It may be very difficult for autistic adults to secure and maintain employment
Autism is viewed as a risk factor for complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Throughout life, autistic people may experience discrimination and marginalization. Many autistic children have been bullied and excluded at school. It may be very difficult for autistic adults to secure and maintain employment. Up to approximately 85 percent of autistic people are unemployed. When they are employed, they often are overqualified or work part-time and are more likely to be bullied.
An autistic person may also face unfair discipline at work. They may have had a strong performance early on at work, getting positive feedback. However, bosses may grow tired of autism-related behavior and then become overly harsh with an autistic worker. According to the Gold Law Firm, “Some supervisors unjustly criticize an employee’s work performance to create documentation for termination. Employers know they cannot terminate an employee because of a disability, so they create reasons for termination, which may include poor work performance.” This unjust critique of performance may cause self-esteem problems, even causing an autistic person to doubt whether they can do high-quality work. The individual could recall that their old boss may have said that the real reason why the supervisor did not assign certain work to the person is fear of autism-related communication problems. Thus, the real issue at work was autism-related problems, not poor performance. This fact could help improve self-esteem, but at the same time, cause the person to be even angrier with their former supervisor.
It may be difficult for an autistic person to bounce back from a termination
It may be difficult for an autistic person to bounce back from a termination because they may struggle to find work. While it takes unemployed members of the general population an average of 22.4 weeks to get a new job, it takes autistic individuals an average of a year to become employed. Longer periods of unemployment may make any person less employable. The unemployed person loses job skills and may get discouraged from applying for jobs. In addition, some employers may think that prolonged unemployment shows poor work performance.
It is possible that an autistic individual may be underemployed. They may find low-paying part-time work that they are overqualified for. Underemployment affects finances, harms self-esteem, decreases career growth, and does not allow an autistic person to reach their full potential.
CPTSD symptoms may include lower self-esteem and little belief in one’s skills and strengths. People with CPTSD can also have decreased self-worth and may lose hope.
It is not surprising that an autistic person could develop self-esteem/self-worth issues. In their lived experience, potential employers, romantic interests, friends, and even relatives may not all want them.
To properly treat an autistic client, the mental health provider should know that the client is autistic. As some people are diagnosed with autism later in life, an individual may be autistic but not know it. If a clinician suspects that a client’s autism is a contributing factor to the client’s problems, the mental health professional should talk with the client about their speculation.
Affirmative conversations using a strengths-based approach, which many social workers utilize, could temporarily improve the client’s decreased self-esteem. However, after feeling better about themselves, the client may be reminded that no one wants their skills. Thus, they may get angry. Continuing to suffer, they may revert to declining levels of self-esteem, thus experiencing a cycle of emotions.
Clinicians could try to prevent the setbacks by letting their clients know that they are thinking about their clients and by complimenting their clients via periodic e-mails. Clinicians may not feel that they have the capacity to send such e-mails due to a large caseload and may not know what to write every time. They may also feel that contact between sessions should mainly be about billing and scheduling, and/or they may not want to write e-mails outside those topics. In addition, clients may not want to hear from their therapist so much. However, these e-mails may benefit their clients, who would be reminded that they have strengths and who might appreciate that at least someone is thinking of them. Before sending such e-mails, the clinicians should ask their clients about receiving e-mails and then follow the clients’ lead.
Mental health professionals could also try to break the vicious cycle by encouraging their clients to use their academic and/or professional skills in a volunteer capacity. Volunteering can develop skills, transferable professional experiences, and professional contacts, which might help them get new employment. Volunteering also enables autistic people to make meaningful contributions, increases their self-confidence and self-esteem, and distracts them from focusing on their negative employment experience.
However, mental health professionals should also recognize that volunteering could be a double-edged sword, causing even more pain for their clients. The positive results of volunteering may not help a client who is focused on employment and remains unemployed. Given the especially high unemployment rates of autistic people, the client may continue to be unemployed. In addition, although the client could derive pleasure and benefit others by using their skills, they could get frustrated and angry by their continued, prolonged unemployment. Their self-esteem could continue to decline.
To improve the self-esteem of their autistic clients, mental health professionals could also:
- Recognize the clients’ achievements and strengths – However, such actions can cause an autistic client to feel discouraged because they may feel that their experiences and abilities have gotten them nowhere.
- Encourage them to develop new skills (i.e., learn a new language, musical instrument, food recipe).
- Recommend that they challenge themselves to do activities that they do not usually do
- Recommend that they say yes to opportunities.
- Encourage them to find a niche for themselves (i.e., be the only one in their family who can make certain food).
- Encourage them to use their skills to make people happy (i.e. – Play music for people, cook for individuals) .
- Suggest to them that they find communities (i.e., around their special interests).
- Recommend confidence-building films and books.
Proven methods of treating and coping with CPTSD among non-autistic people may not work for autistic people. Those tactics include:
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy.
- Strengths-based approach – Highlighting the client’s strengths may not work as a permanent solution.
- Support network – As many autistic people are socially isolated and lonely, they may have a limited or no support network.
Autistic people need to be assisted. They can be valuable if they are given a chance and respected.
Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash
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