After taking her 10-year-old daughter to a psychologist to be tested for autism spectrum disorder, Chelcia Potts decided, almost on a whim, to get tested herself. The results were a surprise: Like her daughter, Potts was diagnosed with autism.
Ms. Potts, 35, thought she might have an anxiety disorder or something else. A first-generation college graduate, she had earned a doctorate in education and risen through academia, holding a senior administrative position at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. But after seeing a psychologist, she had to consider how her diagnosis would affect her work.
“At first I was confused and kept it to myself,” Potts said, “because the image I had of what an autistic person looked like didn't look like me.”
She reflected on how she had compensated in the past to hide her disability and be seen as a model employee, a coping technique she calls “masking.”
For years, she'd felt uncomfortable in group settings, so she'd meet with colleagues one-on-one. She knew some people might find her tone too serious, so she made sure to smile and appear enthusiastic. She also avoided bright lights and noise at work.
After struggling with her diagnosis for six months, Potts met with university officials. “That conversation was one of the most difficult experiences of my life,” she says.
“I'm telling someone things I've never told anyone except my family,” she continued. “I felt so helpless. I felt so embarrassed. I realized how hard it was to voice what I needed and why I needed it.”
But the interview resulted in some positive changes for Potts: She received some accommodations, including a more flexible work schedule.
As autism diagnoses rise, many major companies across the US, including Microsoft, Dell and Ford, are taking steps to make their work environments more accessible and welcoming for neurodiverse employees.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 36 8-year-olds in the United States has autism, up from 1 in 44 in 2018 and 1 in 150 in 2000, which experts attribute in part to improved testing. Additionally, 2.2% of U.S. adults, or 5.4 million people, have autism, according to the CDC.
More and more people are coming forward to identify as autistic, and Potts is one of many TikTok users who have shared their diagnosis online using the hashtag #autistok.
Last year, singer Sia publicly revealed that she had been diagnosed with autism as an adult, and more recently, author Mary H.K. Choi wrote an essay in New York magazine about how her diagnosis, at age 43, gave her a great deal of self-understanding.
Autistic activists have praised companies for becoming more accepting of remote working since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A bright or noisy workplace can overwhelm an autistic person and lead to burnout, says Jessica Misak, a clinical psychologist in Chicago who specializes in autism testing and assessment. Remote work “alleviates some of the social demands and environmental sensitivities that autistic people struggle with,” she adds.
But navigating the job market remains difficult for autistic people, leaving them more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, advocacy groups say, and autistic job seekers looking to make a good first impression may be hesitant to disclose their diagnosis or ask for accommodations up front.
“You don't want them to see your flaws,” said Hayley Moss, 29, a lawyer and disability activist who is autistic, comparing the interview process to a first date.
Microsoft Recruitment
When Natalie Warden-Kow, 32, was a professional musician, she struggled to make the business connections that were important to land jobs. When she decided to change careers and become a software engineer a few years ago, she struggled to land job interviews. Her professional life changed when she discovered Microsoft's neurodiverse hiring program, which was established in 2015.
The program is modeled after a venture launched by German software company SAP and has since been adopted in some form by companies including Dell and Ford. So far, the initiative has resulted in about 300 neurodiverse employees being hired full-time at Microsoft, according to Neil Barnett, the company's director of inclusive employment and accessibility.
“All they needed was this different, more comprehensive process,” Barnett said, “and then they got in and thrived.”
Warden Cow, who was diagnosed at age 29, noticed something different about Microsoft during the interview process: the time spent answering questions was longer and breaks were given between meetings with employees.
“Neurodiverse people may sometimes need a little more processing time or need to write down their questions,” Warden-Cow says.
Once on the job, she was assigned a job coach to help her manage her time and prioritize, and Microsoft also assigned her a mentor to show her around the company's campus in Redmond, Wash. Perhaps more importantly, she is working with managers who have been neurodiversity trained.
Microsoft campuses also have “focus rooms” where employees can dim the lights and adjust desk heights to suit their sensory preferences, and employees sitting in open offices can request seats away from busy aisles and even receive noise-canceling headphones.
“Agendas are sent out in advance,” Barnett says, “and everyone's communication style and preferences are noted.”
Barnett rejected the misconception that such accommodations reduce a company's profits, efficiency or productivity, saying they would instead improve workplace culture and the overall well-being of employees.
Wendy Safstrom, president of the nonprofit Society for Human Resource Management, said more employers should make an effort to recruit neurodiverse talent and educate employees about them. “If you're not willing to change with the times, you're going to get left behind,” Safstrom said. “The war for talent is real.”
Moss, the lawyer, said human resources departments have shown a willingness to change. “In most cases, autistic employees are already employed but they don't disclose that,” he said. But, he added, autistic employees “are often not promoted.”
Moss said more employers should make neurodiverse people available for leadership positions, which means redefining what it means to be a boss: “People who can communicate outside of what's considered normal can still be great managers,” she said.
“My true self”
Communication at work was never an issue for Murphy Monroe. The 50-year-old was highly eloquent and had a quick memory for statistics about his organization and its competitors.
Monroe said that as a child, therapists had told him he might have autism spectrum disorder, but he never got tested and tried to avoid the issue. As a teenager, he knew he was different and “actively feared I wouldn't be able to get a job,” he says.
Ms. Monroe studied theater in college and went on to a career in education, spending 17 years as an admissions officer and executive at Columbia College Chicago. Like Ms. Potts, the Miami administrator, she developed strategies for navigating the workplace, including shadowing a trusted colleague to pick up social cues she might otherwise miss.
“Is there anyone I need to apologize to?” Monroe asked after the meeting. “What exactly happened?”
“I bite my fingers,” he added, referring to stimming, a type of behavior that helps autistic people cope with sensory overload. “I can sit in a meeting with the dean or before a board meeting and I can't help but bleed. At these times, it's comforting to have someone in the room with me to smack me and make me go away.”
At one point, Monroe told a human resources manager that he thought he might have a form of autism that is overwhelmed by sensory input, especially light. “She looked right at me and said, 'You're do not have “They said to me, 'You're autistic,'” Monroe recalled. “From that moment on, for years, I didn't think about it again.”
But after watching TikTok videos of people talking about their experiences with autism, Monroe booked an appointment with a psychologist in 2021, which confirmed what she had long suspected.
This self-awareness has changed how she approaches her current job as executive director of Actors Gymnasium, a circus school in Evanston, Illinois. “I had a strong desire to be open in my work,” Monroe says. “I just dove in. I bought a gold autism pin on Etsy and started wearing it all the time.”
He also takes care of himself, taking days off work to recharge his batteries and hanging dark curtains in his office. He tries to be considerate of his coworkers, too, making sure they can adjust their schedules and duties in ways that make sense for them, whether they have neurodevelopmental disorders or not.
In essence, he's trying to create the kind of atmosphere he hoped for back when people could get away with wearing masks — a workplace atmosphere that many autistic activists would like to see become more commonplace.
“I feel incredibly lucky to be able to be my true self while running a business that I enjoy,” Monroe said.
