Can a person on the autism spectrum have a career in electronics?

Thread Starter

richard3194

Joined Oct 18, 2011
173
Hi. I'm in UK.

I have a friend (19) who is, I'm sure, on the autsim spectrum. He has the typical signs, poor social skills, trouble with math (dyscalculia?) his handwriting is not good, his reading skills are below par for his age (dyslexic?) and his co-ordination is sometime not good (dyspraxia?). But despite these things he passed a GCSE in Design & Technology - Electronic Products - (Think he got an "A " in practicals "C" in theory, overal grade B (under the old grading system). He wired up, at my home, a robot (for the GCE course), and was pretty good at soldering considering it was his first time. At high school, He got an "A" in European Computer Driving License (EDCDL standard level). He is very keen on a career in electronics.

At high school, he got a grade 3 in English language and grade 2 in math (Got to got a grade 4 to obtain a standard pass in GCSE). He has just retaken his math and English GSCE's and is awaiting his results.

After high school, his first college activity was to attend a course on gardeing (that's the college thinking he has limited capabilty - but I think they are too pessimistic). He then did a course in business with computing (not computer science) in his second year at college. Now, in September, the college want him to do retail and life-skills (another sign they are too pessimistic in my opinion). He does not want to do retail. His parents have decided to take him out of college and are trying to get him into work or into an apprenticship.

Personally I think he has some capacity to enjoy a career in Electronics/Computing, but I am unsure just how much capacity my friend has. I think the intelligence is there, but his mind works in compartments I think. By the way, when he was 18 months old he got pneumonia and had a fit and went blue. Probably caused his autism.

I'm wanting to know has anyone any experience with people on the autism spectrum who desire or have made a career in electronics/computing?

Anyone here with autism?

Any ideas about how to progress my friends education? Thanks.

P.S. My friend has a brother (13) who is also interested in electronics, he is not autistic. I'm going to give them an Arduino, and see what happens as both seek to learn source code. In doing this, I should learn something myself about my friends capacity.
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,152
I worked with a technician who was "on the spectrum". He had an appreciation for the field in which he worked and often the level of his work surpassed that of many engineers I had known. He had a pretty good education but had a little difficulty relating to other people's perceptions and if left to himself for too long he would tend to become mired in something only tangental to the task at hand. His work was excellent. His only real problem is that he did not come off well in interviews.

If your friend has talents and an understanding of electronics in general, then he has an excellent chance of making a career in this area. Part of the key, as it is with so many of us, is finding the right job.
 

Thread Starter

richard3194

Joined Oct 18, 2011
173
As far as support for people in the electrical and energy industries, I have found this charity:
http://www.electricalcharity.org/

I suppose there might be support available from the electronics industry (in UK), but not found anything yet. There are probably specialist tutors that teach electronics to people with ASD.
 
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Don't limit expectations, get him the Arduino and some simple electronics to go with it. If he shows an interest and enjoys learning with these then he may be able to go further. If he develops sufficient interest then all you have to do is provide the resources and get out of his way.
 

Thread Starter

richard3194

Joined Oct 18, 2011
173
Thing is, if my friend with ASD said he wanted a career in math (he has a problem with math), I think we would be talking specialist teaching methods, and perhaps the advice might be to forget that goal. I'm sort of hoping this: That learning C, that is learning to produce source code, might be rather different and he might be a "natural" at it. :) Only thing to do is see how things go with the Arduino (or clone). If he can cope with learning C, then I'd take him on as an employee in a business I want to start.
 
I didn't do well in math in high school but when I got into the Navy and later in college I found out what could be done with math. I've had a good career in electronics and software development using a considerable amount of math. Past performance doesn't necessarily indicate future performance. You just need some way to make it interesting.
 

Comrade Pingu

Joined Aug 30, 2018
25
People on the spectrum have just as much of a chance in electronics as someone that isn't. At the end of the day, all that separates the two is just that: autism. That doesn't mean someone with autism would be a better or worse engineer—just a different one.
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
I believe so called "autism" is mostly a mislabel on the simpler issue that people in STEM are much less interested in the things that the average person likes. STEM requires a lot of focusing and there's not much time to spend on mundane things like sports (which most average men have a lot of interest).
 

tindel

Joined Sep 16, 2012
936
There appears to be quite a bit if ignorance here. That's fine - I'll try to help educate.

Autism is a very wide spectrum - from non-functioning to savant. I can assure you most people in electronics/programming are not autistic. That's not to say that I have not worked with some that I think may be on the spectrum. However, I have never discussed it with any of them for fear that 1) they are not on the spectrum 2) they don't know/believe they on the spectrum for whatever reason or 3) they know they are on the spectrum and they don't want to discuss it. I figure if they wanted me to know that they'd let me know.

Most people do exhibit a trait or two, perhaps three, that would be considered 'on the spectrum'. A person needs to have a significant number of these traits before they can be diagnosed with autism. Furthermore, only someone that has been trained specifically to diagnose autism can do so - and it takes years of training - a GP certainly can't diagnose. Just because someone does not like sports does not qualify them as having autism - that too is absurd.

Please don't go to work (or a internet forum) and proliferate an unwarranted idea about how all people in STEM have autism! It's simply not true, and it only cheapens the very real life challenges that those with autism and their families have!

To answer the OP's question: Yes, I believe those with high- to medium-functioning autism can work in electronics/software. Many people with autism thrive in the electronics industry and have very successful careers. Please have your friend diagnosed if they haven't been already. Tread very carefully though. Buying anyone (not just those people on the spectrum) an Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc. is a terrific way to encourage learning both about oneself and how electronics work!

Good luck!
 

ISB123

Joined May 21, 2014
1,236
No reason why he shouldn't, the best employ at my workplace has autism.Only problem with him is that he is not a team player which sometimes causes issues but he can communicate just fine via mail or skype so we tend to discuss things with him in that way. :D
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
No reason why he shouldn't, the best employ at my workplace has autism.Only problem with him is that he is not a team player which sometimes causes issues but he can communicate just fine via mail or skype so we tend to discuss things with him in that way. :D
Sometimes a person who is labeled as "not being a team player" is because they are very innovative and that characteristic clashes with people who like to keep things the same.

I used to work in the elevator business (which is a unionized trade) and I found that the manufacturing and installation processes were very inefficient and excessively costly. So I came up with several creative ideas to streamline the process and reduce labor. However that didn't set well with the union which had work rules that prohibited anything that would cut labor in the field (and reduce $$$ for the workers). Accordingly, I was labeled as a DoDo Disturber (potty language omitted) and not being a team player.

I went from the elevator business into mass transit and I found the exact same syndrome. People wanting to keep things the same because planned inefficiency was seen as a way to guarantee their employment.

Other than being in the elevator business, I've never worked in private industry, but I suspect the workplace isn't that favorable toward people who exhibit "constructive nonconformity".
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
As the parent of a 30+-year-old man w/ Asperger's let me say this. He is "high" functioning ie he speaks, writes, drives. In some areas, he is very smart. The problem is he does what HE wants to do in the time and manner that is his alone. He has been tested and evaluated out the wazoo. Cognitively he scores ~70 on the standard IQ test. He finished high school with a special ed diploma. He is a certified Fire Fighter, passed all the qualifying exams and has received back to back Volunteer of the year awards from the St. Marys Fire Department (home of the Trident Submarine base). The local VFD won't take him because he is "Retarded". His is a member of the local car club and attends cruise in and local and national car shows with our 65 Mercury. He builds and races RC cars and wins local 1st place trophies in his car class. He is disabled but functional and if he wants to do something he will. He will not do anything he does not want to do and don't even think about trying to coerce him into it.
 
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