Autism as a career benefit?

[Trieste]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34047713/ns/health-mental_health/

I didn't get the chance to read the whole thing, but what I read was really interesting. I love seeing things like this happen.

[consortium11]

It's a great story... made better because it isn't a pity piece or a one off example. I think the quote at the end sums it up fairly well... austism has benifits and drawbacks and if you can find a career that emphasises those benifits and lessens those weaknesses then with understanding co-workers there's no reason that autism itself should be a millstone round the neck.

[Trieste]

Yes - and my family already knows this. I have a brother who is in the autism spectrum (he's higher functioning) who is very, very literal. You can't really use sarcasm around him, but he's very, very, very good with numbers. He memorizes things just because he thinks it might be useful (baseball and football stats, the periodic table, weather trends from the last, like, 50 years...) so we keep trying to convince him to go into something with statistics (or chemistry...  ::)) because it would really play to his strengths. He borders on savantism, sometimes.