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Professor Tan with students. Photo: Curtin University
The benefits of autism
A Curtin program is preparing
teenagers with autism for
careers in information and
communications technology.
Tele Tan interviewed by Loren Smith
D
espite Hollywood’s increasing
portrayal of brilliantly successful
autistic savants – from Rain
Man to The Good Doctor – the reality of
employment for those with autism is the
opposite. ABS data suggests just 40 per cent
of people with autism work, compared to
83 per cent of the general population. Only
up to 10 per cent of people with autism
are savants – those who are brilliant in a
niche area yet are impaired in other ways.
While there has been a shift in viewing
autism as a deficit to seeing it as a strength –
especially in regard to employment – there
has been little research on what constitutes
a ‘strength-based approach’ to the disorder.
With a new Bankwest Curtin Economics
Centre report, this is set to change.
The report, A Strength-Based Program for
Adolescents with Autism, authored by Curtin
University professor Tele Tan, reviews the
evidence and proposes guidelines for this
approach. In particular, the guidelines
outline how teens with autism can be
prepared for careers in information and
communications technology (ICT).
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Tan is also the co-founder of the Autism
Academy for Software Quality Assurance
– a strength-based program that helps get
teens with autism into the ICT workforce.
Now, he is looking for academic
collaborators to extend the program
beyond Western Australia.
“I’m an engineer, but we need
therapists too … We work with health
science, occupational therapy,
psychology, speech therapy and visual
therapy professionals too,” he said.
'I FEEL LIKE I BELONG'
Cindy van der Walt’s 19-year-old son,
Christopher, participated in Tan’s program.
Once solely sports-obsessed, after starting
the program, his focus quickly shifted to
coding, robotics and the like.
“He loves it … He said, ‘For the first time,
I feel like I belong’,” Van der Walt said.
Before the program, she didn’t think he
would ever have a career. Now, not only
is he planning to complete a Certificate IV
in IT, after two years he plans to study
engineering at Curtin University.
Christopher’s biggest transformation,
however, has been in his personality.
Previously, Christopher was so aggressive
that Van der Walt feared for her younger
son’s life.
“His social skills were so bad that he
didn’t go out.
“[Now] it’s like he’s a new child. He’s no
longer aggressive. He is smiling – he never
used to smile. He’s even laughing and
making jokes.”
Recently, Christopher attended two
comics and gaming conventions – and
even dressed up.
“When my parents came to visit, they
couldn’t believe he was the same child,"
Van der Walt added. “This program is
fantastic.”
It is estimated that 0.6 per cent of
Australians have autism. Since the two
main diagnostic criteria for autism
are ‘deficits in social interaction’ and
‘restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour,
interests or activities’, what makes
those with autism specifically suited to
ICT careers? Campus Review spoke
with Tan to find out.
CR: Why does this report focus on preparing
people with autism to work in ICT?
TT: This is a good question. We got
specific motivation from a Danish
company which, way back in 2006, set
up a software testing entity, and they
recruited people on the autism spectrum
for software testing jobs.
That program has since expanded and
grown tremendously to the point that
large corporates like SAP and Microsoft
now understand the benefit of employing
people on the autism spectrum, or even
people with neurodiverse backgrounds,
in tasks that draw on the strengths of
these individuals.