Remote Possibilities: Autism and the Different Normal

Zoom photo of Exceptional Minds' staff and students during "Round Table." A pandemic wasn’t on the list of challenges for most young adults on the autism spectrum. No one could have predicted that they would overcome so many social stigmas in the workplace, only to have the very foundation crumble beneath them. And, yet, many individuals with autism are coming out the other side of COVID-19 stronger than before. Now months into the largest unanticipated social experiment in the history of business, companies are discovering that employees with autism are adapting to working remotely. Many, in fact, are good at it. Companies report that their team members with autism excel at complex projects and communicate better in remote work settings, a new finding for a population that is twice as likely to be under- or unemployed than people without disabilities. At least one global IT firm has concluded that hiring more people with autism is the answer to