When Chelsia Potts took her 10-year-old daughter to a psychologist to be tested for autism spectrum disorder, she decided, almost without thinking twice, to get tested herself. The result came as a surprise. Like her daughter, Ms. Potts was diagnosed with autism.
Ms. Potts, 35, thought she might have had anxiety or some other problem. She was the first college student in her family, had earned a doctorate in education and had risen through the academic world to become a senior administrator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. But after her visit to the psychologist, she had to figure out how her diagnosis would affect her work life.
“At first I was confused and kept it to myself,” Potts said. “I had an image of what a person with autism looked like, but I didn’t look like them.”
She considered the ways she had compensated in the past in an effort to hide her disability and appear like a model employee, a coping mechanism known as “masking.”
For years, she had tried to meet with her coworkers one-on-one, because she felt uncomfortable in group situations. She reminded herself to smile and appear enthusiastic, knowing that some people found her tone of voice too serious. She also tried to avoid bright lights and noise in the workplace.
After struggling for six months with her diagnosis, Potts met with a university official. That conversation “was one of the most difficult experiences of my life,” she said.
“I’m telling someone something I’ve never told anyone outside of my family,” she continued. “I felt very vulnerable. I felt ashamed. I realized how difficult it was for me to express what I needed and why I needed it.”
But the meeting produced positive changes for Ms. Potts: She received some accommodations, including a more flexible work schedule.
Several large US employers, including Microsoft, Dell and Ford, are taking steps to make workplaces more accessible and welcoming to neurodivergent employees 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, a rise that experts attribute, in part, to better detection. In addition, 2.2 percent of adults In the country, or 5.4 million people, are autistic, according to the CDC
More and more autistic people are publicly identifying themselves. Ms Potts is one of many TikTok users who have shared their diagnoses online using the hashtag #autistok.
Last year, the singer Is made public that she had been 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 greater understanding of herself as a result of her diagnosis.
Autism activists have praised companies that have become more welcoming to remote working since the coronavirus pandemic.
Workplaces with too much light and noise can overwhelm autistic people and lead to burnout, said Jessica Myszak, a clinical psychologist in Chicago who specializes in autism testing and assessment. Remote work “reduces the social demands and some of the environmental sensitivities” that autistic people struggle with, Dr. Myszak added.
But according to advocacy groups, navigating the job market remains a challenge for autistic people, who are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed. And autistic candidates hoping to make a good first impression may be reluctant to disclose their diagnosis or request accommodations up front.
“You don't want them to see your flaws,” he said. Haley's Moss29-year-old lawyer and disability activist who has autism, comparing the interview process to a first date.
Microsoft is recruiting
When Natalie Worden-Cowe, 32, was a professional musician, she struggled with the social media aspect, a key to landing a job. When she decided a few years ago to change careers and become a software engineer, she struggled to get through job interviews. Her professional life changed when she discovered that Microsoft Neurodiversity Hiring Programwhich was established in 2015.
The company’s program was inspired by an initiative created by German software firm SAP and has since been adopted in some form by companies including Dell and Ford. So far, the initiative has brought about 300 full-time neurodivergent employees to Microsoft, said Neil Barnett, the company’s director of inclusive hiring and accessibility.
“All they needed was this different, more inclusive process,” Barnett said, “and once they got into the company, they thrived.”
Ms. Worden-Cowe, who was diagnosed at age 29, noticed a difference at Microsoft during the interview process: She was given extra time to answer questions and downtime between meetings with company employees.
“Neurodiverse people sometimes need a little more time to process questions, or they may need to have them written down for them,” Worden-Cowe said.
Once on board, she was assigned a career 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 undergone neurodiversity training.
The Microsoft campus also features “focus rooms,” where lights can be dimmed and desk heights altered to accommodate sensory preferences. Employees sitting in the open office can also request to be seated away from busy hallways or be provided with noise-cancelling headphones.
“The agendas are sent out in advance,” Barnett said. “Everyone’s communication styles and preferences are noted.”
Barnett rejected the misconception that such adaptations affect companies' revenue, efficiency or productivity. Instead, she said, they improve workplace culture and the overall well-being of staff.
Wendi Safstrom, President of the Society for Human Resources Managementa nonprofit organization, said more employers should make an effort to hire neurodivergent people and educate their employees about them. “If they’re not willing to change with the times, they’re going to be left behind,” Safstrom said. “The war for talent is real.”
Attorney Moss said human resources departments had shown a willingness to change. “In most cases, they already have autistic employees who have not disclosed their status,” she said. And yet, she added, in relation to autistic workers, “many of us do not get promoted.”
According to Moss, more employers should put neurodivergent people in leadership roles, in essence, to redefine the image of a boss. “You can be someone who communicates outside of what is considered normal and be a fantastic executive,” she said.
'My authentic self'
For Murphy Monroe, communicating at work was never a problem. Monroe, 50, was a man of great verbal ability and stood out because he could quickly memorize statistics about the organization he worked for and its competitors.
Monroe, who had been told as a child that he was probably on the autism spectrum but had never been tested, tried to avoid the topic. As a teenager, he knew he was different and was “actively afraid of not being able to 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 executive at Columbia College of ChicagoLike Ms. Potts, the University of Miami administrator, Mr. Monroe devised strategies for navigating the workplace, including being shadowed by a trusted colleague who helped him pick up on social cues he might have missed.
“Do I have to apologize to anyone?” Monroe would ask after meetings. “What just happened?”
“I bite my fingers,” he added, referring to a form of votebehaviors that help some autistic people cope with sensory overload. “I’d sit in a meeting with the president of the university or in front of a board meeting and I couldn’t stop bleeding. On those occasions, it’s nice to have someone in the room with me, to pat me away.”
At one point, Monroe told a human resources manager that she thought he might have a version of autism that overwhelmed him with sensory input, especially lights. “She looked at me straight in the eye and said, ‘You're… No “I’m autistic,” Monroe recalled. “From that moment on, for many years, I didn’t think about it again.”
But after watching TikTok videos of people talking about their experience with autism, Monroe made an appointment with a psychologist in 2021 and received confirmation of what she had long suspected.
That self-awareness has changed the way he approaches his current job as CEO of The Actors' Gyma circus school in Evanston, Illinois. “I had a real desire to be open at work,” Monroe said. “I just jumped right in. I bought a gold autism pin on Etsy and started wearing it all the time.”
He also allows himself certain accommodations, such as days off from work to recharge and blackout curtains in his office. He also tries to be understanding of his coworkers, he says, allowing them to adjust their schedules or tasks in ways that make sense for them, whether they are neurodivergent or neurotypical.
In short, he's trying to create the atmosphere he wished he had when he was wearing a mask to survive. It's the kind of workplace that many autism activists hope will become more common.
“Being able to be completely authentic while running a joyful company makes me feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Monroe said.
