自闭者：尚未开发的人才

    一场围绕着大脑功能差异的民权运动正在美国迅速兴起，或将改变职场现状。倡导重视神经系统多样性的人群提出，神经多样性与劳动力的性别及种族多元化一样，也是企业走向成功的决定性因素。

    越来越多的企业主动聘用患有自闭症的应聘者，并安排他们从事所擅长的工作，比如那些需要处理大量数据或极其注重细节的岗位。这类企业包括SAP公司、房地美、ULTRA Testing以及那些专门雇佣与安置神经系统疾病患者的企业。

    由于70%的残障人士症状并不明显，普通人无法察觉，所以可以肯定的是，还有更多的企业也聘用了那些脑部异常的劳动者，如自闭症、注意缺陷多动症、阅读障碍、运动障碍、多发性抽动症、口吃或情绪失调患者。许多企业还成立了各种员工资源小组和联系网络，为这类员工及其家人提供相关的帮助。

    “我们把生理、认知以及心理健康方面的差异看作是人与人之间必然存在的差异。”安永人力策略主管洛利•戈尔登介绍说，“对于企业来说，最大的挑战是选聘最恰当的人才，并且创造一个能让每个人充分发挥能力的工作环境。”

    神经疾病患者往往由于存在这种差异而具备某种能力，这和盲人可能拥有敏锐的嗅觉、听觉或味觉的情况类似。例如，多动症患者富有创造力，充满好奇心并且十分活跃。“对于那些特别有创意、精力充沛并热衷于吸收信息的人来说，有无数份工作可以供他们选择，”威廉玛丽学院历史学教授卡林•伍尔夫指出。伍尔夫是该院神经系统多样性工作小组的带头人。

    作家兼威廉玛丽学院神经系统多样性常驻研究学者约翰•埃尔德•罗宾逊指出，全世界约有2%的人拥有异常的神经系统结构，这个比例和犹太人在美国人口当中的比例相同。而在选聘人才时，没有雇主敢忽视犹太人群体。

    “从人力资源部门的角度来看，神经系统多样性必将成为下一个争取公民权利的前沿阵地，”罗宾逊预测，他在成年之后发现自己是一名自闭症患者。“五十分之一这个比例可不算小。”他说。

    这场革命给神经性障碍患者和雇主都带来了挑战。作为员工，人们必须学会理解和掌控自己大脑的多样性，在同事与主管面前掌握好公开这一差异的时机和方式；作为企业则必须创造包容性的企业文化，鼓励开放的心态，让每位员工充分施展才华。而且，在筛选和招聘时，不会因为与工作需要无关的神经系统障碍而漏掉优秀人才。

    “在自闭症患者中，有相当一部分人掌握了重要的专业技能或者受过良好的教育，但是这些人总是因为面试表现不佳或拒绝眼神接触，而被劳务市场低估，”阿里•尼尔曼说道，他是美国自闭症自我宣传网络的总裁兼共同发起人，他还是美国历史上第一位获得总统任命、公开承认患有自闭症的人士。

    房地美公司与自闭症自我宣传网络合作，发起了一项带薪实习计划，目的是为患有自闭症的应聘者提供三大领域的工作，包括信息技术、企业风险管理以及独栋住宅房贷业务。

    房地美资深多样性专家梅根•皮罗楚卡奥斯介绍说，“我们发现这是一个尚未开发的人才宝库，”他提醒说，忽视自闭症应聘者是有风险的。“因为你忽视的可能是分析能力出众、专注力极强、能够高效完成任务的人才，他们很喜欢这种工作状态。”

    成年自闭症患者就业很困难，原因是他们往往在社交方面存在障碍。如果收到的简历中的工作经历部分看起来有些问题，房地美公司要求人事经理深入挖掘，甚至允许通过提前通知面试问题等方法改变招聘程序，以便发掘自闭症应聘者的闪光点。有机会与患有自闭症的实习生共事的经理与员工会提前接受神经系统多样性方面的培训，并参加公司的伙伴系统。在这个系统中，组内的实习生与一般员工结成工作伙伴。在历时16周的实习计划进行到一半时，房地美会让ASAN参与摸查，以便实习生有机会能放心说出自己遇到的困扰和问题。

    现在是实习计划进行的第四年，房地美已经雇佣了多名这个计划的实习生作为长期全职雇员。经理们发现，他们为成人自闭症患者开发的工具，例如极为清晰的指南，以及询问人们更倾向于何种交流方式的做法，实际上对所有雇员来说都很有用。有些房地美的雇员甚至意识到，他们自己也可能患有自闭症谱系障碍。

    而在专门针对神经系统多样性人群的实习计划之外，雇主的招聘都需要非常小心。举例来说，询问一个求职者是否有神经障碍是违法的。所以，雇主们必须十分敏感，能够觉察与神经系统相关的行为差异。

    “如果求职者不主动透露[他们的情况]，我们很难发现。所以，我们的招聘人员必须思考这一问题，但是不能提前下结论，”毕马威会计师事务所（KPMG）的工作场所解决方案总监巴巴拉•万科夫介绍。

    而对于存在大脑差异的个人来说，神经多样性似乎在职场中为他们带来了更大的困扰。斯科特•索内是一位华盛顿州贝灵翰姆的作家，也是联邦政府的技巧性健身教练，但是他在孩提时曾有过被收容的经历，而且一度被视为没有学习能力。他指出，工作时必须专注于自己所擅长的技能和能够为工作机构带来的价值，而不是对自己的缺陷耿耿于怀、百般迎合，这一点十分重要。

    A burgeoning civil rights movement is poised to change the workplace, and it revolves around differences in brain function. Advocates for neurodiversity say that it’s just as critical to business success as gender or racial diversity in the labor force.

    A growing number of companies actively recruit candidates on the autism spectrum for tasks that are suited to their strengths, such as those involving large amounts of data or rigorous attention to detail. They include SAP, Freddie Mac, ULTRA Testing, as well as specialized recruiting and placement firms for people with neurological differences.

    Given that an estimated 70% of disabilities aren’t obvious to the casual observer, it’s a certainty that even more organizations already employ people with a brain difference, whether it’s autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette’s syndrome, disfluency, or a mood disorder. Many companies have employee resource groups and networks to support workers with their own or a family member’s neurological difference.

    “We see differences in physical, cognitive, and mental health as differences in the human condition,” says Lori Golden, abilities strategy leader for EY. “The most relevant challenge for business is to bring in the very best talent for the work we do and create an environment that can unleash the full abilities of every person.”

    Individuals with a neurological disability often possess a strength associated with their condition, in the same way a blind person may enjoy a keen sense of smell, hearing, or taste. For instance, people with ADHD tend to be innovative, curious, and active. “There are a huge number of jobs that are open to people who are super creative, energetic, and information seeking,” notes Karin Wulf, a William & Mary history professor who spearheaded the college’s neurodiversity working group.

    About 2% of the population has an atypical neurological structure, the same percentage within the U.S. as the Jewish population, a group that no recruiter would consider discounting in a talent search, points outs John Elder Robison, author and neurodiversity scholar-in-residence at The College of William & Mary.

    “Neurodiversity, from the standpoint of a human resources department, is poised to be the next civil rights frontier that will have to be dealt with,” says Robison, who realized he was on the autism spectrum as an adult. “One in 50 is not small.”

    This revolution poses challenges for both neuro-atypical individuals and employers. Workers must learn to understand and manage their own brain differences and how and when to disclose it to colleagues and supervisors. Companies must create inclusive cultures that encourage openness about how each person works best, not to mention screening and recruiting the best talent without being blinded by neurological conditions that aren’t relevant to a job’s requirements.

    “In the autistic community you have a significant number of people, often with substantial technical skills or education, who are systemically undervalued by the job market as a result of not interviewing well or not making eye contact,” says Ari Ne’eman, president and co-founder of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and the first openly autistic presidential appointee.

    In partnership with ASAN, Freddie Mac established a paid internship program that places candidates with autism in three areas: information technology, enterprise risk management, and the single-family mortgage business.

    “This is an untapped reservoir of talent that we have discovered,” says Megan Pirochukoas, a senior diversity specialist at Freddie Mac, who warns that other employers ignore autistic candidates at their peril. “You’re overlooking someone who is highly analytical, very focused, and very task-oriented, who likes to be in that space.”

    Adults with autism tend to be underemployed because they often face challenges with social interaction. So Freddie Mac coached hiring managers to dig deeper if they received a resume with a spotty work record and to be open to adapting the screening process so autistic candidates could shine, such as giving interview questions in advance. Managers and employees who would be working with interns also received neurodiversity training ahead of time and participated in a buddy system to pair interns with neurotypical employees in their group. The housing finance company brought in ASAN about halfway through the 16-week internship for a pulse check, so interns would have a safe place to address concerns or problems they might be experiencing.

    Now in the fourth year of the internship program, Freddie Mac has hired several interns as permanent full-time employees. Managers have discovered that some of the tools they developed for working with autistic adults—such as being extremely clear with instructions and asking how people prefer to communicate—are actually useful practices for all employees. Some Freddie Mac employees even came to realize that they themselves might be on the autism spectrum.

    Outside of an internship program aimed at a neurodiverse population, it’s tricky for an employer to hire inclusively. For one, it’s illegal to ask a candidate whether he has a disability. So instead, employers must be sensitive and responsive to differences that may relate to a neurological condition.

    “It’s very hard for us when somebody hasn’t disclosed [their condition], so our recruiters have to be thinking about it but they can’t be assuming,” says Barbara Wankoff, director of workplace solutions at KPMG.

    For individuals with a brain difference, neurodiversity at work can seem even more fraught. It’s important to focus on what skills and value you can bring to a workplace, not on the accommodations you may need for your disability, says Scott Sonnon, a Bellingham, Wash.-based author and tactical fitness instructor for the federal government who was institutionalized as a child and deemed unteachable.