Skyhorse Publishing: The Autism Job Club The Neurodiverse Workforce in the New Normal of Employment
We've talked about April needing ACTION, not just awareness for autism. This new book will help with an area of critical need - employment. Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing for addressing all areas of the autism epidemic.
April is Autism Awareness Month
Individuals with Autism and Their Families will be eager for new and useful information for their future
The Autism Job Club: The Neurodiverse Workforce in the New Normal of Employment
The Autism Job Club is a groundbreaking book for bringing adults with autism and other neurodiverse conditions into the work world.
"In this book, Michael Bernick and Richard Holden shed light on an important issue and
offer valuable strategies to improve employment for adults with autism in the
modern workforce. On a broader level, the book speaks to all audiences about the
difficult task of finding a role in the increasingly competitive job world."
--Senator Dianne Feinstein
"The Autism Job Club takes a frank look at the trends that are reshaping the nature of work, and
rightly points out that neurodiverse individuals have an important role to play as we transition
to this new world. The book recognizes and celebrates the value of gainful employment for all
individuals, that each of us has a unique contribution to make."
--Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California
“This book is rooted in the job placement experiences of AASCEND, a group of adults with
autism in the San Francisco Bay Area. It builds on these experiences to draw together the main
autism employment initiatives throughout the United States in recent years, and point us to
better employment strategies, individually and collectively.”
--Alex Plank, Founder, WrongPlanet autism community
"The Autism Job Club is the most extensive informational book about adults on the autistic spectrum
in the workforce today. This book is a must have for parents, professionals, and employers who are
looking to provide employment opportunities. The six strategies in this book will reinvent future
employment for adults on the autistic spectrum."
--Alisa Wolf, Ed.D, Founder, Actors for Autism
Bernick and Holden outline and explain six strategies that, taken together, will reshape employment for adults with autism.
1) The art of the autism job coach
2) The autism advantage in technology employment
3) Autism employment and the Internet economy
4) Autism employment and the practical/craft economy
5) Autism and extra-government job networks
6) Autism and public service employment
The authors review the high unemployment rates among adults with autism and other neuro diverse conditions more than two decades after the ADA. They also compare national data on autism employment and unemployment with the individual employment searches of job club members.
The Autism Job Club will be a vital resource for adults with autism, their families, and advocates who are committed to neurodiverse employment, not unemployment. But it will also speak to a far broader audience interested in how to carve out a place for themselves or others in an increasingly competitive job world.
About the Authors
MICHAEL S. BERNICK has held several senior positions in California government, including director of the California State Labor department. He lives in San Francisco, California.
RICHARD HOLDEN has been the regional commissioner for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics in San Francisco. He served previously as research director of the California Labor department. He lives in Walnut Creek, California.
My 25-year-old son, I’m making this up, likes to work naked. He has a business degree in accounting and a job with Deloitte where he helps develop quarterly scenarios for global economic outlook. You are his supervisor. If you walk past his cubicle at break time, you’ll see a stack of clothes, tie on top, underpants on bottom, folded on a chair beside his desk. He is working diligently. You’ve warned him many times. Next step?
Buckle up, because try as you might for decades, as I have, you will not fix my son. Easy solution: fire him. Harder solution: adapt.
Employers, there are untold hundreds of thousands of ASD kids in the schools, and they are coming. So set aside whatever reservations you have about the neodiversity movement and read The Autism Job Club. Then ask yourself, as I have, what are we going to do?
Posted by: THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER | May 04, 2015 at 08:01 AM
I agree with "sickenedbythecorrupt!" I don't think they're talking about my grandson, either...
Posted by: Denise Anderstrom Douglass | May 01, 2015 at 11:45 AM
I am sorry but WTH kind of autism are we talking about here? Sure, would love for my kid to get a job....of course, she will have to bring along her 1:1 behavioral consultant/RN to make sure she does not hurt herself, the property or anyone else when she gets too anxious which is about 50 times per day.
Posted by: sickenedbythecorrupt | April 30, 2015 at 07:52 PM