Autism at Work Summit Seeks to Increase Employment Opportunities

Anka Wittenberg, Chief Diversity and Inclusion for SAP, stood at the platform to kick off the “Autism at Work Summit 2017,” part of an ongoing initiative the company started four years ago. The goals of the initiative were to:

• Drive employment and greater inclusion for autistic individuals.
• Share findings and best practices to change how companies
  define “talent.”
• Create a platform for collaboration between the medical, academia, for profit and public sectors.

“It’s the only way we can find sustainable solutions,” she said.

The summit is a two-day event designed to spark that collaboration. Held at Stanford University, like-minded people have gathered to exchange ideas and find solutions. The hopeful outcome will be furthering what autistic adults need most in the workplace:

• Acceptance
• Accommodation
• Quality of Life

The group will collectively look at how we can drive awareness towards acceptance and action. They’ll share ideas about the challenges, including how to scale the employment opportunities that currently exist.

“Every company, large or small, can benefit from having an autistic employee,” said Jose Velasco, SAP’s VP Products and Innovation, Autism at Work. “At the summit, we’re going to try and figure out how we can create durable employment opportunities.”

There’s been something happening with many employers. It’s a slow but steady shift but it seems to be gaining momentum. Companies are moving from having a charitable mentality, “We need to hire people with autism out of the goodness of our hearts,” to “We need to hire autistic employees because it’s a good business decision.” Yes, autistic employees are positively impacting the bottom line, and more companies are adopting this new mindset. The best part of the kick off was the panel discussion on “How Neurodiversity Drives Innovation” with John Elder Robison, Dr. Stephen Shore and Steve Silberman.

It was so exciting to see all three of these advocate authors on stage together to talk about this topic.

Collectively, they debunked the myths that autistic individuals aren’t capable of socializing, contributing to the workforce and making an impact for a company. “Instead of focusing on what we can’t do, let’s focus on what we can,” said Dr. Stephen Shore.

“I always wanted to blend in but I realized that everything that has contributed to my successes has been my differences, said John Elder Robison. “I see the great gift of being different.”

“Silicon Valley was built, in part, by autistic people,” said Steve Silberman.

So why do we need an Autism at Work Initiative?

John Elder Robison says that autistics have always been here. They are not new to society. Many have contributed to some of the world’s greatest inventions and discoveries. What’s changed is path to success, from academia to employment. Not everyone fits that formula and, as a society, we must break down the barriers and create new paths to employment.

“We’re just beginning,” said Jose Velasco, “When it comes to autism at work, we want to take the opportunities that are extraordinary today and make them ordinary.”

Here’s a link to watch the panel discussion. User: sap Password: bees

A version of this post originally appeared on Geek Club Books blog.

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