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5162 Professionals on the Autism Spectrum: Insights From Our Careers

Saturday, July 10, 2010: 1:30 PM-2:45 PM

Landmark B (Hyatt Regency Dallas)

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Individuals across the autism spectrum have successfully entered various career paths and continue to succeed as professionals and experts in their fields. This panel includes a range of professionals who happen to be on the autism spectrum who will speak to how they managed to become professionals, either by navigating the challenges of autism adroitly, utilizing autistic traits and strengths, or a combination of both. Panelists will also discuss how they have changed their fields and how their careers have changed them. The information shared will be useful for individuals on the spectrum preparing for their futures and for those parents and professionals working with and assisting autistic adults. Additionally, professionals from a broad range of disciplines can gain insight into how autism broadens and benefits human endeavor in specific and general ways.

In this workshop, a panel of professionals, all of whom are individuals on the autism spectrum, will speak about their career experiences in order to answer three broad questions.

Dividing the workshop time roughly equally amongst themselves, the five panelists will first discuss how they entered their respective professions and then ultimately achieved success as professionals. What led to their choice of career? What factors helped or hindered their journey? Did any initial failures, achievements, roadblocks or special opportunities enhance self-awareness, coping skills or adaptive responses? In what ways, if any, was (or is) autism a challenge to overcome? And in what ways were (or are) autistic traits and strengths fundamental to career choice and ultimate success? How have these professionals steered around areas of difficulty, utilized difficulties in unusual ways and capitalized on their assets on the long-term path to success?

Next, the panelists will discuss how autism has impacted their career fields. Virginia Wolfe, a famous feminist and writer from the early 1900s, often advocated for the professions to open up to women because she believed that women would impact areas of work, such as law, medicine and science, for the better of humanity. Panelists will speak to this age-old question from the vantage point of disability: Has the entrance of disabled people, specifically autistic people, into professional life altered these very professions and in what ways?

Lastly, the panelists will discuss how professional life has impacted them personally. This is an unusual question. Typically, people think of individuals impacting their jobs, but having a certain job can change a person. In the process for preparing for certain careers, did these professionals on the spectrum “accidentally” pick up any special skills? In “rising to the occasion” and meeting the demands of their careers, have these professionals gained self-awareness, autism awareness and other unique abilities that wind up helping outside of work as well? Was attention turned toward matters that might otherwise have gone unnoticed? Has being a professional stretched autistic individuals in beneficial ways?

After the panelists have spoken, main themes and concepts that emerge from what they have shared will be summarized. Participants will come away from the workshop with a set of useful ideas for career planning and career survival. Professionals in attendance will also come away with a refreshing look at what autistics have to both give and receive from professional life. A block of time at the end of the workshop will be reserved for questions from the audience.

OUTLINE:

I. Introduction

II. Question One: How Have We Come to Be Professionals on the Autism Spectrum?

III. Question Two: As Autistic Professionals, How Have We Impacted Our Various Fields of Endeavor?

IV. Question Three: How Has Preparing and Succeeding as an Autistic Professional Impacted Us Personally?

V. Summary

A. Factors That Enhance Success

B. Strategies for Coping with Roadblocks and Challenges

C. Utilizing Strengths, Flipping Challenges Upside-down and Capitalizing on Assets

D. Reciprocal Benefits of Professional Life

VI. Audience Questions

Learning Objectives:

Participants will learn what key factors foster professional success for individuals on the spectrum, and will be able to identify those challenges and roadblocks that can unfortunately hinder success.
Participants will hear about strategies that professional autistics from a broad range of disciplines have used to overcome autism-related challenges or to utilize autistic traits and strengths in building successful outcomes.
Participants will understand how the dynamics of self-awareness, self-advocacy, failure, and confidence play important roles in the development of a successful career for any individual – but especially for those on the spectrum.
Participants will have an opportunity to hear how autistic individuals can impact their fields for the better, and how being a professional can impact autistic individuals for the better.
Participants will come away from the workshop better prepared either to advise and assist those on the spectrum seeking work, or to plan and to prepare for one’s own future. Participants working in professions themselves, whether on or off the spectrum, will gain insight into the unique worlds of their autistic co-workers, colleagues, and cohorts, perhaps enhancing mutual understanding and respect for the various gifts autistic professionals bring to human endeavor.

Content Area: Long-term Services and Support

Presenters:

Zosia Zaks, M.Ed., C.R.C.
Manager of Programs and Education, Hussman Center for Adults with Autism
Hussman Center for Adults with Autism at Towson University
Zosia Zaks, M.Ed., C.R.C., has worked with adults and teens on the autism spectrum for 14 years. Currently he develops and manages programs at Towson University's Hussman Center for Adults with Autism, where he also teaches courses on autism and disability issues. In addition to his work at Towson University, Zaks speaks and writes on disability issues; trains professionals; and serves on the boards of several local and national autism organizations. Zaks has specific expertise in understanding and navigating the adult disability system. He councils families on the important changes that take place, both within the family and in the world, during this unique time of life when children grow up.

Stephen M. Shore, Ed.D.
Diagnosed with "Atypical Development and strong autistic tendencies" & "too sick" for outpatient treatment Shore was recommended for institutionalization. Non-verbal until four, with support from parents, teachers and his wife, Stephen is now a professor at Adelphi University focusing on matching best practice to needs of autistic individuals.

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