the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services. autismeurope.org/activities/world-autism-awareness-day/autism-and-work-together-we-can 8

9 ASPERGER SYNDROME DSM-5 folded it into Autism Spectrum It is a pervasive developmental disorder, characterized by: qualitative impairment in social communication, stereotyped and restricted patterns of behavior, activities and interests, no clinically significant delay in cognitive development and language. Intense preoccupation with a narrow subject, one-sided verbosity, restricted prosody, and physical clumsiness are typical of the condition, but are not required for diagnosis. 9

10 A workers' cooperative created by people with Asperger Syndrome LEM is a workers' cooperative born in Italy in 2007 as a project of work inclusion by Gruppo Asperger not for profit organization of families and people with Asperger syndrome. LEM is made up of workers with Asperger syndrome. 10

11 WHAT ARE WE DOING? translating and publishing books (plus retailing them!) websites, artworks, copywriting thinking and realizing instruments to disseminate information and awareness about Asperger syndrome helping individuals with Asperger syndrome to get job opportunities efforts in order to provide real employment for more people in our co-op 11

12 WHY HAVE WE PROBLEMS TO WORK? A lot of people with Asperger syndrome have a lot of skills but they are not working because: professional training courses are not yet accessible; working environment is not yet accessible; employers and colleagues attitudes are still unadapted; there is social stigma and discrimination; there is workplace bullying, mobbing, harassment; 1 2

13 ASPERGER'S AND WORK The most wanted or best to avoid? often strong skills, valuable knowledge not fit for public relations positive stance about co-operation bad communication unassumingness little flexibility precision and reliability (single tasks) slow decision making; getting stuck on good availability details attention impairments troubles when applying for most positions 13

14 WHAT ARE WE GOOD AT? multiple science and humanities disciplines language producing texts; editing and translating proofreading! easily learning foreign languages cataloguing, ranking, etc. analysis and research computer science visualization, graphic arts 14

15 FROM ICT CREATORS TO UNEMPLOYED: PARADOX! Some people in autism spectrum are talented in specific sectors and introduce innovation, for example in ICT: Alan Turing, pioneer of computer sciences Norbert Wiener, mathematician, philosopher and the originator of cybernetics Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon Bram Cohen, author of the peer-to-peer (P2P) BitTorrent protocol The Geek Syndrome in Silicon Valley: diagnosis is twice than usual 15

16 FROM ICT CREATORS TO UNEMPLOYED: PARADOX! Some of them are famous hackers, for example: Ryan Cleary, LulzSec hacker Adrian Lamo, American computer hacker Gary McKinnon, Scottish computer hacker Others are considered in autism spectrum without official confirmation: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook 16

17 WHY A SELF-MANAGED WORK COOPERATIVE? Neurodiverse and Neurotypical We needed to question all our beliefs and admit the validity of a point of view on the world very different from ours: neurotypical one. 17

18 TO MEET OTHER PEOPLE WITH ASPERGER SYNDROME To meet other people with Asperger Syndrome and to confront each other. Finally, we no longer feel alone in being different. 18

19 OBSERVE OTHERS WITH ASPERGER SYNDROME To observe other people with the syndrome is like watching ourselves in front of a mirror. Watching ourselves is more difficult than to observe another, especially during social interaction. 19

20 THE COMPARISON WITH OTHERS WITH ASPERGER SYNDROME The comparison with other people who share our characteristics and difficulties help us to better understand ourselves and our difficulties, to confront and deal with them in the process with others, under the guidance of professionals. Study, observe, experience together, interchange and put ourselves in the game are basic steps. 20

21 SELF-OBSERVATION AND EMPATHY We watch ourselves to see what we think, what we feel and what we do in certain situations. This combined with self-awareness also helps us to better look at others and to try to understand what they think and what they feel and act. 21

22 PROBLEMS WE CAME ACROSS, FACED CHALLENGES misunderstanding, poor coordination leading to waste of time, energy, and money combining different attitudes no fixed workplace environment sharing plans while working in different sites holding accountability is at a cost inability to find enough business not as effective as other asperger companies! 22

23 FORESEEABLE FUTURE, HOPES, DREAMS Areas of activity General objectives publish more books stay alive! start joint projects to build educational better planning tools improve our working experience bring focus on IT development enhance our abilities plans to be done produce more jobs (especially for young people who are done with the school) 23

24 HOW TO INCLUDE US IN WORKPLACES To adapt workplace to personal needs to reduce sensory stimuli (noise, space, smell, crowd,...) to explicit information about use of places to explicit rules not said, customs and traditions Social mediator promotes inclusion in workplace; removes attitudinal and environmental barriers in workplace context (places, employer, colleagues); prepares favorable welcome; recognizes unease of worker; teams up with colleagues; identifies reasonable accommodations; 24

25 WE NEED CALMNESS FOR WORKING We need let our clients or colleagues talk for a while and listen to them with patience, after having satisfied their necessity for relations they will let us work in peace; We switch off our phone or reply as little as possible; If our task is very hard, we work during breaks when other people are out, so nobody can disturb us. 25

26 HOW EMPLOYERS CAN INCLUDE US IN WORKPLACES To invest and to prevent Solidarity and cooperation is a good investment because you will get interesting results. Employer need to prevent harassment from colleagues because people in autism spectrum are often victims and to discourage competition because collaborative work is more effective than competitive one. 26

27 HOW EMPLOYERS CAN INCLUDE US IN WORKPLACES Diversity and context adaptation Employers need to accept new and different ways that the person can choose to face work tasks. Emotional strategies are not effective to stimulate, you need intellectual strategies. Difficulties with social skills are not difficulties to work, so work context is to be adapted, including awareness of colleagues and managers. Adaptation for sensory issues may be needed. 27