80% of autistic adults are unemployed or underemployed! In the next 10 years over 1M autistics will make the transition into adulthood (about 40%-60% with NO intellectual disability), only in the US. US autism costs are over US$ 268 BN annually, a big portion of it due to loss of productivity. Ever since my son was diagnosed (at age 3.5, he is now 4.5) I was researching what will his biggest challenges. Employment is a big one. I had two solutions in mind. The first one is helping companies become autistic-friendly (some companies are doing it) and by doing so increasing the employment rates. After long research, I wrote the lean guide to hire your first autistic employee (
https://hackernoon.com/how-to-hire-your-first-autistic-emplo...), it even includes a Trello board. I reached out to hundreds of diversity and inclusion directors but very quickly noticed they don’t prioritize this high enough (I’m sure they want to, but they have other factors). In addition, I talked to many autistic adults who told me they wish they could work remotely. It will save them the difficulties they experience with the traditional hiring process (especially the interviews) + the socializing associated with meeting other employees every day, attending company events, etc. That leads me to my second solution, a freelancing platform for autistic people. I’m currently at startup school and just launching the MVP version, which is an autistic-friendly job/project posting process, a place to apply as a freelancer, a closed Facebook group for freelancers where I'll post jobs (also via email if you don't like FB), and Airtable to manage projects and applicants. If your company is open to take 1 or 2 freelancing projects (mainly writing, design or admin support, but any category works), it will be great if you’ll be early adopters. I’m here for questions.
Arik
