A steadily growing movement has begun around the world, in an effort to help transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills. This movement would also, some proponents say, make use of a large portion of the population that has been completely ignore up till now.
The company Specialisterne in Denmark makes it common practice to train people with autism as specially skilled employees. They are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to complete data entry, assembly work and other tasks that many workers tend to find tedious and repetitive. Founded in 2004 by businessman Thorkil Sonne, the father of an autistic son, the company now has 50 employees, 75 percent of whom are autistic.
More recently in the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech has launched a pilot program for the training of high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago. Aspiritech states that those who are autistic have a talent for spotting imperfections and thrive on this predictable, monotonous work. Courtesy of msnbc.msn.com
