Pathways to the social bond Autistic perspectives on managing life and employment
About
Employment in autism is exceptionally low with just 16% percent of autistic adults in full time employment. Social isolation, overwhelming emotional states, confusing interpersonal relationships, and a lack of support and understanding often lead to co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. In many cases, despite the development of specialist skill sets, this leads to high drop out rates in further education, and poor outcomes in employment. However, when employment can be found and sustained it can bring a sense of structure, purpose, identity, independence, and connection that can have a hugely beneficial impact on the individual’s mental health and sense of wellbeing.
My research looks at the experiences of autistic coders and engineers in finding their way in life and employment, and the creative pathways they have forged in structuring a sense of identity and mediating the social bond.
I will use case studies gathered over hundreds of hours spent with autistic individuals and their employers in the workplace and the consulting room, in order to ask what we can learn from autistic experience, and how we can improve outcomes in autistic employment. I will also draw from classic and contemporary case studies to examine the utilization and creation of objects, complex systems, and machines in the regulation of affect, the development of specialist skill sets, and the creation and mediation of social relationships.
As well as my academic research I am a psychotherapist working in the NHS and private practice. I have worked extensively with autistic spectrum conditions and am currently developing a program to assist more autistic individuals in gaining employment and independence.
