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Autism AMAScience AMA Series: I'm Dora Raymaker, an Assistant Research Professor at Portland State University, I conduct community-engaged research with the autistic and other disability communities. I am also autistic, and I am here today to talk about my research on autism and and employment. AMA! (self.science)

Dora_RaymakerResearch Professor | School of Social Work | Portland State が 投稿

I recently received $467,000 from two federal grants to launch a community based participatory research study to understand the challenges and success factors for autistic people in the workplace. The study focuses on skilled or professional employment, rather than entry level positions. This study is personal for me. My path to career success included overcoming discrimination, multiple career shifts, and experiences with a disability services system often ill-equipped to provide support in skilled settings. My study will seek to understand what helps autistic people do well professionally, and develop a plan to improve professional outcomes.

I will be back at 7 pm ET to answer your questions, ask me anything!

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[–]Doomhammer458PhD|Molecular and Cellular Biology[M] [スコア非表示] stickied comment (0子コメント)

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[–]PM-ME-THEM-TITTIES 20 ポイント21 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hello, Dora Raymaker.

Are you going to be studying the entire autistic spectrum or a specified type?

Thank you for doing this AMA!

[–]not_meat 16 ポイント17 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hi, thanks very much for doing an ama! What struggles do people living with autism experience in professional work environments and how does that differ from entry level positions? More personally, what struggles have you had to overcome in professional settings? Thanks again from a fellow Portlander!

[–]fsmpastafarianPhD | Clinical Psychology 12 ポイント13 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hi Professor,

What are some of the strategies, environments, etc. that you've found which promote people with ASD's ability to be successful professionally? Is there anything employers can do to ensure greater success for their employees with autism? It's my understanding that people with autism often struggle significantly in professional environments, despite the fact that they're often highly qualified skill-wise, and I'm curious if any successful solutions to this have been found.

[–]DijonPepperberryMD|Child and Adolescent Psychiatry|Suicidology 25 ポイント26 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hi Professor Raymaker,

I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist who works with many people across the autistic spectrum, from the extremely disabled to the differently abled. The spectrum is so impressive in its width (I remember treating two children, one who saw me as literally an object in his environment and had zero interaction except self-aggression, and the other who I chatted with about D&D strategies for anti-paladins). What is your thought, both personally and professionally, about the breadth of the spectrum?

[–]Love_LittleBoo 14 ポイント15 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks for joining us! How are participants selected? Will an effort be made to include women (the majority of research is based around men, to the extent that communities of undiagnosed women have popped up in support of each other because no one else is)? Who will be used as controls?

[–]Vaigna 5 ポイント6 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hi! I'm autistic myself but I don't think I've been discriminated. Mainly colleagues thinking I'm stupid (makes same mistakes all over, can't improvise) or arrogant (can't do smalltalk while working, don't do as they instruct me because I need very basic instructions) but that's not discrimination per se. In what way have you been discriminated? Your work seems very interesting.

[–]_Hieronymus_ 7 ポイント8 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hi Professor!

I was wondering what advice you may give for peoples with Autism looking to gain employment and struggling with the process?

[–]ThePantslessWanderer 5 ポイント6 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Are there particular workplace settings/fields of work that are better or worse for Autistic people?

[–]daikiraikimi 4 ポイント5 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thank you for doing this AMA! I know that there is a lot of overlap between the autistic and trans communities, and that being trans or gender non-conforming has an added impact on employment rates and workplace discrimination. Will your study be tracking additional factors that impact discrimination in the workplace such as race, gender, trans status, mental illness, physical disability status, etc.?

[–]shirukenGrad Student | Biomedical Engineering | Optics 3 ポイント4 ポイント  (0子コメント)

How has the handling of autism in professional environments changed as the general public becomes more aware of the disorder? Would you say that people are more accepting nowadays than in the past?

[–]redditWinnower 4 ポイント5 ポイント  (0子コメント)

This AMA is being permanently archived by The Winnower, a publishing platform that offers traditional scholarly publishing tools to traditional and non-traditional scholarly outputs—because scholarly communication doesn’t just happen in journals.

To cite this AMA please use: https://doi.org/10.15200/winn.148822.28666

You can learn more and start contributing at authorea.com

[–]casalukis 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on a task based work day versus a more traditional time based workday.

[–]Duckbilling 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

In your career, what are some unexpected discoveries you've made conducting past experiments?

[–]bluechirri 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Hello! I'm a female autistic from Lake Oswego, and I would be interested in participating in your study. What precisely do you mean by "skilled and professional" employment?

[–]Snarky_Librarian 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

What FOR YOU, was a positive turning point in your education that allowed you to get to where you are now?

[–]floppyturtle [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hi Professor!

Do you feel it is worthwhile for high functioning individuals to disclose to current or potential employers that they are on the spectrum?

I am interested as to whether disclosure has a positive effect on the individuals' working environment and interactions with coworkers, or whether stigma/assumptions/ignorance from others actually creates negative feelings and resentment (particularly in cases where reasonable accommodations are requested by individuals who are not "obviously" disabled).

[–]Spencer_Ugucci 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Professor,

As someone who has devoted their life to helping people with autism, how enraging is it to hear bigots using the word "autistic" synonymously with "stupid" and "bad"?

I personally have a difficult time letting it go, as I and some of my friends are on the spectrum. I find myself wondering what your thoughts are on the issue, and if you think it is due to the staggering amount of misinformation that is out there on the topic, or simply due to people's insensitivity.

[–]daikiraikimi 1 ポイント2 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Oh! Another question I thought of. Will your study track early/late/self diagnosis? I have found that among my autistic friends, those who were diagnosed early and went through special ed. programs tend to have different experiences with discrimination than those who were diagnosed as adults.

[–]chuckster20 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Professor Raymaker, thank you for doing this! I am on the autistic spectrum but am extremely high functioning. While my diagnosis has been helpful for getting access to the help I need, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the diagnosis.

I was diagnosed shortly before the DSM-5 came out and the people who diagnosed me knew this. Instead of diagnosing me with Asperger's, the diagnosed me with ASD (autism spectrum disorder, for lay readers). This was confusing to me at the time because I grew up distinguishing between Autism and Aspergers in terms of functioning.

I significantly identify with many of the employment and educational challenges that many people with autism seem to have. I've never been paid for any of the jobs I've liked doing because I don't have a degree in the fields I've been working in. I find it troubling that the DSM-5 diagnosis doesn't seem to be very useful for doing research on autistics that function at a similar level as me. Many of the recent unemployment statistics I have found don't seem to distinguish between Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 categories that the DSM-5 describes. Are there more recent studies of high functioning autistics that I'm just not aware of, or is this actually a problem?

Also, I wanted to know if there any studies comparing the effectiveness of case management with more commonly used strategies such as CBT or psychiatry. For me, case management has saved my life after years of experiencing other strategies. I wanted to know whether or not my experience is anecdotal.

[–]littlebirddown [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hi Professor Raymaker,

Thanks so much for doing this AMA, I love the idea of community-engaged research! My question is - how has accessibility played a role in the design of this study? Are there any specific methods or ideas that you utilize to ensure the questions you hope to answer remain accessible to the populations you work with?

[–]allidoiswin11 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hello Professor Raymaker! First off, thank you SO much for doing this AMA, and for all your hard work.

I am not sure if this has been asked yet, but I am very curious:

What are your thoughts on the Anti-Vaxxer stance? Have you/will you do any research into the correlation between vaccines and Autism/other disorders?

[–]Novaraa 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

What is it like being autistic and working others that are autistic? I would assume it is a thrill to be working with them to make their lives better and that you definitely understand what they are going through

[–]Monsterzz 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Do you know what catalyst created by DataFinch is? The mobile app? If so, what are your opinions?

[–]The_8A 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Did you receive any ABA therapy growing up?

[–]horizonrosecorreia 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

whoa hey! this is funny to me, i've actually just been looking for autism resources. a friend of mine has a 2yo nonverbal autistic son, and i speak asl, and she asked me to send her some links to help her be able to communicate with him. do you have any resources that you would've loved your parents/caregivers to have had when you were younger that you'd be willing to share? thanks for doing this ama! :)

[–]TheShabbyShake 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

How do you feel about ABA therapy and how it's viewed that the children are being trained rather than being given therapy

[–]Jelksinator 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Outside of discrimination, what do you see as common challenges those on the spectrum face that others not on the spectrum take for granted in the professional workplace?

[–]Jelksinator 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

What are unique gifts and strengths that those on the spectrum contribute in a workplace as they become managers or progress through their career?

[–]Scythe42 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

How do you reach out to those currently seeking diagnosis in adulthood? What do you think about the autism criteria and assessment for girls? Do you think many women go undiagnosed until adulthood?

I'm a graduate student in the sciences currently trying to get diagnosed but I only have one center near me that assesses adults, and it doesn't take insurance.

Do you think there will be insurance policy changes regarding adult assessments in the future, and do you think there should be?

When were you diagnosed and who suspected it?

Thank you for doing this research!

[–]mr_scoT5 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

To what extent are autistic professionals held back by their condition? In other words, given 2 professionals with similar qualifications- one with autism, and one neurotypical; would you expect a significant wage or title gap?

What is the proportion of autistic workers in managerial vs non-managerial roles?

[–]Fap4President303 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hi there.

As someone who suffers from high functioning autism, and has struggles with life, (school, friends ect), what kind of advice would you give to a 16 year old kid trying to get through life?

[–]baftap [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Psychiatry has been criticised for using drugs to treat problems that could be dealt with talking therapies (I know this may not be relevant for autism). What do you think of these criticisms?

[–]DocLevi [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

I have Aspergers. Makes my interactions with others very hard. Is there a peer reviewed study on the best ways for autistic people to overcome over stimulation and anger so that they can be successful?

[–]humiliation123 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hallo, Professor, This will probably be a stupid question, but we hear so often about these inspirational stories about people with autism with great intelligence, like you yourself (I mean you are a professor and all). What can trigger these strong interests and the high intelligence in autists? And this might be too personal but how did/do you perceive "normal" people (eg. at school, work)?

[–]omgu8mynewt [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hi Professor! I'm a researcher as well, and a lot of the group leaders and professors at my Institute are autistic, or on the spectrum. Do you think autism can give people a different 'style' of thinking that allows them to succeed in certain roles?

[–]TheBobopedic [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hi Dr. Raymaker! Two subreddits who would be very interested in your work are r/aspergers and r/aspergirls, they are both very active and growing communities!

[–]Pragmaticus [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Hi Dora,

As a public policymaker involved in passing federal legislation related to autism who is on the spectrum myself, it is clear to me that the public's understanding of autism has increased over the past 15 years, but there is still quite a ways to go. There is increased recognition of the fact that kids with autism don't just disappear into thin air, but that they become adults who generally require some specific accommodations in order to succeed in the workforce. Unfortunately, I've found that much of the appetite for addressing the issues of autism employment and services is at the more severe end of the spectrum, and there's not much being done to address the very real needs of the higher-functioning individuals. Will your research address this? Do you have any preliminary findings that can assist policymakers?