Before Megan Pilatzke was diagnosed with autism, she wondered why she always felt drained when she got home from work.
All day long, she laboured to understand when to speak up or stay silent in meetings. She replayed conversations in her head, worrying she’d misunderstood or said the wrong thing. Noisy environments distressed her. She watched her peers receive promotions when she didn’t.
“I would come home burnt-out, anxious,” Pilatzke said of her days working as an insurance claim specialist. “That just kept going, week after week, day after day.”
Her communication difficulties, sensitivity to noise and other problems at work began to make sense following her diagnosis, she said.
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Pilatzke, 36, now spends her days teaching employers how to make workplaces more accommodating for people on the autism spectrum. She works as an inclusion specialist at Specialisterne Canada, a not-for-profit that helps organizations to better support employee neurodiversity.
She also reframed the way she thinks about traits often associated with autism, viewing her ability to focus intensely and provide honest, direct feedback as strengths.
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that affects about one in 45 adults in the U.S., according to Autism Speaks, a not-for-profit organization that supports autistic people and their families by funding research, providing resources and doing advocacy work.
It presents in a variety of ways but can create challenges with social skills, speech and nonverbal communication. Some common characteristics include repetitive behaviors and sensitivity to noise.
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Employers may have preconceived ideas about what autism means, when “the reality is, it is a massive spectrum,” said Rita Ramakrishnan, who’s autistic and founded a consulting company that provides leadership coaching for neurodivergent executives. “There’s a community of people with much higher support needs, and then there are folks who are twice exceptional or otherwise extraordinarily high functioning. Their support needs are not as high, and their production capabilities are different. But they’re all valid autistic experiences.”
Organizations should consult autistic employees when crafting policies that are designed to make workplaces more inclusive, Ramakrishnan said.
Face-to-face communication can be difficult for some people with autism, so having the ability to participate in meetings online or through writing can be helpful, experts said.
Making camera use optional during virtual meetings is a useful accommodation since said people with autism often feel pressure to “mask” their natural behaviors by mimicking the facial expressions of neurotypical colleagues, Pilatzke said. “Things like that can actually cause a lot of anxiety for individuals that are neurodivergent. So having that pressure removed can be helpful.”
Read: 45% of Canadian autistic employees feel they have to mask autistic traits at work: survey
Some people with autism find it’s easier to focus during virtual or in-person meetings when they’re doodling or walking around, said Natalie Longmire, a professor of organizational behaviour at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. Managers can make it explicit that those behaviours are accepted, she said.
Employees also can seek and normalize these types of accommodations by saying something like, “Hey if I get up and walk around, I’m doing that so I can be more engaged in what you’re saying,” Longmire suggested.
Keith Wargo, president and chief executive officer of Autism Speaks, said that before holding meetings, his organization sends out agendas broken into five-minute chunks. “Having that kind of structure, it’s good practice for everyone.”
Allowing written input before and after meetings — and not prioritizing only what is spoken out loud during the allotted time — enables organizations to honor and take advantage of autistic individuals’ contributions, Ramakrishnan said.
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“Be explicit about, for each agenda item, is this a discussion? Is this a brainstorm? Are we making a decision here?” Ramakrishnan added. “That gives an autistic person the chance to prepare what they need to. These are the folks that are going to come up with the ideas that nobody else thinks about.”
Employers can also have multiple lanes available to participate in meetings, such as chat windows for attendees to type their contributions, said Abigayle Jayroe, senior vice president for strategic operations at NEXT for Autism. “There may be people who just don’t feel comfortable speaking.”
Normalizing the use of noise-canceling headphones and written communication can help. To reduce feelings of sensory overwhelm, an autistic participant could try saying, “I might ask a question over chat instead of raising my hand because it’s easier for me,” Longmire said.
An issue some autistic people encounter at work or in social situations is having their tendency to speak in a forthright way misinterpreted as callousness, Ramakrishnan said. Colleagues can be explicit about whether it’s OK to be direct or whether they need to soften the language, she said.
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In Pilatzke’s view, many autistic people possess a strong sense of right and wrong, and feel a need to speak up when they perceive injustices. “I describe myself as a blunt person. I’m very honest. I’m going to say what I think,” she added.
Organizations can benefit from staffers’ frankness by building a culture where everyone isn’t expected to agree. Have a designated naysayer or devil’s advocate in brainstorming meetings, Jayroe suggested.
“The best ideas are built off of poking holes in what everyone agrees on. So it lays the groundwork longer term for a company to have their employees feel comfortable raising red flags or building on ideas,” she said.
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