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Successful IT Startup Actively Hires People On the Autism Spectrum (fastcompany.com) 174

Posted by BeauHD from the embracing-neurodiversity dept.
Suren Enfiajyan shares a report from Fast Company: Ultra Testing, a New York-based software testing and quality assurance startup, employs over 60 workers remotely across 20 states, 75% of whom are on the autism spectrum. Not only was the company open to hiring neurodiverse employees, but it actively sought them out. Though small, the company punches well above its weight class, growing an average of 50% year-over-year since its founding in 2013, with 60% of revenues coming from Fortune 500 clients and the remainder from hypergrowth startups. Its innovative employment and talent management strategies have also received accolades and praise, including an honorable mention in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas awards.

CEO Rajesh Anandan founded Ultra Testing alongside his former M.I.T. roommate Art Shectman after discovering research on the overlooked strengths common among autistic individuals. Anandan's wife, who worked with autistic children at a community mental health clinic in Oakland, had also pointed out how much energy is spent trying to improve the skills that are lacking rather than nurturing the children's often remarkable natural talents. "Individuals on the autism spectrum are more likely to have strengths around pattern recognition, logical reasoning ability, enhanced focus, and so on," says Anandan. "That's not to say that everyone on the spectrum has those abilities, but based on peer-reviewed studies published in scientific journals, there is evidence that there is an over indexing of those abilities -- and those very abilities are exactly what you would look for in quite a few roles, especially around quality engineering or quality assurance." The report goes on to say that the company utilizes Slack for all of its communications, which makes it much easier for their staff to communicate because many people on the autism spectrum struggle with their communication skills.

"Furthermore, after one teammate quipped how great it would be if humans came with a user manual, Anandan developed the 'BioDex' and attached it to each employee's Slack profile," reports Fast Company. "The 28-point BioDex includes instructions on how each team member prefers to receive critical feedback, their preferred communication medium, their typical response time, and more. [...] The company also polls every team member daily at 5 p.m. with a single question related to inclusion and well-being via Slack and shares responses anonymously with the rest of the team."
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Successful IT Startup Actively Hires People On the Autism Spectrum

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  • The 28-point BioDex includes instructions on how each team member prefers to receive critical feedback, their preferred communication medium, their typical response time, and more.

    If we had a standardized form like this for open source projects instead of humans, I think we'd have a lot less drama surrounding them since users, contributors, and core developers would have a baseline of what to expect from each other.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      Sadly not. The professional offendees would just get offended by the answers provided by the productive members of the team, resulting in even swifter acrimony.

  • Are they helping by hiring people with Autism or taking advantage of people with Autism? Seems like a fine line.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        Well that's easily measured by whether or not the company practice'sprofit sharing with these employees. That is the distinguishing difference between an exploitative employer, and a healthy relationship with your employer.

        No, it's not. After all, it's possible to provide excellent remuneration to employees in a company that's not making profits - e.g. Amazon in its early years.

        Then a healthy relationship your employer seeks to build You up their level, to eventually Peer and partner with them. Exploitative employer doesn't ever want you to rise to peer and wants you always as their underling, to o their dirty work for them, while they keep the Lion's share

        That's a very simplistic view of the world, and applicable only to a small minority of businesses.

        In most small companies the employer owns the business and can support their staff without exploiting them or making them partners. In a large company the employers don't keep the lion's share as that goes to the shareholders anyway.

    • That is a legitimate concern, although if you're not extremely high functioning, it can be hard to find a job (beyond bagging groceries)...so I personally think being taken advantage of at a good job is better than having no job. Also shitty jobs can be a springboard into better ones.

      Finally, if this company is successful, it will drive competition and people will fight for high-performers. I don't know the company and cannot speak to how they treat their employees, but if they were mistreating them, I

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I think these are people with more needs who would otherwise have to work very low paying jobs.

        I think you're talking out of your ass.

        See, autism covers a vast spectrum of people with different skills, responses, and impediments. It's not uniformly people who can't function on their own.

        After having self-diagnosed as sharing traits with autism 20 years ago (all while holding down a professional career in tech) ... I've come to conclude that what we used to call "geeks" probably had a fairly high percentag

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Wolfrider ( 856 )

          > This story got me thinking a little more, and I ended up taking an on-line survey to measure risk of un-diagnosed autism in adults .. not some random website, a national autism awareness organization with material developed at a major university

          Got a link to this website/survey?

    • Re:Helping or Taking Advtage? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @01:06AM (#58555758) Homepage

      That fine line is actually quite clear, what are the salaries and employment conditions. As this is not mentioned it is hard to judge. Rule of thumb if the wages are shitty and do not take into account work output, they should actually be paid more than normies, than they are exploitative cunts. However if salaries reflect work output, than they are doing the smart thing for them and for their potential employees.

      It is extremely smart to use high functioning autism spectrum people to do analytical work. A note many autism spectrum people do something most people are unaware of, they do no believe anything, nothing, it simply is not possible for them, a missing or very limited cerebral function (a genetic thought structure). Hence they live their lives based upon reason and guesses because they see beliefs for what they are, empty and meaningless beyond the ability of normies to believe in them. Adjusting behavioural patterns based upon reason to align with behavioural patterns based upon empty beliefs that defy reason, is very awkward.

      Social reactions are also confusing and not because inability to react to the emotionally 'expressed' triggers of normies but because those expressed triggers are often a huge variance to the internal feelings of those normies, the expressions they try and fail to hide, from people who can analyse anything.

      So reacting to false expressions of emotions about empty meaningless beliefs is whacked as fuck and not so much confusing as annoying and irritating and generates a desire to be awkward on purpose.

  • Good! Autistic guys are forced out by SJWs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by iamacat ( 583406 ) on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @09:37PM (#58555160)

    Because they are not capable of tiptoeing around everyone else's sensitivities, providing emotional support, calling a man a woman or vice versa, taking turn in meetings or keeping quiet when presented with illogical statements. Just take a case of James Damore [theguardian.com]. Now they got a company for themselves and are showing success possible when people actually focus on work.

    • Because they are not capable of tiptoeing around everyone else's sensitivities,

      But isn't this tiptoeing around aspie sensitivities?

      "The 28-point BioDex includes instructions on how each team member prefers to receive critical feedback, their preferred communication medium, their typical response time, and more. [...] The company also polls every team member daily at 5 p.m. with a single question related to inclusion and well-being via Slack and shares responses anonymously with the rest of the team."

      Guess what, that means the aspies at that company are what guys like you call "fragile snowflakes"

      providing emotional support

      That's part of being human. If someone's wife or parent dies are you just going to go off on a tangent on how body decomposition works in front of them?

      calling a man a woman or vice versa

      "Courtesy" is what makes society work. If you can't handle that, perhaps you should be shoved away in some back room repairing radios or fixing watches or something. Oh wait...that's what aspies did before computers gave them big heads and inflated egos and let them spread their "Akshully..."-style pedantry across the internet.

      keeping quiet when presented with illogical statements

      How do you know they're illogical? You are not an expert in everything.

      Just take a case of James Damore

      Damore was an idiot with an inflated sense of his own capabilities and knowledge. His own girlfriend called him out on his cluelessness and lack of knowledge about the things he went on about.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Damore said women are not suited to certain kinds of work. Women immediatley proved him correct by going absolutely fucking apeshit and dropping Google's productivity through the fucking floor for NO REASON. He had no power to make any changes.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward

          > Damore said women are not suited to certain kinds of work.

          Actually, no... he didn't.

          What Damore observed was that an average, random woman was approximately 25% as likely as an average, random man to have a personality type that made programming fun & interesting, as opposed to merely "a job". He never said that women with that personality type are inferior to men with that personality type. In fact, he pointed out that many of the women in that small, elite group are among the most brilliant progr

          • His mistake was forgetting that he works for Google, which is one of the two or three companies on Earth capable of hiring close to 50% women AND making sure that almost every one of them is among that tiny, elite group of women who love programming, by virtue of 1) being Google, and 2) being able to outbid nearly every other company that wants to hire them.

            It's hardly "a mistake" in his reasoning if Google's win is everyone else's loss. That is, unless people are OK with the "fuck you, I got mine" approach to diversity hiring. (Frankly, Google's management probably is, but that's an different matter.)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

        Yes it is. Tiptoeing around other people's sensibilities is a part of how humans work.

        I think nobody who can match or surpass the reasoning skills of a sheet of paper would argue that a world where everyone spits out exactly what is on thwir mind was a thing to wish for.

        But first being able to discuss facts as facts is a very basic necessity. And second a world where your livelihood can be destroyed over one small misstep is hell.

        Everyone can be absent-minded or plain stressed and handle a situation wrong.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I think nobody who can match or surpass the reasoning skills of a sheet of paper would argue that a world where everyone spits out exactly what is on thwir mind was a thing to wish for.

          Hmm, well then welcome to Slashdot, where apparently many posters have poorer reasoning skills than a sheet of paper.

          iamacat got straight in with this argument, and got modded up for it.

          • Hmm, well then welcome to Slashdot, where apparently many posters have poorer reasoning skills than a sheet of paper.

            You might like this article, "The Magical thinking of guys who love logic"

            https://theoutline.com/post/70... [theoutline.com]

            It's basically about the internet tech-guy rationalists who think they're an expert in everything, like Damore. Basically the guys who infest Slashdot.

            I think of it this way:

            1. They watched star trek when they were young and identified with Spock because being autists, emotional interaction/social interaction was hard for them. "why can't people be more like spock. I do not understand why the female is mad at me for what I said."

            2. Often got mentored by some older aspie neckbeard with a high opinion of his skills/knowlege. being Lazarus Long and John Galt combined of course. The interactions between older and younger autists can become VERY problematic. You know how it is. An older autist might have trouble interacting with people his own age because of his obsessions (like an adult obsessing over Sonic or Weebles) or other issues. While a younger autist might have the same problem because of how much stuff he's read so is encourage to hang out with those who have read similar things who are older. (Think about some 10 year old who's read LOTR being encouraged to hang out with an older teenage/college aged autistic LOTR fan.) I know parents mean well when they put their autistic sons in Lego club or whatever, but all that's going to do is put them with other autistic people that they'll do the autistic mimicry/parroting of.

            The same thing happens when some older rationalist hands over Heinlein or Ayn Rand to some teenage aspie. The younger aspie admires the older "rationalist" and emulates them, not understanding the context and complexity behind various issues. (And not knowing that Ayn Rand's objectivism is basically the socio-economic philosophy of a meth-addled spoiled former upper-class russian expat who got her Hollywood job because of nepotism) As was once said by screenwriter John Rogers:

            âoeThere are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year oldâ(TM)s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

            3. Sheltered away in geek "safe spaces" like rocketry clubs, computer labs, and tech jobs where they didn't/don't interact much with "normal people" and thusly thought their anti-empathy anti-emotional "rationalist" (and often misogynist because women are "too emotional" to them) mindset was "normal" You've noticed how the Slashdot rationalists tend to disparage women and gays a lot, it's partly because they associate them with "emotions" It's also one of the reasons they disparage "arts" and "aesthetics". And you've noticed how they disparage and denigrate "soft skills" that require "emotional intelligence" like marketing and PR.

            4. Told they were "so smart" and coddled by parents, teachers, all for knowing what an if/then/else was and understanding ones and zeroes more than people. Throw a tantrum because someone tells you you should eat a variety of food and not just tendies? Here's more tendies! I know a family who coddles their autistic son like this. instead of pushing him to adjust to new experiences, they just make up the tendies. Even for holiday dinners, he's sitting on his own at his Lego table with a tablet showing jumpscare videos or Dragonball or something like that young aspies obsess over. (keep your younger aspies away from Five Nights at Freddy's and Dragonball, unless you want them to be some 25 year old obsessing over which spiky haired guy who looks exactly like every other spiky haired guy Toriyama d

            • James Damore got the science right, according to Steven Pinker and others. He learned this science at elite academic institutions, and he was working on his PhD at Harvard. He was pulled down by a fascist culture that didn't want discussion by people who are willing to deny science for their own political ends.

              • Pinker's a gender essentialist, of course he's going to agree with Damore. Doesn't mean he's right. YOu can always find some American or Canadian alt-right professor who will support some MRA hipster who thinks his viking beard makes him macho.

                He learned this science at elite academic institutions

                No, he didn't. His degree is science related (molecular biology/chemistry) not social work, psychology or culture.

                he was working on his PhD at Harvard.

                PhD in what? Math? Computer Science? Turns out it was Biology...which is great if he was going to make new drugs or practice medical research. But i

                • > Pinker's a gender essentialist
                  So you're dismissing his science because it doesn't agree with your prejudices or agenda?

                  > Canadian alt-right professor
                  Talking about Jordan Peterson? He also backs up Damore, and Peterson is a pyschologist. By the way, he isn't alt-right.

                  • So you're dismissing his science because it doesn't agree with your prejudices or agenda?

                    Like you did with those who said Damore was full of shit? Including the actual scientists who wrote the papers he cited?

                    Talking about Jordan Peterson? He also backs up Damore, and Peterson is a pyschologist. By the way, he isn't alt-right.

                    I was thinking of Peterson as well as Pinker, both are Canadian. And yes, Peterson IS alt-right. Oh, he may say he's a "rationalist" or "pragmatist" or "against political correctness" But his views correspond with the alt-right movements views. He believes men are being "feminized", doesn't want to be courteous enough to use the chosen pronouns of transpeople and doesn't believe in clim

                    • JBP is a classical liberal. It's only because you're so far to the left that everyone to the right of Mao Zedong looks like a fascist to you. No wonder you wrote an anti-nerd diatribe. Incels like you have a lot of rage. Being a feminist won't help you with women.

                    • JBP is a classical liberal.

                      The modern classical liberals are basically a libertarian-right guys.

                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

                      In the late 19th century, classical liberalism developed into neo-classical liberalism, which argued for government to be as small as possible to allow the exercise of individual freedom. In its most extreme form, neo-classical liberalism advocated social Darwinism.[22] Right-libertarianism is a modern form of neo-classical liberalism.

                      notice the mention of social darwinism and that Right-libertarianism is

                  • I also want to bring up another thing.

                    If Damore's actual academic training is in Biology/Chemistry...why was he working for Google instead of as a researcher for a Pharmeceutical company or research hospital? Is it because perhaps Biology as a profession is filled with women that an aspie like Damore had trouble understanding and working with because he doesn't understand "emotions" and has limited emotional intelligence and can't understand the workplace dynamics of a workplace with a lot of women in it?

                    A

                    • So Damore should be more feminine, i.e. better with emotional awareness/intelligence? And Peterson shouldn't say there's a push to feminize men, because that's somehow alt-right?

                      https://www.psychologytoday.co... [psychologytoday.com]

                    • Who says emotions are feminine? We all have them, except that that boys get told to suppress them or have them beat out of them by society/parents/gym teachers. After all when kids are VERY young boys and girls have similar emotional expression.

                      Perhaps boys, including autistic ones, would have better "emotional intelligence" if that didn't happen? Maybe they wouldn't see everything as a zero sum game? Maybe they could understand sharing? Maybe they'd understand the concept of social justice and not den

                    • > Who says emotions are feminine?

                      Evolutionary biology and psychology say that women have better emotional intelligence than men, on average - see that link in my post to Pyschology Today.

                      > After all when kids are VERY young boys and girls have similar emotional expression.

                      And when they grow up, their bodies and minds change because of hormone differences. Giving boys estrogen, or testosterone blockers, would probably help improve mens' emotional intelligence (disclaimer: disgusting idea).

                      > Perhaps

                    • Evolutionary biology and psychology say that women have better emotional intelligence than men, on average - see that link in my post to Pyschology Today.

                      Are you sure it's biological and not cultural? Was there a control for culture/media? Was the study long term? Is the difference large or small. If say on a scale of 1 to 100, men have an average EI of 48 and women have an average of 51 there would be a lot of overlap, right?

                      And when they grow up, their bodies and minds change because of hormone differences.

                      The bodies change yes, but does the EI change because of the body changes or is it cultural influence. Do boys start not showing emotions because the testosterone makes them feel less, or because they'll be called a "Fag" or "sissy

                    • Evolutionary biology and psychology say that women have better emotional intelligence than men, on average - see that link in my post to Pyschology Today.

                      Are you sure it's biological and not cultural? Was there a control for culture/media? Was the study long term? Is the difference large or small. If say on a scale of 1 to 100, men have an average EI of 48 and women have an average of 51 there would be a lot of overlap, right?

                      I'm not an expert, and I didn't look too closely at that article, I just found something from a reputable source that matches what I've heard the experts saying is the scientific consensus; I don't think that article is unique.

                      I also believe there's at least a strong biological component because of gender differences in species without complex cultures.

                      And when they grow up, their bodies and minds change because of hormone differences.

                      The bodies change yes, but does the EI change because of the body changes or is it cultural influence. Do boys start not showing emotions because the testosterone makes them feel less, or because they'll be called a "Fag" or "sissy" if they do?

                      Speaking as an old boy, I wasn't concerned about being called names - I just didn't understand/notice emotional things as well as girls when growing up. I be

                    • I also believe there's at least a strong biological component because of gender differences in species without complex cultures.

                      This is problematic because other species...aren't sapient and don't have cultures. for them biology might be more important.. they can't have media and so forth.

                      For us...well we do. As is said, "biology is not destiny", not for us anyway.

                      I just didn't understand/notice emotional things as well as girls when growing up.

                      You...and I, are on Slashdot. We both know how Slashdot is. How much of that is "boy" and how much of that might be "the spectrum" affecting others (and perhaps you) more in comparison to neurotypical boys. Besides, we absorb culture starting at a very young age, I thin

                    • > I was with you till you said "rational", which got my dander up a bit. But yes, I think we ARE as a society doing that to a certain extent already, with "analytical" Though I think currently we are teaching girls/women better to combine the analytical and emotional into a synergistic whole.

                      Yeah, sorry about that - I got a little triggered by the idea of women telling men how they should be, and the 'rational' was my reaction. That's the only way I hear this - women wanting to change men, not men wantin

            • Wish I had mod points for you. My more simplistic take on it is nuance. These people simply don't see/understand nuance. Everything's black and white, on or off.

              But thank you.

            • More "slashdot rationalists" need some minder like that. In fact, that's could have prevented what happened to James Damore, but his "insensitiveness" wasn't caught before he went public.

              A lengthy screed (yours, that is), with some useful tidbits.

              That said, Google asked (or pretended to ask) for input on an internal forum, then went nuts when they actually received some.

              That's what happened to Damore, in reality.

              • A lengthy screed (yours, that is), with some useful tidbits.

                Yep, lengthy and thanks...I think.

                Google asked (or pretended to ask) for input on an internal forum

                They did....but....

                then went nuts when they actually received some.
                That's what happened to Damore, in reality.

                Rhetorical question: if Damore was so smart and so knowlegeable about society/social-cultural issues/gender/psychology why didn't he realize what would happen?

                After all, it was obvious to me. If he had shown me his work before he posted it I would have said to him, very forcefully, what I said in my post:

                "James, you don't know everything and when it comes to these issues, you're not as smart and knowledgeable as you think you are. Stick to your terminal

          • Ha. So says someone who, in lieu of actually explaining something (the difference between privilege and privileged), says that the difference was already explained.

            It's there in black and white, Ami, you just Trumping your little heart out instead of actually backing up your claims. The only "citation" you gave supported my contention that there was no distinction between the two.

            I'm gonna be here to remind people what an intellectual fraud and regressive shill you are every time you try to look down

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              I knew you would do this. I offered in good faith to have a genuine discussion with you. Got a few random troll mods for my trouble, but I did try my best to explain my argument to you and address your points. No accusations, no name calling, calm and considered.

              And instead of just accepting that we have an intellectual disagreement, you decide to start trolling me.

              I hate to say it but you are part of the problem now. Good debate is only possible with good faith on both sides, which includes assuming the ot

              • I offered in good faith to have a genuine discussion with you.

                Except you didn't. I'm not trolling you; I'm pointing out that you are the troll when it comes to this particular topic.

                Got a few random troll mods for my trouble,

                Are you lying again or just mistaken? I didn't see any of your replies to me modded down, though I saw several of my replies to yours modded troll.

                Or perhaps I'm mistaken. Regardless, I don't have sock puppets and I haven't added you to my foe list (slashdot rather encourages these interactions, doesn't it?)

                If you didn't have time to interact with me, that would be one thing. You'r

              • P.S.: You're on record saying that political speech should not be a protected class, that people spouting ugly things should have to suffer the consequences.

                Well...

        • And second a world where your livelihood can be destroyed over one small misstep is hell.

          Everyone can be absent-minded or plain stressed and handle a situation wrong.

          If you're referring to Damore, it was a series of missteps that he doubled-down on. He wasn't absent minded or stressed. He just believed THAT MUCH in his own superiority, "rationalism" and intelligence. It's what happens when an upper-class aspie gets coddled by parents, teachers, colleges, and workplaces. They just simply don't understand that society and culture has rules, some of them unspoken that one is expected to know and follow. And that there are things you just don't say. And that maybe...j

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by rv6502 ( 5793142 )

            "Galileo Galilei, you don't know everything and when it comes to these issues, you're not as smart and knowledgeable as you think you are. The Earth does not rotate around the sun. The church says so. Stick to your telescope."

            Let's ignore all the repeatable world-wide science that shows there is innate mental and preferential differences that aren't just "social constructs".

            The progressive church says it's misogynist bogus science.
            You don't want to be called a witch err .. misogynist now, do you?

            • "Galileo Galilei, you don't know everything and when it comes to these issues, you're not as smart and knowledgeable as you think you are. The Earth does not rotate around the sun. The church says so. Stick to your telescope."

              That makes no sense because it was his telescope that showed him heliocentrism was the truth.

              However in Damore's case, he's not an expert! He's a molecular biologist that for some reason got a job writing code for Google! Gender, and social-cultural issues are not his area of expertise. Not even taking into account he's an aspie and DOES NOT UNDERSTAND shit relatied to social rules and emotions. He said that himself.

    • Wow, way to call everybody on the spectrum a total jerk just to support your personal biases. Blanket assumptions like this are the opposite of helpful.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dunkelfalke ( 91624 )

      Just because someone is autistic, doesn't mean they are always right. People often think they are good at everything because they are good at one thing. Damore's arguments were weak at best, and most of the time wrong, only sounding convincing for a very specific kind of people, the same kind who believe in flat earth, but he was so full of himself, so sure of his genius, he couldn't let it go. So he was instead.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It was just another case of Dunning-Kruger at work. It's a shame it never went to court, because it would have been fascinating to hear those arguments. It might also have established a very useful legal precedent.

        • As a Euro, I am not too keen on the precedent right, but yes, it would have been entertaining for sure.

      • and yet, while he may have oversold some of it, he was not necessarily wrong on the science. [wired.com] Or the fact that people who talk about it get shouted down.

        most of the time wrong, only sounding convincing for a very specific kind of people, the same kind who believe in flat earth,

        And hey, lookitthat. More shouting.

        • You mean, not entirely wrong. But mostly. Being too clever by half he misunderstood most things he cited. For example that bullshit about conservatives "being higher in conscientiousness".

          You see, being not entirely wrong is not the same as being right. It is more like being getting a couple of facts right out of a hundred.

          And hey, lookitthat. More shouting.

          I never shout because I don't care enough to.

    • > calling a man a woman or vice versa

      Plenty of autistic people can handle the existence of trans people. It's like taking a Windows machine, reformatting it, and installing Linux: for all functional purposes, it's now a Linux laptop, and there's not any rational reason to go around ranting that it's "really" a Window's machine.

  • Technologists that are on the spectrum? Fucking shocking! I would venture to say more IT folks are on the spectrum than are not. That is why we find comfort with as little human contact than absolutely needed.
  • This is total BS. While individuals with ASD might actually provide valuable testing (score one for the employer), most of them are not able to provide sufficient reporting to make any sense for whatever it is this company does. How about: hire people with autism spectrum disorders ... And stop trying to make money off of the fact that you are doing that. It is not appropriate! You should be ashamed that you are trying to market the fact that you are USING people with autistic disorders! Humans living wit

    • Protip: Neurotypicals like paragraphs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        I think you're replying to someone that would class as neurotypical.

        If nothing else, you can tell from the strange assumptions about people with autism spectrum disorders, including calling them disorders and not conditions.

        (No, I'm not sure when the switch from ASD to ASC happened).

  • I note it's called a startup. How is it that it's "successful"?

  • 5 p.m mandatory meetings / work?

  • this is real (Score:5, Interesting)

    by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @11:08PM (#58555422)
    I'm slightly on the spectrum according to multiple tests and I am waaaay unnaturally good at pattern recognition and puzzle solving. Like if you hand me a word scramble, I will solve it at superhuman speeds without even trying. It's like my subconscious solves it for me. When I was younger I was so obsessed with patterns it caused a mild OCD/tourrettes sort of set of symptoms but fast forward 20 years and I can control it and use it for productive use. So naturally I went into software programming and I'm probably as talented or skilled as anyone else with similar training but I work at least 5x faster. So I can 100% recommend hiring people with my type of Aspergers to write your software.
    • It is kind of clever to use a diagnosis that clusters with traits that are useful for the job. If 'hypersocial ability' was a diagnosis you can bet people would be recruiting them for negotatiors and so on. It makes me think of those programs back in school where you'd answer a bunch of questions and it'd tell you what jobs would appeal to you.

  • I think I have seen this in Belgium and Holland almost ten years ago, also for testing and QA.

  • Oh, AUTISTIC spectrum! (Score:3)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @01:17AM (#58555790)

    All this time, I thought my wife was saying I probably ranked high on the artistic spectrum.

  • Neurotypicals dislike autistic traits and given the current cult of hypersensitivity to everything de-facto segregation is a solution for all concerned.

    It may not be ideal but ideals are often impractical. Why shouldn't society including autists benefit? Autists get to provide for themselves without annoying the hypersensitive, the rest of us get better software, and most importantly (to business) they can work where their differences are acceptable!

    Not everyone can work well with everyone else nor can they

  • People suffering from ASS need special attention, today we mostly learn them tricks and work arounds (look between the eyes, etc) to cover up their ASS and make them appear 'normal'. however this requires a great deal of effort, limiting their true potential. if you manage to take a lot of everyday hurdles away, they will be more productive and even easier to manage in your company.

    I like the examples given, and how this company solved them, they could easily start a new company helping other companies with

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