What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that appears in early childhood and affects communication and social abilities. ASD affects people differently across the lifespan. Many people with ASD can learn to improve their social skills and functioning as they get older and with the help of treatment, while others may continue to struggle with verbal abilities, intellectual functioning, independent living, and more, even as adults.¹ ASD may mildly, moderately, or severely affect an individual's behaviors, relationships, and functional abilities. The degree to which symptoms become less severe with age, or whether they become less severe at all, varies from person to person.

ASD has 2 common characteristics, which the American Psychiatric Association (APA) describes them as:²

1. Persistent deficits in social communication and interaction that occur across multiple settings (e.g., at home, at work)
2. The presence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities

Data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network found, among 11 communities across the United States, the prevalence of ASD is 2.8% (about 1 in 36 children).^3,4

The symptoms of ASD vary widely from person to person, but repetitive behaviors and difficulties with social skills are the hallmark characteristics of the illness. Symptoms of deficits in social communication and interaction can include:⁵

• Failure to engage in normal back-and-forth interactions, like maintaining conversations
• Failure to initiate or respond to social interactions (e.g., answering appropriately when someone asks you a question)
• Having abnormal eye contact or body language while interacting with others (e.g., looking away from someone talking to you)
• Difficulty making friends or having no interest in friendships

Examples of symptoms of restrictive, repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities include:

• Stereotyped movements (e.g., rocking back and forth, hand flapping)
• Echolalia (i.e., repeating back words spoken to you)
• Having a rigid fixation on sameness, order, or repetition (e.g., insisting on eating the same food for breakfast every day and getting upset when that’s not possible)
• Having highly restrictive and intensive interests or preoccupations; for instance, a person might be so fixated on airplanes that they only want to talk about airplanes and get highly distressed when others want to talk about other topics
• Being overly reactive to sensory stimuli (e.g., being fascinated with moving lights, being overly sensitive to loud noises)

Individuals with ASD and their loved ones can learn more by visiting the APA’s ASD webpage for patients and families. This page includes answers from physicians to common questions, such as how ASD affects a person throughout their life, treatment options, and causes of the disorder.

Tips for Employers: How You Can Help Employees With ASD

Work gives people a sense of purpose, and for adults with ASD, it is no different. Being able to achieve gainful employment can help people with ASD live more independently and contribute to society. Companies should consider the following approaches to help employees with ASD find success in the workplace:

• Helping workers play to their strengths. Employers should look at ways to tap into some of the generally shared strengths of individuals with ASD and accommodate some of their typical impairments. For example, people with ASD may be able to sustain attention to repetitive tasks that others might find boring, and some have exceptional memory and visual-spatial skills. Vocations and tasks that involve limited social interactions, clearly defined assignments and goals, and sameness or routine are likely to be well-suited to a person with ASD.⁶ These include assembly line work, accounting, computer programming, data analysis, laboratory work, and writing and editing.
• Creating a more positive—and informed—culture. People who disclose their ASD diagnosis to their employers are 3 times more likely to be steadily employed than people who do not.⁷ Educating managers and employees about ASD and clarifying stigmatizing misperceptions (e.g., people with ASD are unfriendly, people with ASD require more supervision and oversight) can go a long way in creating an environment in which workers with ASD feel supported rather than shunned.
• Ensuring access to ASD-relevant benefits. Consider expanding benefits coverage for speech, occupational, and physical therapy for habilitative services or services that help an individual acquire skills they have not yet developed (in contrast to rehabilitative services for someone who has lost skills due to illness or injury).
• Linking employees with needed resources and supports. Offer workers with ASD access to an autism care navigator (i.e., someone who is trained in applied behavior analysis and experienced in working with people with ASD), who can help workers understand what resources are available to them through the employer, the community, and state and government entities.
• Maintaining a positive mindset. Managers should avoid having a dismissive attitude toward hiring people with ASD. A study of employers’ perceptions of workers with ASD reported very encouraging findings that other businesses should take stock of.⁸ In the study, employers evaluated their workers with ASD higher than those without ASD in terms of attention to detail and work ethics. They also reported having an employee with ASD in the workplace helped improve morale and inclusivity. Employers said they would hire a person with ASD again and would recommend other companies do the same.
• Being willing to adapt existing hiring strategies. For instance:
  • Engage with ASD advocacy groups, such as the National Autism Association, the Autism Society, and Autism Speaks, to identify potential new hires and meet local experts who may help with hiring processes.
  • The interview process is a commonly cited barrier to people with ASD gaining employment.⁹ Companies and hiring managers should examine their interviewing, hiring, and training processes through the lens of a person with restrictive interests and impaired social skills, and make changes accordingly.
  • Discuss with other employees how certain work tasks might be adapted for colleagues with ASD.
  • Refer to the Job Accommodation Network website for ideas on successful employee management strategies.

Resources

Managers, supervisors, and other employers can learn more about ASD in the workplace through the following resources.

• Integrate: Autism Employment Advisors includes programs and partnerships that help organizations identify, recruit and retain professionals on the autism spectrum.
• JAN Accommodation and Compliance: Autism Spectrum provides assistance for employers in workplace accommodations for individuals on the autism spectrum.
• Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor: Employment First website includes information about Employment First State Leadership Mentoring Program for individuals with disabilities.
• U.S. Department of Labor: Building an Inclusive Workforce (.pdf) is a 4-step reference guide for building an inclusive workforce.

Resources for the general public can be found below.

• American Psychiatric Association offers answers to your questions about ASD, written by leading psychiatrists; stories from people living with mental illness; and links to additional resources.
• Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is a disability rights organization with an expansive online resource library to help support people with ASD in self-advocacy efforts.
• Autism Speaks is a patient advocacy organization that offers a comprehensive listing of resources, including those for employment supports and vocational habilitation.
• The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee has an online library of employment resources for people with ASD seeking jobs.