By Daniel M. Jones aka The Aspie World
I was asked in January 2020 to brief the EU parliament in France on the current state of autistic employment.
Let me say that I did just that and what I told them shocked them.
I started by telling the story of a friend of mine called Anna, an autistic female from the UK.
Anna wanted to find employment and applied for numerous jobs in the midlands of the UK, out of which she was accepted by 5 employers.
Once Anna started each one of these jobs and disclosed to them that she was on the autism spectrum, she eventually was “let go” from the company as the work had “dried up”.
Now we know that this is wrong and they only let her ego because she was autistic. After all, it happened at every single one of the 5 opportunities she started.
This is because many employers are worried about “getting it wrong” when it comes to supporting autistic employees, and would rather not take the risk in their opinion.
Autism employment can be a big barrier in a lot of lives for people on the autism spectrum, with 82% of autistic people in the United Kingdom not in work.
Autism employment UK figures are just a small representation of the bigger picture of the amount of autism spectrum disordered people who are not in work around the world.
There are many jobs for autism spectrum condition individuals but I want to highlight that self-employment is a fantastic option and a much safer bet for long-term happiness in work for autistic individuals.
I have been self-employed for 5 years now and I love every second of it, so much so that I am sharing 3 of my essential tips for being self-employed as an autistic person.
Why is self-employment a good option for autistic individuals?
Autistic people have very specific needs when it comes to work, working environments and working ability.
There are many reasonable adjustments that need to be considered when an autistic person enters a workplace, from the times of start and finish, to lighting and seating in the office, to the general environment of smell, sound and temperatures.
All of these unique needs could create a barrier for some autistic individuals to gain employment via a traditional employer due to the nature of complications that can arise from the lack of control over the environment.
Since covid, many people have been able to work from home now which gives autistic individuals more control over their working environment, but again there are limitations that come with any traditional employment.
These limitations can be things like the way you are communicated to via your boss, this could be how they list items to you or a lack of listing items to you.
As these are just a small snapshot of some of the issues that can cause typical traditional employment to be non-accessible for autistic individuals self-employment seems like it has leverage.
With self-employment, you can control everything from your working environment to working hours if you are more of a night owl or an early bird.
You are in control, and more importantly, you are in control of all creative direction of your talents and services.
As autistic people, we have specific topics that we like to obsess over and get really into, we love to know about them in full and love to dive into this topic all the time. This could be anything from Minecraft to trains.
The beauty of this is that you become a wealth of knowledge on that topic and can offer a service to people.
So let's get right into my essential tips for anyone wanting to be self-employed as an autistic person.
Your Service
To get started on your own business, you must clearly define what you want to do, sell or provide. For me, this comes down to, what I know most about or what I know best. You have to be confident in the thing that you are wanting sell, coach on or provide as a service because people are going to pay you for this.
I started by writing down a list of 3 main things I could sell: Video courses, 1:1 coaching calls and merchandise.
Once I had these elements in place I would then set up a website with WordPress or Wix and offer my services.
I would also use social media (Facebook mainly) and TikTok to drive small videos or info bits of content on what I provide and how you can book me / work with me.
Social media is your best tool for self-employed people, use it asap and sign up for Facebook, instagram and TikTok asap.
Work Management
Clearly creating a workable time frame to complete tasks and doing this in a sensory-friendly autistic forward environment will create focus, motivation and success for you when creating the service you are offering.
Some of the biggest issues autistic people have are work management where they cannot do the 9 to 5 grind but could do a 5 am until 11 am stint than a 7 PM to 12 AM stint.
The beauty of self-employed status is that you can do whatever hours you want, that best suit you and your needs.
This creates space in your life, between work and personal life so you do not get burnt out and end up in a meltdown.
I suggest creating sensory breaks within your working day too, this is 30-40 mins of down tools time, where you can relax and recharge. Even perhaps play a game or something to sooth you mind before you go back to your work.
This will help keep you understimulated from work so it doesn't become overwhelming and you end up not wanting to do any work (I’ve been there it’s not good)
Use Apps
Ok, so it is a no-brainer that everyone in the working world uses apps, I hear you however there are some apps that I believe are essential for autistic people to use when working for themselves.
This is because without the use of certain apps I wouldn’t be able to run a business no way at all! And the best thing is most of them are free. Here are some that I suggest you use.
Zeny: This is an accounting app for the iPad that helps you keep track of what you bring in each time and what you spend on your business so you get to print out a sheet for your accountant or if you are doing it yourself for your tax return. This app is a yearly payment of around $20 but it's cheap for the year.
Trello: This is a work management tool which is not only user-friendly but is free! I use this to organise all my work projects and time-dependent tasks as you can set alarms and schedule things that need to be done.
Microsoft To Do: This app is a free to-do list tool that is phenomenal, I used to use the predecessor app called Wunderlist, and then it turned into Microsoft To Do. I use this app to keep track of my daily tasks and jobs I need to get done, it is amazing for creating alarms and date tasks within the app, and you can upload files to items etc.
I am always happy to hear of any other autistic people's journey to employment or self-employment so please reach out to me on social media if you want to contribute to my work @TheAspieWorld