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A new movement helps hone unique traits of disorder into valuable skills
[Autism], which strikes about 1 in 150 U.S. children, is considered a "spectrum disorder" because it affects people in many different ways to varying degrees, from mild social troubles to a severe inability to communicate.
It's often seen as a heartbreaking diagnosis, but now some revolutionary companies see autism as something else: a resource.
A quiet movement is growing around the globe to help transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills.
In Denmark, the company Specialisterne (the name means "the specialists"), trains people with autism as specially skilled employees who are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to do data entry, assembly work and other jobs that many workers would find tedious and repetitive. Founded in 2004 ... the company has 50 employees, 75 percent of whom are autistic. Potential employees go through months of screening and training before they are sent as hourly consultants to clients who must understand that the specialists will work only part-time, and they cannot work in a chaotic environment with more than a few other people in the room. In return, Specialisterne assumes much more responsibility for their employees than most companies, with learning experts and social workers on staff.
In the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech recently launched a pilot program to train high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago.
Aspiritech ... claims those who are autistic have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work.
[they] say [their] ability to focus on something to the exclusion of everything else gives [them] an advantage. And Specialisterne says tests show their employees can be up to eight times more accurate at tasks like manual data entry than workers without autism.
"The stuff we do is boring for [others], like going through a program looking at every detail, testing the same function over and over again in different situations, but it doesn't disturb those of us with autism," says Thomas Jacobsen, an autistic employee at Specialisterne. "That's our strength."
Still, software testing isn't simply a repetitive exercise, ... While traits of "detail focus, willingness to repeat tasks and technical aptitude are ones we look for in testers, testing has a lot of creative work," he notes. Testers need to be able to figure out possible solutions to problems and be agile enough to change plans at the last minute or deal with sudden new requirements.
A new movement helps hone unique traits of disorder into valuable skills
[Autism], which strikes about 1 in 150 U.S. children, is considered a "spectrum disorder" because it affects people in many different ways to varying degrees, from mild social troubles to a severe inability to communicate.
It's often seen as a heartbreaking diagnosis, but now some revolutionary companies see autism as something else: a resource.
A quiet movement is growing around the globe to help transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills.
In Denmark, the company Specialisterne (the name means "the specialists"), trains people with autism as specially skilled employees who are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to do data entry, assembly work and other jobs that many workers would find tedious and repetitive. Founded in 2004 ... the company has 50 employees, 75 percent of whom are autistic. Potential employees go through months of screening and training before they are sent as hourly consultants to clients who must understand that the specialists will work only part-time, and they cannot work in a chaotic environment with more than a few other people in the room. In return, Specialisterne assumes much more responsibility for their employees than most companies, with learning experts and social workers on staff.
In the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech recently launched a pilot program to train high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago.
Aspiritech ... claims those who are autistic have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work.
[they] say [their] ability to focus on something to the exclusion of everything else gives [them] an advantage. And Specialisterne says tests show their employees can be up to eight times more accurate at tasks like manual data entry than workers without autism.
"The stuff we do is boring for [others], like going through a program looking at every detail, testing the same function over and over again in different situations, but it doesn't disturb those of us with autism," says Thomas Jacobsen, an autistic employee at Specialisterne. "That's our strength."
Still, software testing isn't simply a repetitive exercise, ... While traits of "detail focus, willingness to repeat tasks and technical aptitude are ones we look for in testers, testing has a lot of creative work," he notes. Testers need to be able to figure out possible solutions to problems and be agile enough to change plans at the last minute or deal with sudden new requirements.
