Telecom News Issue 2 - Flipbook - Page 9
Understanding autism
in the workplace
Written by Steve Harlowe, Clerk of Works Manager | Magdalene
To support Magdalene’s drive towards being
an inclusive and diverse employer, I attended a
course at the National Autism Society that helps
managers, supervisors and HR professionals
to gain a better understanding of autism and
Asperger syndrome.
It gave me an opportunity to discuss the
management of autistic employees and
increase my knowledge of employment equality
legislation. Autism is a lifelong, developmental
condition that can cause difficulties with social
communication and interaction; there are
currently around 700,000 people on the autism
spectrum in the UK, which is more than 1 in 100.
The session provided perspectives from people
with autism, some of whom said they find the
behaviour of others baffling and can struggle to
understand non-verbal communications. We also
learned that those with autism can misinterpret
what other people say, leading to confusion and
anxiety.
We discussed strategies and reasonable
adjustments that could be used in the workplace
to help employees with autism. We discussed
the strengths a person with autism can bring to
the workplace, which include having a logical and
methodical approach, accuracy and attention to
detail, reliability and often having strong skills in
specific areas of interest.
The course has given me a much wider
understanding of autism and Asperger syndrome
and made me appreciate that autism is more
complex than the stereotypes often perpetuated
by the media. It also taught me more about
the reasonable adjustments that can be made
to help people with autism in the workplace
including:
• Using checklists for tasks in order to help to
avoid any confusion about what needs to be
done
• Regular catch-ups with line managers to help
with the prioritisation of tasks and managing a
workload
• Noise-cancelling headphones can help with
hyper-sensitive sensory processing in some
cases
• Discussing work environment requirements,
which vary depending on the individual
• Encouraging staff to undertake autism
awareness training
• Adapting the job role to the individual.
I went into the course with little knowledge of autism
and like many of us who attended the course, my
opinions were formed by what I had seen on the TV and
in films. To quote a perspective that we were given:
“Not all autistic people are like Rainman or the character
from the Curious Incident of the dog in the night time.
They may not all hate being touched or might not all
hate talking to strangers. There are lots of stereotypical
images of people with autism, but we are actually a lot
more varied then the media would have you think.”
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