Why should society focus on employment for ASDs

I know a few things about people with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA). For such people with AS and HFAs, their social cues could be weaker than others, so they may look socially awkward and may not involve in 'office politics' well.

The media currently brings an unfavourable misconception to the general public about Autism, based on television series such as 'Breakout'. It reduces support and acceptance, for the good they can ably do for the society. In addition, because of the current discrimination against Singaporeans with AS, many of them are currently unable to find a job that pays a wage to support their families.

In addition, at our own estimates, as around 70% of Singaporeans with AS are not able to complete a tertiary degree, due to their own issues with the educational system failure in Singapore. As such, many of the people with AS are subjected to unfavourable treatment in both firms and society. The firms pay these people way below other people performing similar job duties, or keep them in the lowest hierarchies in the company, due to perceived 'inability to work in teams'.

In addition, for much of the rest of the 30% of Singaporeans, they are willing to put up with 4, or even 5 years, to do some degree that they can ill afford or are still immature enough to complete in 3 years. They do so, ostentatiously, to avoid 'discrimination' against people diagnosed with AS that failed in the education system. They end up doing jobs with higher pay, but may also be struck with the issues of unemployment and underpay.

However, people with AS, regardless of educational attainment, are able to perform job tasks for the company, and may be valuable for the firm's capabilities and core competencies, with their commitment, dedication and work ethic in place. Few people can be as focused as those with Asperger's Syndrome. The firm loyalty and commitment a person with AS puts in his firm is superb, especially so for Singaporeans with AS.

Singapore just issued the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. Because of many firms' needs to have 'team players' or 'employees who need to work well in a crew/team'. I fear this may disadvantage people with Asperger's Syndrome, because it can be implied they do not have the ability to work well in a team, based on their revelation of their Asperger's conditions. However, they still add value to their companies through their insights. It would be a shame for companies not to employ more local employees with Asperger's - it not only brings job opportunities for these people closer from home, but also help firms to both find quality workers for their operations, and also reducing the costs of foreign permits.

I believe the need of people with AS and HFAs to be accepted for their skills and their value-addedness to firms is strong. We need more opportunities for people with such differences to be treated equally, like others, for the hard work they do and for the expertise they can offer to their firms.

Please consider speaking up for the AS and HFA community. We are disadvantaged, and we hope one day, when we are enabled to be more able, we can give back to our community, the rest of the disadvantaged in our society, and our wider society in general.