Monday, May 14, 2012

New study shows high unemployment among young autists

According to a recent study by Paul Shattuck, one out of every three young adults with autism has no paid employment or college or technical education seven years after high school.  This contradicts what Joseph and"The autistic bitch from hell" have stated in the past where they claimed the Brugha study done in England showed there was no unemployment problem among autistics and they were employed in the same manner as non-handicapped people.  As well as Joseph's projected rate of 70% employment among autistics.  As well as other members of the neurodiversity movement who purport that autistics aren't a burden on the economy because autists Bill Gates and Stephen Spielberg are billionaires who contribute far more in taxes and revenue than most neurotypicals.   

The study used data from the 2007-2008 period, before the financial crisis hit.  Therefore, this study is likely a gross understatement of what the problem is today if current figures had been used.   

Autism speaks apparently helped partially fund this study.  Autism speaks executive Peter Bell weighed in as well.  This person, if I am not mistaken has a 19-year-old son on the moderate and severe end of the spectrum and the family is spending money and time preparing him to face the cruel world.  Peter Bell maintains a friendship with John and Jack Robison and Alex Plank and helped fund Autism talk TV.  Plank has stated that it's a good thing Mr. Bell's son is crippled and sick, so I wonder why Bell would maintain a friendship with these people and help fund this endeavor that does nothing to help persons with autism. 

Ari Ne'eman, an individual in his early 20's who has never had paid employment has stated the solution is to eliminate social pleasantry as a criteria for hiring people and evaluating their job performance.

This is a problem that unfortunately leads to no quick and easy fix.  I wish I had a solution myself, but unfortunately I don't.  I had to struggle in the workplace myself and after nearly twenty-eight years of hell I had to retire at a young age.

How the ND movement can say autistic people are fine the way they are and how this is not a problem I don't have an inkling of a clue.  I know.  My authorship of this post proves that I am against human and civil rights for persons with autism, as are all other persons who oppose the neurodiversity movement and long for a cure.  I realize I'm violating the civil and human rights of autistics by even writing this post.  So it goes.

14 comments:

farmwifetwo said...

I would expect the lack of social skills is the biggest detriment to getting gainful employment. As that study said on CBC, autism has the HIGHEST unemployment rate of any disability. Which proves one would prefer to hire a social, friendly Down's employee to a socially impaired and possibly violent autistic one.

Behaviour is a huge concern for employers. Social skills are too. These things are not "a way of being" but need to be taught just as much as 1,2,3's and A,B,C's and they can be.

Also, I have found for whatever reason autistic parents and autisitcs tend to do things outside of the general disabled community. This would remove them from the programs, training etc that is available to those with disabilities. Lastly, if your child is not developmentally delayed and only socially impaired, you won't qualify for the programs available to those with intellectual disabilities. Therefore, you return to the "social and behaviour" issues that would remove one from the employment pool.

We haven't made that mistake in our home. Social and behaviour skills have been taught hand in hand with the 3R's.

jonathan said...

Roger: Sorry to hear of the passing of your mom. I'm glad you weren't put in a group home and you found a family to take care of you. Though I thought your dad was still alive and in the picture, but I guess I don't know all the details.

Though I worked sporadically, i had to retire at a young age (for retirement) myself. It's improbable I'll ever work again.

Hope things continue to get better for you. Don't hold your breath waiting for Ne'eman or Robison to offer you any assistance.

A better future for all said...

Jonathan, this means that 2 out of 3 do. Think of it as a pie. What is 3/3-1/3? It is 2/3. This means 2 out of every three young adults with autism did have paid emploment or college or technical education seven years after high school. Even if we all should be cured does not mean the majority of people in america are correct about their beliefs. If you want your cure then challenge people's beliefs? Look, we both believe in two different philosophies am I correct? If you look at the greater picture you will agree with what I am saying. We're all fighting like squabbling chickens and missing the bigger picture here. Challenge society, question authority and question and ask about the essence of life itself? Look at the great philosopher Socrates. He challenged and questioned the ancient athenians. In the end he was put to death and guess what he won. His name is well-reknown. Western philosophy comes from him and others. I ask, if we can't examine life then how is it worth living? Society is so filled with its rules of social pleasantrys that is now a hollowed shell of nothingness. Where is the depthness to the American people?

A better future for all said...

"Also, I have found for whatever reason autistic parents and autisitcs tend to do things outside of the general disabled community. "

Or maybe we ended up trying to do so and we all end up getting the run around. Even Jonathan can attest to this with his experience with voc rehab.

A better future for all said...

By farmwifetwo, what is a way of being? What makes a person truly who he is and what gives this person an identity? What is the essence of a person's identity?

jonathan said...

Cube: you're reading it backwards, two out of three don't. Not sure what the other 33% have in those terms though, i'm guessing quality-wise, it's not too promising.

A cure can't be achieved by questioning authority. Only by scientific research which probably won't resolve the question in my lifetime.

I question authority, i.e. the bullies in ASAN and other neurodiversity groups who call me a welfare bum and say i don't take responsibility for my life and say that I should be crippled and sick. I do it with this blog all the time if you read between the lines

A better future for all said...

"Cube: you're reading it backwards, two out of three don't. Not sure what the other 33% have in those terms though, i'm guessing quality-wise, it's not too promising. "

Let me try to walk you through my logic and how I interpret it. First what you are really saying is one out of three young adults with autism has no paid emploment AND college AND technical education. The word or really implies and. What you are saying is this. Let's have e for paid employment c for college and t for technical. These are our conditions ~e and ~ c and ~t. Two out of three have the negation of this. The negation is ~(~e and ~ c and ~t) and through demorgan's law we have e or c or t. This means 2 out of three will have all three criteria, two or only one of the criteria. We have some good news.

"A cure can't be achieved by questioning authority. Only by scientific research which probably won't resolve the question in my lifetime."

Let's say the cure comes about in your lifetime someway somehow. If you do not have the money will you be able to obtain this cure? I don't believe so. The american people have certain values and beliefs and as long as they hold certain beliefs more than likely you will not get your cure even if it was found. Like it or not, I I believe we're on the same side. It doesn't matter whether ND is correct or cure is correct. We have bigger fish to fry if you understand the expression. I've already attempted to fry these fish myself but I can't do it alone. I will need backing from both the cure and the ND side and the relatives of those with autism to help challenge certain american beliefs and values. If you want your cure you have to challenge the values, traditions, and beliefs some of the american people hold dear to heart.

"I question authority, i.e. the bullies in ASAN and other neurodiversity groups who call me a welfare bum and say i don't take responsibility for my life and say that I should be crippled and sick. I do it with this blog all the time if you read between the lines"

You have to question the heart and soul of America itself to get your cure.

PonderingMind said...

If 1 out of 3 people on the autism spectrum don't have a job OR a college education OR a technical education 7 years after high school, that's 33 percent. Out of those 33 percent of autistics, some of them may be employed, yet not have had a technical or college education since they've at least had a high school education.
That means 66 percent do meet ANY of the above conditions.

Now I'd love to see the same study using the "and" condition rather than the "or" one.

A better future for all said...

Jediknight, I would like it seen under the and condition as well. If it is low using the and condition then I want to know how those on the spectrum are suceeding within the criteria of the and condition.

If you look at the greater picture then I believe we are on are way to proving the american dream is false. Hard work will not guarantee success even if one has great intelligence. Jonathan, you are one person who has proven this false.

Jediknight, this american dream is a false advertisement to the rest of the world. I would love to have stats on those who worked hard and are non-disabled who did not achieve the American whatsoever and failed. I believe this would make my case stronger that the American dream is false.

A better future for all said...

Jonathan

If you ever find the time I would love for you to do something. I believe it is time to present the other side of the story about America. It would be awesome of you to tell your story and your biography and tell everything you did and tried to succeed in America. After that, tell eventually why it failed. Lurker, if you are still here please tell your story to. I believe what needs to be done is to discredit certain American ideas, standards, and values. One way to do this is to present the other side to america that it does not promote to the rest of the world. We need stories of those who sunk.

Anonymous said...

Check this out: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ex-fdny-inspector-sues-wrongful-termination-asperger-syndrome-caused-outbursts-article-1.470943

PonderingMind said...

Cube Angel,

When you look at the fact that 2 out of 3 autistics have had either paid employment, college or technical education 7 years after high school, one would conclude this means those individuals may have had a job but didn't keep it for long, or have had some education but no job.

Neurodiversity wouldn't be able to see this as a false advertisement- they'd automatically believe it means that if the majority of autistic people (66%) can fulfill their own American Dream (or whatever term those outside the U.S. want to use), so can those
33% (even 33% is a much higher figure compared to others with other disabilities).

A better future for all said...

Jedi

I would not have thought of what you said. I do believe though that more data needs to be collected. If your hypothesis is sound then I believe we're on our way to building a case against America, the dream, its values, and standards.

I don't believe it is just ASD or even a disability itself is the only reason for why some can't seem to succeed in America. If I am wrong then why do we have occupy wall street? The truth is the employers only want those with certain characteristics and a certain personality.

If you want your cure and we want our acceptance then in my opinion we have a common enemy to fight. Neither of us will get what we want as long the american people rigidly believe in their beliefs and standards to the extreme that they do especially this extreme internal locus of control. In addition, we need to fight this positive attitude fanaticism that has take root in America. http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/Attitude_Fanatics.htm

We have a common enemy to fight and that is a belief system that has taken hold in America which is holding us all back. You want your cure Jedi and I want acceptance. Let's challenge values and beliefs. I believe lurker has said some things about having to wear a fake smile on his face as well. I don't either. I want to be in a society in which one can be negative and state the truth.

beneficii said...

"This contradicts what Joseph and"The autistic bitch from hell" have stated in the past where they claimed the Brugha study done in England showed there was no unemployment problem among autistics and they were employed in the same manner as non-handicapped people."

Source?