Autism Employment Statistics 2026: Jobs, Unemployment & Pay
Autism employment statistics are often quoted without enough context. Employment rate, unemployment rate, labor-force participation, full-time employment, and being outside the labor force measure different things, and the results can vary substantially depending on the country, age group, population, and methodology being studied.
This statistics roundup focuses specifically on employment and labor-market outcomes for autistic people. It brings together recent government data, nationally representative surveys, administrative employment data, and peer-reviewed research covering employment, unemployment, full-time and part-time work, pay, university graduates, vocational rehabilitation, and the transition into work.
There is no single global autism employment or unemployment rate. The United States also does not currently have an accurate population-level national unemployment estimate for autistic adults. For that reason, the statistics below identify the population and context behind each figure rather than treating results from individual studies as universal rates.
Note that, if you’re interested to learn more about neurodiversity at work, we also covered Statistics on Neurodiversity in the Workplace.
Is your company offering jobs for people with disabilities? As an employer, you can publish your job offers on MyDisabilityJobs and reach thousands of qualified candidates.
In this statistic roundup, you’ll learn:
– How to Interpret Autism Employment Statistics
– Latest Autism Employment Rates
– Autism Unemployment Statistics
– Is the Autism Unemployment Rate Really 85%?
– Employment After High School
– Autistic University Graduates and Employment
– Autism Pay and Earnings Statistics
– Where Do Autistic People Work?
– Employment Stability and Long-Term Career Outcomes
Autism Employment Statistics: Editor’s Picks
- Employment Rate: 42.2% of autistic people aged 15–64 were employed in 2022, up from 27.3% in 2018, according to Australian national disability data.
- Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate among autistic people aged 15–64 fell from 34.1% in 2018 to 18.2% in 2022 in Australian national disability data.
- Full-Time and Part-Time Work: 11.4% of autistic working-age people were employed full time in 2022, while 29.8% were employed part time.
- Employment Status: National Canadian disability survey data classified 29% of autistic people as employed, 11% as unemployed, and 60% as outside the labor force in 2022.
- Working-Age Employment: 31.4% of disabled people aged 16–64 reporting autism as their main health condition were employed in the UK in 2024/25.
- Pay Gap: Disabled employees reporting autism as their main impairment had a 27.9% raw pay gap in 2023. After adjusting for personal and job characteristics, the estimated gap narrowed to 8.2%.
- University Graduates: 34% of autistic graduates in a large UK graduate dataset were in full-time employment, while 15% were classified as unemployed. The study analyzed data covering more than 1.3 million graduates between 2012 and 2018.
- Vocational Rehabilitation: 49% of autistic young adults who exited U.S. state Vocational Rehabilitation services were employed. The study examined young adults aged 16–28 using administrative data from 2017 through 2020.
- U.S. Unemployment Rate: There is currently no accurate population-level national unemployment estimate for autistic adults in the United States. Existing studies generally measure specific populations rather than the entire autistic adult population.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Autism in Australia, 2022; Australian Bureau of Statistics — Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2018; Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders — analysis of the 2017 and 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability; UK Department for Work and Pensions — The Employment of Disabled People 2025; UK Office for National Statistics — Disability Pay Gaps in the UK: 2014 to 2023; Vincent and Ralston — Uncovering Employment Outcomes for Autistic University Graduates in the United Kingdom; Shenk et al. — Autistic Young Adults’ Vocational Rehabilitation Service Use, Characteristics, and Employment Outcomes from 2017 to 2020; Roux et al. — Unrealized Cross-System Opportunities to Improve Employment and Employment-Related Services Among Autistic Individuals.
How to Interpret Autism Employment Statistics
Autism employment statistics need to be interpreted according to the measure being reported. Several figures that may appear similar describe different labor-market outcomes:
- Employment rate measures the proportion of a population that is employed.
- Unemployment rate generally measures people who do not have a job, are part of the labor force, and are looking for work.
- Labor-force participation rate measures the share of people who are either employed or unemployed and participating in the labor market.
- Outside the labor force describes people who are neither employed nor classified as unemployed.
- Full-time and part-time employment describe working arrangements and should not be treated as separate estimates of unemployment.
- Vocational Rehabilitation outcomes describe people using a specific employment-support system and should not be generalized to all autistic adults.
This distinction matters when interpreting widely repeated claims about autism and unemployment.
For example, the 2022 Canadian data classified 29% of autistic people as employed, but it would be incorrect to describe the remaining 71% as unemployed: 11% were classified as unemployed and 60% were outside the labor force.
The same caution applies when comparing countries. Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States use different surveys, populations, definitions, age ranges, and data-collection methods. Their percentages can help describe employment outcomes within each dataset, but they should not automatically be ranked as though they measure identical populations.
Throughout this article, preference is given to government statistics, national datasets, peer-reviewed research, and original institutional reports. Historical statistics are retained where they remain useful, but they are identified by their reference period rather than presented as current employment rates.
Latest Autism Employment Rates
There is no single employment rate that represents all autistic adults worldwide. National datasets measure different populations, age groups, disability definitions, and labor-market outcomes, so the figures below should be read within their individual contexts rather than ranked as directly comparable rates.
The figures below summarize some of the strongest recent national data, but they should not be directly ranked because each dataset measures a different population.
| Country | Population measured | Reference period | Employment | Unemployment | Labor-force measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Autistic people aged 15–64 living in households | 2022 | 42.2% | 18.2% | 50.2% participation |
| Canada | Autistic people in the Canadian Survey on Disability | 2022 | 29% | 11% | 60% outside labor force |
| United Kingdom | Disabled people aged 16–64 reporting autism as their main health condition | 2024/25 | 31.4% | — | — |
| United States | General autistic adult population | Current evidence | No accurate national estimate | No accurate national estimate | — |
Australia
National disability data provide one of the clearest recent pictures of employment among autistic working-age people. In 2022, 42.2% of autistic people aged 15–64 living in households were employed, up from 27.3% in 2018.
Labor-force participation also increased from 37.9% in 2018 to 50.2% in 2022. Among autistic people of working age in 2022, 11.4% were employed full time and 29.8% were employed part time.
These statistics cover autistic people aged 15–64 living in households. They should not automatically be generalized to autistic people outside that population.
Canada
An analysis of the nationally representative 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability classified 29% of autistic people as employed, compared with 22% in the 2017 survey.
The same data classified 11% as unemployed and 60% as outside the labor force in 2022.
Although employment was higher and the proportion outside the labor force was lower than in 2017, the researchers reported that these changes were not statistically significant.
United Kingdom
In 2024/25, 31.4% of working-age disabled people who reported autism as their main health condition were employed.
This figure comes from UK disability employment statistics and refers specifically to disabled people aged 16–64 reporting autism as their main health condition. It should not be interpreted as a universal employment rate for every autistic person in the UK.
United States
The United States does not currently have an accurate population-level national employment or unemployment estimate covering autistic adults throughout their working years.
U.S. research instead tends to measure specific populations, including autistic young adults leaving school, people using Vocational Rehabilitation services, and participants in individual research cohorts.
For this reason, statistics from those populations should be identified by the group being studied rather than presented as the U.S. autism employment rate.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Autism in Australia, 2022; Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders — analysis of the 2017 and 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability; UK Department for Work and Pensions — The Employment of Disabled People 2025; Roux et al. — Unrealized Cross-System Opportunities to Improve Employment and Employment-Related Services Among Autistic Individuals.
Autism Unemployment Statistics
Unemployment statistics require particular care because “not employed” and “unemployed” are not interchangeable terms.
In standard labor-market statistics, an unemployed person is generally someone who does not have a job but remains in the labor force and is looking for work. People outside the labor force are not counted as unemployed.
Recent data illustrate how much this distinction can change the interpretation of autism employment statistics:
- Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate among autistic people aged 15–64 living in households in Australia was 18.2% in 2022. This was down from 34.1% in 2018.
- Employment vs. Unemployment: Canadian disability survey data classified 29% of autistic people as employed and 11% as unemployed in 2022.
- Outside the Labor Force: In the same Canadian data, 60% of autistic people were outside the labor force. It would therefore be incorrect to describe the 71% who were not employed as a 71% unemployment rate.
- United States: There is currently no accurate population-level national unemployment estimate for autistic adults in the United States.
Australia also illustrates the size of the employment gap within a single national dataset. In 2022, the unemployment rate among autistic people of working age was 18.2%, compared with 7.5% among people with disability overall and 3.1% among people without disability.
These figures should not be used to create a single international autism unemployment rate. Each dataset measures a particular population using its own survey design and definitions.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Autism in Australia, 2022; Australian Bureau of Statistics — Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2018; Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders — analysis of the 2017 and 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability; Roux et al. — Unrealized Cross-System Opportunities to Improve Employment and Employment-Related Services Among Autistic Individuals.
Is the Autism Unemployment Rate Really 85%?
The claim that around 80% to 85% of autistic adults are unemployed has been repeated widely online and in workplace and employment coverage. However, it should not be presented as an official unemployment rate for autistic adults in the United States or as a universal rate applying to autistic adults worldwide.
One reason is that employment and unemployment measure different things. A person who does not have paid employment is not necessarily classified as unemployed. They may be studying, unable to work, not currently seeking work, or otherwise outside the labor force.
A frequently cited UK employment survey published by the National Autistic Society in 2016 illustrates the problem. The survey, which included more than 2,000 autistic adults or people responding on their behalf, found that 16% were in full-time paid work and 32% were in some form of paid work.
The 16% full-time figure does not mean that the remaining 84% were unemployed. Likewise, the 32% in paid work does not imply a 68% unemployment rate. Those figures describe paid employment status, not the statistical unemployment rate.
The “85% of college-educated autistic adults are unemployed” version of the claim should also be treated cautiously. MyDisabilityJobs has not identified an original population-level dataset supporting that exact statement as a current U.S. unemployment rate.
More recent national data demonstrate why the distinction matters. In the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, 29% of autistic people were employed, 11% were unemployed, and 60% were outside the labor force. Describing all 71% who were not employed as unemployed would therefore inflate the unemployment rate more than sixfold.
What About the 38.58% Autism Unemployment Statistic?
A 2017 U.S. study of 254 autistic adults found that 61.42% of participants were employed and 38.58% were classified as unemployed.
That figure describes the participants in a specific online survey. It is not a national U.S. autism unemployment rate.
This distinction became even more important in 2026, when the study’s authors published a corrigendum concerning comparisons between autism studies and Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment data.
The authors explained that the BLS unemployment rate includes only people actively seeking employment, while autism studies cited in the original paper included people who were both seeking and not seeking work. They concluded that directly comparing those figures was methodologically inappropriate.
The correction did not change the original study’s 61.42% employed and 38.58% unemployed results. It changed how those results should be compared with national unemployment statistics.
The most defensible conclusion from the available evidence is therefore not that the U.S. autism unemployment rate is 85%, 80%, or 38.58%. Current research indicates that an accurate population-level national unemployment estimate for autistic adults in the United States is not available.
Sources: National Autistic Society — Government must tackle the autism employment gap (2016); Ohl et al. — Predictors of Employment Status Among Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder (2017); Corrigendum to Predictors of Employment Status Among Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder (2026); Roux et al. — Unrealized Cross-System Opportunities to Improve Employment and Employment-Related Services Among Autistic Individuals; Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders — analysis of the 2017 and 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability.
Vocational Rehabilitation
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) data provide some of the strongest U.S. administrative evidence on employment outcomes for autistic young adults, but these figures describe people using state VR services rather than all autistic adults.
A recent analysis used Rehabilitation Services Administration RSA-911 administrative data for autistic young adults aged 16–28 who engaged with state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies between 2017 and 2020.
- Employment at exit: 49% of autistic young adults who exited VR services were employed, compared with 44% of young adults with another type of disability.
- Competitive integrated employment: In an overlapping U.S. Department of Labor analysis of autistic VR clients with Individualized Plans for Employment who exited between 2017 and 2019, 50% exited with employment. Among those who were employed, 71% held competitive integrated employment.
- Hours worked: Autistic young adults who exited VR with employment worked about 23 hours per week on average in the 2017–2019 Department of Labor analysis.
- Hourly earnings: Those exiting with employment earned about $10 per hour on average in that same administrative analysis.
These figures should not be interpreted as U.S. autism employment rates. VR participants are a specific population receiving employment services, and employment at case closure is a program outcome rather than an employment-to-population measure.
Historical Vocational Rehabilitation Data
Older RSA-911 data remain useful for historical context. A 2016 National Autism Indicators Report found that 60% of autistic people in the report exited Vocational Rehabilitation with employment.
Among those exiting with employment in the older data:
- 80% worked part time;
- around one-third were in supported employment;
- median weekly earnings were $160.
These historical figures should not be compared directly with the newer 49% or 50% figures as though they form a simple employment trend. The reports cover different periods, populations and administrative contexts.
Sources: Shenk et al. — Autistic Young Adults’ Vocational Rehabilitation Service Use, Characteristics, and Employment Outcomes from 2017 to 2020; U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy — Characteristics, Service Use and Employment Outcomes of Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum Who Engaged with Vocational Rehabilitation Services from 2017 to 2020; Drexel University — National Autism Indicators Report: Vocational Rehabilitation and Autism.
Employment After High School
Employment outcomes during the transition from high school to adulthood have been studied extensively in the United States, although much of the strongest nationally representative evidence is now historical.
The National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 followed young people who had received special education services during high school. A peer-reviewed analysis of autistic young adults aged 21–25 found that:
- 53.4% had ever worked for pay outside the home after leaving high school.
The authors reported that this was the lowest rate among the disability groups included in the study.
The same study found that autistic young adults earned an average of $8.10 per hour. Because these data were collected more than a decade ago, that wage should be treated as a historical employment outcome rather than an estimate of what autistic young adults earn today.
Employment outcomes were not uniform across the autistic participants. The odds of ever having held a paid job were higher among participants who were older, came from higher-income households, or had stronger conversational or functional skills.
These findings describe autistic young adults who had received special education services during high school and should not be generalized to every autistic young adult in the United States.
Autistic University Graduates and Employment
Higher education does not eliminate the employment gap experienced by autistic people.
A large study of UK graduate outcomes analyzed population data covering more than 1.3 million graduates between 2012 and 2018, including 5,646 graduates who identified as autistic or as having a social communication difficulty.
Among autistic graduates:
- 34% were in full-time employment, compared with 57% of graduates reporting another disability and 68% of graduates reporting no disability.
- 15% were unemployed, compared with 6% of graduates reporting another disability and 3% of graduates reporting no disability.
The study also found evidence of improvement over the period examined. The unemployment rate recorded for autistic graduates declined from approximately 20% in 2012/13 to approximately 12% in 2017/18.
These results are particularly relevant when interpreting widely repeated claims that 80% or 85% of college-educated autistic adults are unemployed. The HESA data describe UK university graduates rather than U.S. college graduates, but they provide a much larger and more clearly defined dataset than the sources commonly used to support the 85% claim.
Autism Pay and Earnings Statistics
Recent official UK statistics provide stronger evidence on autistic employees’ earnings than the older wage figures commonly cited from U.S. transition studies.
In 2023, disabled employees who reported autism as their main impairment had a 27.9% raw disability pay gap compared with non-disabled employees without a long-lasting health condition.
After statistical adjustment for personal and employment characteristics, including factors such as occupation, age, qualifications and geography, the estimated autism pay gap narrowed to 8.2%.
The 19.7 percentage-point reduction was one of the largest changes among the impairment groups examined by the Office for National Statistics.
The difference between the raw and adjusted figures matters. The 27.9% figure describes the observed difference in median hourly earnings, while the adjusted analysis estimates the remaining gap after accounting for other characteristics associated with pay.
These estimates should still be interpreted cautiously. The Office for National Statistics notes that smaller impairment groups have wider confidence intervals, and recent Annual Population Survey estimates have additional uncertainty because of declining survey response rates.
Sources: UK Office for National Statistics — Disability Pay Gaps in the UK: 2014 to 2023.
Where Do Autistic People Work?
Research does not support the idea that autistic employees are concentrated in a single type of job or industry.
A 2024 peer-reviewed study examined the employment sectors of 1,115 employed autistic adults in the Netherlands and compared their distribution with the general Dutch workforce.
The three most common sectors among the autistic employees surveyed were:
- Healthcare and welfare
- Information technology
- Public, military and charity-related work
Autistic employees were over-represented in these sectors compared with the general workforce, while the general workforce had higher representation in economics and finance and in industry and construction.
The study also found substantial variation within the autistic workforce. Most autistic employees working in healthcare and welfare in the sample were women, while being male and having a higher educational level were associated with a greater likelihood of working in information technology.
These findings are useful because they challenge the common assumption that autistic workers are primarily concentrated in technology roles. However, the study involved employed autistic adults participating in the Netherlands Autism Register and should not be treated as a national distribution of jobs held by every autistic adult.
Employment Stability and Long-Term Career Outcomes
Employment statistics taken at a single point in time do not show whether autistic adults remain employed, move into work later, lose employment, or move between different forms of vocational activity. Longitudinal studies provide a different view by following employment outcomes across several years.
Eight-Year Employment Trajectories
A 2024 longitudinal study recruited 2,449 autistic adults through the Netherlands Autism Register and examined employment status across eight annual waves collected between 2013 and 2021.
The researchers identified four distinct employment trajectories:
- Stable unemployment: 1,189 participants were characterized by a consistently low probability of employment across the study period.
- Stable employment: 801 participants maintained a consistently high probability of employment.
- Increasing employment: 183 participants began with a low probability of employment that increased over time.
- Decreasing employment: 134 participants began with a relatively high probability of employment that declined over the study period.
The results show why a single employment-rate statistic cannot describe every autistic adult’s experience. Some participants remained consistently employed or unemployed, while others moved into or out of employment over time.
The researchers also found associations between employment trajectories and characteristics such as age, education, co-occurring conditions and other participant characteristics. These associations should not be interpreted as evidence that any individual characteristic directly causes employment or unemployment.
The study used participants from the Netherlands Autism Register rather than a nationally representative labor-market survey. Its trajectory groups therefore describe the study population and should not be treated as national employment rates for autistic adults in the Netherlands.
Career Patterns From Adulthood Through Midlife
A separate study published in 2026 followed 217 autistic adults for an average of approximately 14 years after high school, providing a rare view of employment patterns extending into midlife.
The cohort included 155 autistic adults with intellectual disability and 62 without intellectual disability. Researchers classified participants into five long-term career patterns:
- Primarily unemployed: 16%
- Primarily agency-based employment: 48%
- Primarily supported employment: 11%
- Primarily competitive employment: 12%
- Unstable employment: 13%
Stability within a broad employment category over multiple years was the dominant pattern for about two-thirds of the study sample.
Employment patterns also differed substantially according to intellectual disability status. Among participants without intellectual disability, 23% were primarily unemployed, 20% had unstable employment patterns, and 37% had sustained competitive employment. Among participants with intellectual disability, 64% were primarily engaged in agency-based employment.
These percentages should not be interpreted as national employment rates. The study followed a specific longitudinal cohort, and 155 of its 217 participants had a co-occurring intellectual disability. Its value is in showing how employment experiences can remain stable or change over many years rather than estimating the employment status of the overall autistic population.
Taken together, these longitudinal studies show that autism employment outcomes are not static. Some autistic adults maintain employment over long periods, some remain outside employment, and others move into or out of work over time. This is an important distinction when interpreting employment statistics based on a single survey year.
Sources: Bury et al. — Employment Profiles of Autistic People: An 8-Year Longitudinal Study; Hickey et al. — Career Patterns of Adults With Autism Through Late Midlife.
Is your company offering jobs for people with disabilities? As an employer, you can publish your job offers on MyDisabilityJobs and reach thousands of qualified candidates.
Conclusion
Current evidence shows that autism employment outcomes cannot be reduced to a single global employment or unemployment rate. Recent national data from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom provide useful measures for clearly defined populations, while the United States still lacks an accurate population-level national unemployment estimate for autistic adults.
The evidence also shows why context matters. Being outside the labor force is not the same as being unemployed, outcomes among university graduates or Vocational Rehabilitation participants should not be generalized to every autistic adult, and widely repeated figures such as an 80% or 85% autism unemployment rate should not be presented as universal facts without a clearly defined source population.
As new national surveys, administrative datasets and longitudinal studies become available, this article should continue to prioritize clearly defined populations, original sources and well-defined labor-market measures over broad estimates that cannot be traced to a comparable dataset.
For practical career guidance, see our guide to Best Jobs for Autistic Adults. For broader labor-market context, see our Disability and Employment Statistics.
FAQ
There is no single global employment rate for autistic adults. In Australian national disability data, 42.2% of autistic people aged 15–64 living in households were employed in 2022. The 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability classified 29% of autistic people as employed, while UK statistics reported a 31.4% employment rate in 2024/25 among disabled working-age people who reported autism as their main health condition. These datasets measure different populations and should not be directly ranked as equivalent rates.
There is no single universal autism unemployment rate. In Australian national disability data, the unemployment rate among autistic people aged 15–64 living in households was 18.2% in 2022. The 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability classified 11% of autistic people as unemployed and another 60% as outside the labor force. Being without employment is therefore not the same as being statistically unemployed.
There is currently no accurate population-level national unemployment rate for autistic adults in the United States. U.S. research generally measures specific populations, such as autistic young adults transitioning from high school or people using Vocational Rehabilitation services, and those results should not be presented as the national unemployment rate for all autistic adults.
The widely repeated 80% to 85% figure should not be presented as an official U.S. unemployment rate or as a universal unemployment rate for autistic adults. A frequently cited 2016 UK survey found that 16% of respondents were in full-time paid work and 32% were in some form of paid work, but those employment figures do not mean that the remaining 84% or 68% were statistically unemployed. Current U.S. research does not provide an accurate population-level national autism unemployment rate.
There is no single global full-time employment rate for autistic people. In Australian national disability data for 2022, 11.4% of autistic people aged 15–64 living in households were employed full time, while 29.8% were employed part time. These figures describe that specific Australian population and should not be treated as worldwide rates.
A large UK study using graduate population data from 2012 to 2018 found that about 15% of autistic graduates were classified as unemployed and 34% were in full-time employment. The study covered more than 1.3 million graduates overall. These figures describe UK graduate outcomes and should not be presented as a U.S. college-graduate unemployment rate.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Autism in Australia, 2022; Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders — analysis of the 2017 and 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability; UK Department for Work and Pensions — The Employment of Disabled People 2025; Roux et al. — Unrealized Cross-System Opportunities to Improve Employment and Employment-Related Services Among Autistic Individuals; National Autistic Society — Government must tackle the autism employment gap; Vincent and Ralston — Uncovering Employment Outcomes for Autistic University Graduates in the United Kingdom.
Related articles:
Worst Jobs for Autistic Adults and Aspergers
Neurodiversity Statistics 2026: Workplace, Employment & Population Data
As one of the few who has grinded through full-time employment (necessity not granting me a choice), I have to say the core issue is less my actual sensitivities and limitations, but rather my trauma response to a lifetime of unaddressed, untreated, and often ignored trauma caused by gaslighting, bullying and scapegoating. Very late in the game I came across research and information regarding ACES and trauma, which have done more for my ability to function in a neurotypical work environment than all my other research combined.
The one criminal issue is that for those of us diagnosed late in life, we are at the mercy of our own survival instinct to seek out our answers. It breaks my heart to think of how many of us are suicidal simply because we missed out on the childhood diagnosis window and now believe there is no hope for us. Many of us are quite gifted, and with the right tools to manage and heal the trauma that life hands out to us, we could make an invaluable contribution to society. Let’s quit shooting our wounded — or hoping they’ll die off on their own. The solutions are pretty simple.. We just need the funding & assistance.
Thank you so much for sharing your thought Elizabeth. The journey might be difficult but it’s never impossible. Wishing you the best.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t diagnosed, with Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD], until AFTER I had completed both College, and Graduate School, and stumbled in the competitive job market. My ASD diagnosis gave me a lot of insight as to WHY I had always been “Different” from my peers. In: School, Work, Social Events, Church, etc. While the reason for my being “Different” was solved, new problems suddenly surfaced.
Vocational Rehabilitation Services [VRS] is supposed to help us disabled folks get back to work. Once I had my ASD diagnosis, my family thought that VRS could help me with the training, and job placement, for work that was a better “Fit” for me. However, VRS informed me that that just wasn’t allowed. Why Not? Because I had already completed both College, and Graduate School. VRS seemed to figure that IF I was capable of finishing my education, THEN I must have all the tools that a needed for a successful career. Right? Well, my work record shows otherwise. Also, too many jobs makes a person a “Questionable” hire. Today, I’m not working, and collecting Social Security Disability Insurance [SSDI].
ASD affects your entire life. I sure do wish that I had been diagnosed as a child. I could have gotten many helpful services that would have had a positive effect on my life’s outcomes.
Hi Gregory,
Thank you so much for sharing. Unfortunately the system (VRS) is not perfect and definitely needs to be improved to avoid situations like yours.
I hope that you will find a suitable job for you, perhaps an online/remote job might be easier to handle for you?
I was among the unemployed statistic in 2010-2011. I was fortunate to have family to support me through education. I missed out on a lot of the “rites of passage” came with early 20s. I wonder if me having ADHD and mild autism combined contributed. It was also aftermath of the great recession.
Hi Ren, thank you for sharing! We are very happy to hear that you were supported by your family!
Keep it up!
I have the same experience as Aspieman. In fact, my diagnosis came at the request of, and paid for by, VRS – then they dropped me like a hot rock.
23 years of job hunting since getting a business degree (that has a student loan capitalizing at 8.25% interest and now is over $125,000) has been low paid temp/labor. Even in my current job that requires industry certification I only make $16.71/hr – the most I have ever made.
But that’s enough to call me employed as another $1000/mo gets added to my student loans.
I have never understood how the job hunting thing works, but I also have had to work so much in low pay jobs that I never have time to do a “proper” job hunt – because I like to have a place to live and food to eat.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a Remote job (since I live in the middle of WY and can’t move) – but now with IT/Social Media firing people in droves, my chances at Remote become even more remote.
When will there ever be a program/system that someone who has to be away from a computer/phone working 12 hrs a day, 6 days a week for a barely subsistence wage can use to find reasonable employment?
Hi Bryan,
Thank you for sharing!
Since you can apply for job offers online and then talk with the recruiters through emails, you still can look for a job during your free time (even spending 1h/week sending proposals).
The key is to apply to jobs that you know you are a good fit for and also try to keep training yourself so you get better in what you apply (if possible).
The problem is, I don’t know what a “good fit” is anymore. “1 hr a week” scanning job boards and LinkedIn has done nothing for me in the past 23 years.
I’ve been stuck doing low pay temp/labor for basic subsistence for so long that nothing on the job boards makes sense. The postings may as well be in Sumerian Cuniform.