The Autism Advantage

A technology service company based in Wilmington, DE hires neurodiverse employees, people with developmental disabilities, to fulfill roles that they may typically be overlooked for despite their skillsets. TPI avoids the typical hiring practices that include interviews, small talk, or eye contact. Instead, they are tested through complicated LEGO kits, allowing potential employees to shine within their comfort zones. TPI's hiring practices have been so successful that they are in the process of scaling their business to other cities in order to tap into this typically overlooked pool of candidates.

People with autism struggle to gain employment. EY and other private companies have started programs to employ autistic individuals, harnessing their skills, tailoring the onboarding process to suit their needs, and having coaches help them with social interactions.

Firebrand Artisan Breads hires people with high barriers to employment, such as people experiencing homelessness or who were formerly incarcerated. The higher-than-minimum-wage starting salary, paid time off, and insurance benefits provide sustainable and secure employment to people whose life circumstances make it harder to get a job. In order to raise capital while maintaining their employment model, the owner worked with lawyers to become a perpetual purpose trust, an alternative ownership model that allows the company to sell shares to private investors while ensuring their principles remain in place.

As the Mountain West transitions away from mining and other industrial economic drivers, rural cities find their way into successful economies by relying on local entrepreneurial spirit and the surrounding landscape. Businesses like SmartLam in rural Montana rely on local resources - in SmartLam's case, timber - and sustainable, future-oriented strategy to make a ripple in the economy of the rural West.

For many people with autism, the modern workplace does not accommodate different needs and workplace etiquette is an artificial barrier to being able to get the job done. Auticon is a U.S. based company that has created a workplace that is comfortable for people with autism and gives them an environment where they can thrive.

A cooperative in Italy has repurposed land once owned by the Mafia to produce pasta and organic vegetables, and its employees are using this land to reclaim their lives. Beyond the Dreams’ provides meaningful work for former prisoners, mental patients, and addicts, who cultivate these agricultural products. The revitalization of the ruined land and employment opportunities deliver symbolic blows to organized crime.

The unemployment rate for individuals diagnosed on the autism spectrum is a whopping 58%, but a number of pilot programs at big companies are working to increase what is being called "neurodiversity" in the workplace. Inspired by the success of a Dutch organization that helps place autistic workers, firms like EY and Microsoft are finding that employing individuals with unique cognitive abilities benefits not just people, but the company's bottom line.

Part 3 of the Caregivers Crisis series: In light of a shortage of state group living facilities in Illinois, one family is partnering with a non-profit to retrofit their home into a safe, independent living space for their autistic son, creating a future for him when his aging parents can no longer take care of his daily needs.

It is very difficult for people with disabilities to find work. Specialisterne is a Danish company that trains high-functioning autistic employees for IT jobs and partners with IT companies to get them hired by altering the interview process.

The United States can outsource certain kinds of "microwork," such as accurately digitizing large swaths of information, to developing countries without taking jobs from Americans ― if it’s done carefully, and ethically, as some organizations are working to do. As the author Robert Wright has argued, we no longer live in a zero-sum world, where one person’s, or one country’s gain, must be another’s loss.