When Chris Varney was in Year 2 he presented his teacher with an incredibly detailed visual chart of the royal families of Europe from the 14th to the 19th century.
Varney believes there is a need for a positive rethink of autism, a neurological developmental disability that affects how a person thinks, feels, interacts with others, and experiences their environment., with some autistic people also having other conditions, such as intellectual disability, epilepsy, gastro-intestinal issues, anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, sleep problems and speech challenges.
Locally, organisations that actively recruit autistic talent include software giant SAP, Westpac, IBM, ANZ, the Australian Tax Office, Telstra, NAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers., a social enterprise that says on its website “neurodiversity is our advantage – our team is simply faster and more precise at data processing”.
Projects include digital farm maps for the grazing industry, technical documentation for large infrastructure and map creation for land administration. It has grown from three to 80 employees in 18 months and – thanks to philanthropist Naomi Milgrom, who has provided office space in Cremorne – has this year expanded to Melbourne, enabling Australian Spatial Analytics to create 50 roles for Victorians by the end of the year.
“IBM is very big on inclusivity,” says Sheehan. “And if we don’t have diversity of thought, we won’t have innovation. So those two things go hand in hand.”Recruit differently.
One client said if they had to describe the most valuable contribution to the project in two words it would be “ludicrous speed”. Another said: “automation genius.”It has formed a business resource group for neurodiverse employees and their allies, with four squads focusing on recruitment, awareness, career advancement and policies and procedures.Sheehan says that challenges have included some employees getting frustrated because they did not have enough work.
JewelTopsfield Here we go again. The ‘neurodiverse’ have hijacked autism from what was always a low functioning horrible existence and re- badged all Aspergers quirky persons under the same umbrella. The low functioning shit-smearing, non -verbal, head-banging autistics are hidden away.