Benjamin Fisch
7/15/20
Research Portfolio
Unit 2 Reflection
My topic for this portfolio is neurodiversity in the workplace. I definitely learned a lot about the topic and felt passionate about the research I was reading. I have a passionate connection to this research, because my little brother was showing signs of autism when he was young. he turned out to just be developmentally slow, and he’s a high functioning healthy young man now, but that scare of him being autistic has allows remained with me for some reason. This is why I picked the topic of neurodiversity in the work place. My choice in sources depended on which publications I found that focused on autism in the work place, rather than the other neurological disorders, such as dyslexia and ADHD. I used the tool of the SU Library summons to locate these sources that I have used. At first I was experimenting with finding material via google searches, but the sources I found through this medium were lacking in information. The sources I found through our library were much more through and well written. My research plan was to use google search and the SU library to gather research sources. Yet, only one of these options proved to be productive, the library. The plan has began to evolve, because some sources I find actually relate to one another in topic or content. This will allow me to easily use these sources to write my own thesis driven essay, because the topics I found are so related. The contrary is also true. I found sources that clash in topic and content, because they are different. However, I can still use them together by doing comparing and contrasting between the two different sources. I would like to find research sources that explore specific examples of individuals with neurological disorders in the work place. I want to find a study of individuals with autism for example, and see first hand how they benefit companies.
Annotations
1.) Creighton, K. (2019). Understanding neurodiversity in the workplace. Singer Island: Newstex. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/docview/2293972585?accountid=14214
Kelly Creighton’s, “Understanding Neurodiversity in the Work Place” addresses how autistic individuals and other people who suffer from different neurological issues, find it extremely difficult to find employment post their college graduation. “85% of college grads who fall on the autism spectrum are still unemployed.” This statistic proves that companies are not willing to hire people with neurological disorders for the most part.
Why is this though? Do companies have something to fear at the thought of hiring people with autism for example? What do they fear? They might fear that these individuals are not competent enough to get work done, and be a part of work place community. However, rather than fearing the thought of hiring an autistic employe, they should be excited to, because autistic people for example, have rare capabilities that could benefit a work place.
2.) Cassidy, M. K. (2018). Neurodiversity in the workplace: Architecture for autism (Order No. 10991788). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2124411834). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/docview/2124411834?accountid=14214
Mary Kate Cassidy’s, “Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Architecture for Autism,”shares in interesting perspective on the topic of neurodiversity and how it applies to the work place environment. “In the workplace, architecture ideally serves as a tool to achieve the highest level of productivity, efficiency, creativity, and safety.” The objective of Mary Kate’s research is to introduce architectural solutions for high functioning adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the workplace.
If individuals with neurological issues, like autism, struggle to fit into a work place and contribute to the company’s objective, then what can be done to fix this? Questions like these are addressed in Mary Kate’s research, and she conducts many studies and experiments to find a solution that would allow autistic employees to be able to express their contributions to a compony’s goals.
3.) Burnett, K. (2019). EMBRACING NEURODIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE. Training Journal, , 28-29. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/docview/2304074885?accountid=14214
kate Burnett’s, “EMBRACING NEURODIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE,” addresses how individuals with neurological disorders struggle to find employment by major companies. She states that only 16% of adults with autism are employed fully. This statistics proves that there is a huge issue in our country. Corporations do not want to hire individuals on the spectrum. This perspective by companies is one of ignorance. Companies are currently blind to the intellectual advantages that autistic people have. Kate Burnett addresses how hiring people with neurological issues could benefit a company.
To increase employment rates within the neurodiverse community, the Neurodiversity Initiative is helping organizations learn how to become more neurodiverse friendly, ensuring they are able to choose from a wider talent pool and seek out the most capable individuals for their roles.
4.) “Neurodiversity in the Workplace Program Named a Mutual of America 2017 Community Partnership Award Winner.” Investment Weekly News 2 Dec. 2017: 513. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 15 July 2020.
Sparc Philadelphia, a family of organizations that advocates with and for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, forged a partnership with software-giant SAP in 2013 to help employ 1% of its total workforce (roughly 650 people) with adults that have an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The program, which works holistically to place individuals with Autism into high-level technology-based jobs, begins with a month-long hiring process that includes a series of opportunities for applicants to showcase their talents. Successful candidates then participate in a training program aimed at strengthening interpersonal and other skills that may have been a barrier to achieving employment.
New hires are then paired with a mentor to ensure a smooth transition to full time work. “We have placed 26 individuals with Autism in the Philadelphia area, and 100% of them continue to be employed in those positions,” said Laura Princiotta, CEO of Sparc Philadelphia. Our collaboration with SAP has served as a springboard, allowing us to expand our reach to other companies.”
5.) Johanna Hamilton, How Neurodiversity is Changing Work, ITNOW, Volume 62, Issue 1, March 2020, Pages 56–57, https://doi-org.libezproxy2.syr.edu/10.1093/itnow/bwaa026
Nancy Doyle PhD has been working with social exclusion and disabilities since she was 18 years old. She discusses why neurodiversity is a boon in the workplace and why mental health isn’t necessarily a work-issue.
We’re focusing so much on neurodiversity and people with neurological disorders, but lets rewind a bit. What is neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is a broad concept referring to the diversity in thinking styles and neurological profiles that exist between all humans. In the same way that we have bio-diversity or personality diversity, we also have diversity in thought.
What neurotypical people have in common is that when we look at their intellectual capacity, their skills tend to be pitched at the same level. Their verbal skills are around the same level as their memory skills, as their processing skills, and their visual skills, whereas people with neurodiverse conditions tend to have areas of thinking in which they excel and areas of thinking in which they struggle. We call this a spiky profile because if you plot their abilities on a graph it will be a big spiky line going up and down. This tells us that neurotypical people are largely generalist thinkers and neurodiverse people are specialist thinkers.
6.) Ortega, F. (2009). The cerebral subject and the challenge of neurodiversity. BioSocieties, 4(4), 425-445. doi:http://dx.doi.org.libezproxy2.syr.edu/10.1017/S1745855209990287
The neurodiversity movement has so far been dominated by autistic people who believe their condition is not a disease to be treated and, if possible, cured, but rather a human specificity (like sex or race) that must be equally respected. Autistic self-advocates largely oppose groups of parents of autistic children and professionals searching for a cure for autism.
The article discusses the positions of the pro-cure and anti-cure groups. It also addresses the emergence of autistic cultures and various issues concerning autistic identities. It shows how identity issues are frequently linked to a ‘neurological self-awareness’ and a rejection of psychological interpretations. It argues that the preference for cerebral explanations cannot be reduced to an aversion to psychoanalysis or psychological culture.
! rounding out the conversation
1WRT 205 focusing flowchart
!preliminary notes exercise
!complicating your research assignment
