Autism in the workplace

The law judges this on a case-by-case basis.

There is an excellent article in November 2022's Labour Research - 'Neurodiversity: a core bargaining issue'. I'm pleased to say that I am extensively quoted!

If you would like to read the full text, ask your trade union if it has an account which you can use to log in to the LRD website.

An assessment of trade unions as drivers of positive change for autistic people at work, written as an assignment for Postgraduate Certificate in Autism and Asperger Syndrome 

[Note: this is not advocating a union for autistic workers, but assessing the potential of existing unions!]

Assignment written for the Postgraduate Certificate in Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Sheffield Hallam University.

WHY DOES WORK NOT WORK FOR US?

• How and why is employment hostile to autistic people?
• How useful are the main autism theories in explaining this?

First published as a blog post for the TUC's 'Stronger Unions' on 23 November 2016:

Thank you to Colette Marquess, a PCS union representative in Belfast, for writing this report after attending the Neurodiversity in the Workplace course run by Janine.

To book a course with Janine, click here.

I'm Janine Booth. I'm autistic, and I write and deliver training courses to trade unionists and others about autism and neurodiversity. As part of the courses, we look at real-life case studies of neurodivergent workers' experiences. It is important to use up-to-date case studies, so I am interested in hearing your story.

There is an increasing number of companies which explicitly employ autistic people, promising to value their work and provide suitable working conditions. This has been widely welcomed.

But what are the experiences of autistic workers in these companies? 

On this website, I will be hosting guest posts to give a platform to these workers and allow people to see behind the headlines.

The first is from V, in Paris.

Fatima’s autism makes her hypersensitive to bright lights, so she can’t work in our office, poor thing.
OR
The bright lights in our office make Fatima distressed as she is autistic and unusually sensitive to light. She can work here if we turn them down.

On 27 May, I took part in a panel discussion at Autistic UK's 'The Future is Gold' event.