I Search on Aspergers Syndrome

Introduction

If your body could not perform how your brain wanted it to, what would you do? This is what millions of autistic individuals feel on a daily basis. Autistics are often capable of learning and performing intellectually in a work environment, but lack the ability to control their verbal and physical communication. My question regarding autism is, How can an autistic adult with Asperger’s syndrome of high functioning autism receive and hold employment?

Before analyzing how an autistic individual can become employed, it is important to comprehend autism and the challenges as well as positive aspects concerning autism. “Individuals on the autism spectrum have difficulty relating to others, using verbal and non-verbal communication, understanding reciprocity, and making their needs know.” (CALNAA, 2007) Another challenging aspect of autism is that “no two children are the same in behaviors, ability or appearance. Therefore, no one approach to treatment can be applied to each child,” or in this case, no two adults. (CALNAA, 2007)

There are millions of autistic individuals around the world who are misunderstood and can not locate or maintain a job. The understanding of how these people function is one of the most important aspects of their ability to maintain employment. Once people begin to understand one another’s differences they will be more capable of compassion and sympathy toward all individuals with mental and physical differences.

When I began my paper I knew very little about autism and the autism spectrum. The majority of autistic individuals are extremely intelligent, yet they often were mistaken to be mentally ill. Surprisingly, autism has just recently become a diagnosis; until the early 1990’s autism was misdiagnosed as mentally challenged or even insanity. I hoped to learn about the type of jobs that are the best fit for high functioning autistic people.

Inquiry

Coming up with a question that I would love to know the answer too, is answerable and hasn’t been answered is one of the most difficult school assignments I have received. I went through at least fifty subjects in my head, but only about five were my favorites and what I was really itching to answer. After presenting them to my teacher I thought at least one would work, unfortunately they were too broad or already answered. One of the questions was why some people with autism have talents in a certain area. After a discussion about this question I decided I would research how an autistic individual could succeed in a job. When I chose this question I was more than leary, but time was running out and it was all I had so I decided to give it a shot.

Having not even begun my research, I was checking an e-mail at school. My mother sent me a success story of a woman with autism. Not only was the story intriguing, but written by the actual woman with autism. This is what sparked my drive and need to learn more. She talked about how people like her had trouble communicating and were mistaken intellectually, but truly they were able to many impressive tasks such as writing an article about her struggles with autism. Once I read that first story I was often on the internet search for similar articles as well as anything else I could find about autism. Soon after learning more I decided to narrow down my question to a specific type of autism (Asperger’s) and how they can become financially stable adults.

Several weeks of gathering material lead me to a roadblock. I searched everything I could think of including, “Asperger’s,” “autism+adults,” “autism+job,” and many other key words. I had found several resources, but did I have enough? I had numerous sources of data that was creditable research as well as opinions of the autistic and how they should be treated. The balance of data will help me develop conclusions to factual information. I also decided to change my question to include someone with high functioning autism since this was a broader topic. I was too busy with school and work to review all my resources and find my holes, so I just continued in the same direction hoping for the best. I also ran into the problem that all pf my resources were secondary; I had no books to reference. Going to the library was on my mind, but I was occupied with a time consuming practice called cramming.

The weeks before my advanced placement tests arrived I was spending extra time studying. My paper, autism and researching were the last things on my mind. My computer remained untouched for weeks and whatever free time I had was spent sleeping. At the conclusion of my exams a light bulb went off in my head, there’s a couple weeks of school left