You may have noticed a trend where companies advertise their woke-credentials by virtue-signalling how diverse their workforce is. This is, of course, nothing new and back in the day it meant ‘We hire both white and black people.’ Then it became about helping women get into the force, then ‘We hire gays.’ Lately it’s now all about how they’re not transphobic and hire people who identify as transgender. Hell, many even have an option for applicants to say that they’re transgender.
Progressive? Not really. What if I told you that around 30 per cent of people on the autism spectrum were unemployed, with 50 per cent of those never having had a job? That’s six times the normal unemployment rate and compares to 14 per cent for people who are transgender. It’s also the highest rate by a country mile for anyone with a ‘disability’. But wait, it gets worse. In the US, people on the autism spectrum who have university diplomas have a shocking 85 per cent unemployment rate.
Oh, by the way, people on the spectrum make up roughly one per cent of the global population (in Aussie it’s one in 70) while according to Canadian stats transgenders make up just 0.33 per cent of the population.
Where are the tick boxes labelled ‘neurodiverse’? Where are the dropdowns with an ‘on the autism spectrum’ option? If companies think they’re being soooo progressive giving transgenders a better chance of getting a job, then why aren’t they doing the same thing for those on the autism spectrum, whose unemployment rate is more than double the rate of people who are transgender?
Why do so many companies flat-out refuse to hire aspies and others on the spectrum? A main part of the problem is the interview process, where, if you’re lucky, you get something like, ‘We just don’t think you’d fit in with our team.’ Which is pretty much the same thing as saying, ‘We won’t hire you ’cos you’re black’.
But then again maybe those companies are right. Maybe those on the spectrum just aren’t suited for the workforce. After all and not surprisingly, many people who are on the autism spectrum end up starting their own companies, and it’s not like there has ever been a company (*cough* Apple *cough*, *cough* Elon Musk *cough*) started by and run by someone with autism that has ever been successful. /sarc