When Chelsea Potts took her 10-year-old daughter to a psychologist to be tested for autism spectrum disorder, she decided almost as an afterthought to get tested herself. The result was surprising. Like her daughter, Ms. Potts was diagnosed with autism.
Mrs Potts, 35, thought she might have had anxiety or some other problem. A first-generation college student, he had earned a doctorate in education and had risen through the ranks of academia to become a high-level administrator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. But after her visit to the psychologist, she had to understand how her diagnosis would affect her professional life.
“At first, I was confused and kept it to myself,” Ms Potts said. “I had an image of what someone with autism looked like and it didn’t look like me.”
She thought about the ways in which she had compensated in the past in an attempt to hide her disability and come across as a role model employee – a coping mechanism known as a ‘mask’.
For years, she wanted to meet with her colleagues one-on-one because she felt sick in group spaces. She reminded herself to smile and look enthusiastic, knowing that some people found her speaking voice too serious. Also try to avoid bright lights and noise in the workplace.
After struggling with her diagnosis for six months, Ms Potts met with a university official. That conversation “was one of the most difficult experiences of my life,” he said.
“I’m telling someone something I’ve never told anyone outside of the family,” he continued. “I felt very vulnerable. I felt ashamed. I realized how difficult it was for me to express what I need and why I need it.”
But the meeting led to positive changes for Ms. Potts: She received some accommodations, including a more flexible work schedule.
Several major employers across the United States, including Microsoft, Dell and Ford, are taking steps to make workplaces more accessible and welcoming to neurodeviant workers as the number of autism diagnoses increases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 36 8-year-olds in the United States has autism. That’s up from one in 44 in 2018 and one in 150 in 2000, an increase experts attribute, in part, to better screening. Additionally, 2.2 percent of adults in the country, or 5.4 million people, are autistic, according to the CDC
A growing number of autistic people are also identifying themselves publicly. Ms Potts is one of many TikTok users who have shared their diagnoses online using the hashtag #autistok.
Last year, singer Sia went public with being diagnosed with autism as an adult. More recently, author Mary HK Choi described in an essay for New York magazine how, at age 43, she developed a great deal of self-understanding as a result of her diagnosis.
Autism campaigners have praised companies that have become more accepting of remote working since the coronavirus pandemic.
Workplaces with lots of light and noise can overwhelm those with autism, leading to burnout, said Jessica Myszak, a clinical psychologist in Chicago who specializes in autism testing and evaluation. Telecommuting “reduces the social demands and some of the environmental sensitivities” that autistic people struggle with, Dr. Myszak added.
But navigating the job market remains a challenge for autistic people, who are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, according to advocacy groups. And autistic job applicants hoping to make a good first impression may be reluctant to disclose their diagnoses or ask for accommodations up front.
“You don’t want them to see your flaws,” said Haley Moss, 29, an autistic disability advocate and activist, likening the interview process to a first date.
Microsoft Recruits
When Natalie Worden-Cowe, 32, was a professional musician, she struggled with the networking side of the business, the key to getting gigs. When he decided a few years ago to change careers and become a software engineer, he had a hard time getting through job interviews. Her professional life changed when she discovered Microsoft’s neurodiversity hiring program, founded in 2015.
The company’s program was modeled after a venture created by German software company SAP and has since been adopted in some form by companies such as Dell and Ford. So far, the initiative has attracted about 300 neurodeviant full-time employees at Microsoft, said Neil Barnett, the company’s director of inclusive hiring and accessibility.
“All they needed was this different, more inclusive process,” Mr. Barnett said, “and once they got into the company, they flourished.”
Ms. Worden-Cowe, who was diagnosed at 29, noticed the difference at Microsoft during the interview process: She was given extra time to answer questions and downtime between meetings with company employees.
“People with a neurodifference sometimes need a bit more processing time or may need the questions written down,” Ms Worden-Cowe said.
Once on board, she was given a job coach to help her with time management and prioritization. Microsoft also paired her with a mentor who showed her around the company’s campus in Redmond, Washington. Perhaps most importantly, she works with managers who have received neurodiversity training.
Microsoft’s campus also has “focus rooms,” where lights can be dimmed and desk heights can be changed to suit sensory preferences. Employees who sit in the open office can also request to be seated away from busy hallways or receive noise-cancelling headphones.
“Agendas are sent out in advance,” Mr Barnett said. “Everyone’s communication style and preference is noted.”
Mr Barnett dismissed the misconception that such accommodations cost companies revenue, efficiency or productivity. Instead, he said, they improve workplace culture and overall staff well-being.
Wendi Safstrom, president of the nonprofit Society for Human Resource Management, said more employers should make an effort to hire neurodeviant people and train their workforces for them. “If they’re not willing to change with the times, they’re going to be left behind,” Ms. Safstrom said. “The war on talent is real.”
Ms Moss, the lawyer, said HR departments had shown a willingness to change. “In most cases, they already have autistic employees that they haven’t disclosed,” he said. And yet, he added of autistic workers, “a lot of us don’t get promoted.”
More employers should put neurodeviant people in leadership roles, Ms. Moss said — in essence, to redefine the image of a boss. “You can be someone who communicates outside of what’s considered normal and be a fantastic executive,” he said.
“My Authentic Self”
For Murphy Monroe, communication at work has never been a problem. Very talkative, Mr. Monroe, 50, excelled because he could quickly memorize statistics about the organization he worked for and its competitors.
Having been told since childhood by therapists that he was probably on the autism spectrum, but having never been tested, Mr Monroe tried to avoid the subject. As a teenager, he knew he was different and “feared, actively, that he couldn’t hold down a job,” he said.
He studied theater in college and pursued a career in education, spending 17 years as an admissions officer and administrator at Columbia College in Chicago. Like Ms. Potts, the principal at the University of Miami, Mr. Monroe devised strategies to navigate the workplace, including being shadowed by a trusted colleague who helped him pick up social cues he might have missed.
“Do I have someone to apologize to?” Mr. Monroe would ask after the meetings. “What happened just now?”
“I chew my fingers,” he added, referring to a form of stimulation, behaviors that help some autistic people manage sensory overload. “I would sit in a meeting with the college president or in front of a board and I couldn’t stop myself from bleeding. There are times when it’s nice to have someone in the room with me, to beat me to leave.”
At one point, Mr. Monroe told a human resources manager that he thought he might have a version of autism that caused him to be overwhelmed by sensory input, especially lights. “He looked at me and said, ‘You are not autistic,” Mr. Monroe recalled. “From that moment, for many years, I didn’t think about it.”
But after watching TikTok videos of people talking about their experience with autism, Mr Monroe made an appointment with a psychologist in 2021 and received confirmation of what he had long suspected.
That self-awareness has changed the way he approaches his current job as executive director of Actors Gymnasium, a circus school in Evanston, Ill. “I just walked in. I bought a gold autism pin on Etsy and started wearing it all the time.”
He also offers himself accommodations such as days away from the workplace to recharge and dark curtains in his office. He tries to be sensitive to his colleagues, too, he said, allowing them to adjust their schedules or tasks in ways that make sense for them, whether they are neurodeviant or neurotypical.
In short, he’s trying to create the atmosphere he’d like back when he was masquerading to get by. It’s the kind of workplace that many autism activists hope will become more common.
“To be completely my authentic self while running a happy business,” Mr. Monroe said, “makes me feel like the luckiest person ever.”
