The ‘autism advantage’ at work and how it’s giving firms a competitive edge

Gordon Douglas spent most of his 20s on welfare, struggling to find an employer who would look past his “differences” and give him a break.

The 34-year-old battled his way through job application after job application but, despite being highly qualified and intelligent, he often fell out of contention when it came to face-to-face interviews.

His problem, he said, was misreading social cues and interview panels that didn’t know how to interpret his quirks.

“There are still those biases that play into it,” Mr Douglas said.

“‘Oh, this guy doesn’t make eye contact, so we couldn’t possibly trust him to do any work for us’.

“It’s been brought up with me several times in exit interviews.”

Now he’s in a top-secret role with the same government agency…