Start Up (www.startupautism.com), an organisation that supports individuals diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (and related ASD diagnoses) in finding and maintaining appropriate high-end employment opportunities as well as educational placement, just expanded to cover all of South Africa! Autism is a developmental phenomenon, meaning that it begins in utero and is affected by both environment and
genetics throughout early childhood. It has a pervasive influence on development, on multiple levels, through the lifespan. Autism produces distinctive, atypical ways of thinking, moving, interaction, and sensory and cognitive processing. One analogy that has often been made is that autistic individuals have a different neurological “operating system” than non-autistic individuals; and as such their perspective and interaction with the world is different. Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is a form of autism characterized by normal to superior IQ, accompanied by social and communication difficulties. These difficulties stem from neurologically based sensory and information-processing differences. Even though individuals diagnosed with AS might look just like everybody else, their mind works in a significantly different way, and sometimes their behaviour and reactions will not be typical. Recent research from Harvard Business School and others showed that the strengths of people with Asperger’s and high-functioning autism actually make them superior at career paths; such as IT related fields and/or creative arts. Their ability to focus, good memory, their high intelligence, their strong technical skills, their ability to detect details and also to stay focused over lengthy periods are all beneficial qualities to them as well as employers. Despite underlying neurological commonalties, autistic individuals are vastly different from one another. Some autistic individuals exhibit exceptional cognitive talents. However, in the context of a society designed around the sensory, cognitive, developmental, and social needs of non-autistic individuals, autistic individuals are almost always disabled to some degree – sometimes quite obviously, and sometimes more subtly. Autism is still a widely regarded as a “disorder”, but this view has been challenged in recent years by proponents of the Neurodiversity Model, which holds that autism and other neurocognitive variants are simply part of the natural spectrum of human biodiversity, like variations in ethnicity. Incidences of autism has increased from 1 out of 10 000 (1970) to 1 out of 68 people with an autism diagnosis (2014). Start Up offers social skills, transitioning and workforce etiquette and adaptation training to individuals diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Start Up also offers training to companies and institutions, employees and employers – free of charge. These trainings include (but is not limited to): “what is autism?”, “benefits of being a “disability-friendly” organisation/institution”, “adaptations to the work environment” and “successful interaction in the workforce.”
Research suggests autistic individuals can have heightened abilities in pattern recognition and logical reasoning, however job interviews do not always highlight these strengths when focusing on their limited social skills and conventional workplace environments. Start Up offers the training to individuals with Asperger’s to enable them to become successful as well as favourable employees.
