Autistic psychologists and the barriers to employment

Background: Employment can be potentially challenging for autistic graduates. Evidence suggest that autistic adults usually face challenges in the pursuit to obtain and maintain a job. The upsurge in employment initiatives including interventions and support for autistic individuals to obtain, maintain and progress on a job has greatly enhanced their employment outcome (Remington & Pellicano, 2019). However, the interventions have no consideration for the full diversity of autistic individual’s skills and interests as major concentration is on specific employment sector such as IT and Finance. There is currently relatively little research on the progression of autistic psychology graduates pursuing a career in the field of psychology.

Aim: The current study aimed to investigate the challenges of autistic adults entering the field of psychology.

Methods: 8 autistic psychology graduates recruited via snowball sampling, completed online semi-structured interviews about their personal employment experiences in the field of psychology.

Results: Using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis, three key themes emerged: Disclosure, Application Process, and Support. Participants were selective if and when they would disclose their diagnosis and found that there were key barriers around the application process and the support available.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that educational institutions should include programs that aim to support the transitioning of autistic psychology students into the world of work and workplaces should focus on continuous individual-based support for autistic psychologists for better employment outcomes. Furthermore, the systemic barriers such as team dynamics, communication barriers can also be worked upon to accommodate autistic psychologists.