Autism is a disability which is caused due to the mutilation of the development of the brain or the central nervous system. The characteristic of an autistic person is that they have difficulty in social interactions but they are exceptionally good in specific fields.
A small computer consulting firm named Auticon in Berlin has employed 17 people with autism. The chief of the company, Mr. Dirk Mueller-Remus said that if big and reputed companies like SAP are hiring autistic people then it does make sense, it is something serious, solid and it is good for other smaller companies as well.
This definitely a good start and today autism in Germany is becoming more eminent and important. The German business software giant, SAP has exclaimed that after a few pilot projects undertaken in India and Ireland, now it plans to get aboard hundreds of autistic people as software testers and programmers.
Its current objective is to employ as many people with autism by 2020 that they can make up at least one percent of their worldwide workforce which is 65,000. Mueller-Remus, the chief of Auticon, established his company in November 2011. He knew about the special skills of autistic people as his son was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome which is a form of autism. So he was aware that the people with autism excel in fields such as quality control and programming. One of the employees, MelaineAltrock, who is 27 years old, said that it was her talent, others are keen in languages or math but for her it was computers, she doesn’t have to search for errors, she sees them.
Auticon has almost 25 staffs spread over in their different branches such as Berlin, Munich and others. Mueller-Remus says that by the end of the year they might break even. He also added that he wanted a normal consulting company which wouldn’t have any subsided or donations or funds. His aim was to combine business and social responsibilities.
Now they have good clients like Vodafone so he is happy, said Mueller-Remus. He did accept that working with autistic people can be very tough, because people with Asperger are very challenging. A job coach at Auticon, ElkeSeng who assist the employees with work and also teaches relationship building with the clients. She said that the autistic people can be real and unambiguous.
She also adds that there is no ambiguity, it is either one or zero, and so it’s rather good. A board member of the Federal Association for the development of People with Autism, Friedrich Nolte said that out of 10 percent of people who are affected by autism, only 5 find a place in the standard job market.
Mueller-Remus has said that the CVs of such autistic people have brief episodes of the work interposed by long interruptions. They may become arrogant and they have no interest in small talks, they are neither interested in other people because they feel that others are illogical.
After SAP made such an initiative that would allow most autistic people to apply or access jobs, which was applauded by many small companies. Kai Vogeley an autistic specialist and psychiatrist of Cologne University Hospital told in a medical journal that autistic people who work tend to develop confidence in themselves.
Altrock who is an autistic programmer said that he has a full time job and he is happy that he can earn his own money and he has his own apartment now.