Neurodiversity Career Initiatives Should Encompass Diverse Careers: Insights from a Participatory Study with Autistic and Non-Autistic College Students

Background: Autistic youth are less likely to enroll in college or obtain employment than people with other disabilities (Shattuck et al., 2012). However, those who enter college are more likely to enroll in STEM majors than students without disabilities (Wei et al., 2013). Growing recognition that many autistic people are drawn to STEM has sparked promising technology-focused neurodiversity employment initiatives (e.g., Specialisterne). Yet, autistic people remain chronically underemployed, and those who obtain jobs work fewer hours for less pay than people with other disabilities (Cimera & Cowan, 2009). Social challenges, difficulties adapting to change, and stigma impact employment success (Pfieffer et al., 2017). To help autistic people overcome these barriers, researchers recommend aligning employment opportunities with their interests (Hendricks, 2010). However, little is known about their career interests/goals. One online study used Holland’s career interest categorizations to compare 136 autistic (63% female) and 155 non-autistic (59% female) participants. Autistic participants endorsed realistic, investigative, and conventional interests more and social and enterprising interests less than non-autistic participants (Lorenz & Heinitz, 2014). Like other online studies (e.g., Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2017), autistic females were overrepresented in the sample. No prior research has examined career goals/interests among autistic college students in particular.

Objectives: To compare the career goals/interests of autistic and non-autistic college students. One of the autistic co-authors/coders initiated this focus.

Methods: Autistic students (n = 27; 92.6% male; 64.0% White; M = 21.23 years) in a participatory mentorship program and non-autistic students (n = 33; 39.4% male; 30.0% White; M = 21.15 years) from a subject pool answered open-ended questions: What would you like to do: 1) right after college; 2) five years after college? Responses were coded after establishing reliability. Autistic students and a larger subject pool sample of non-autistic students (n = 255; 25% male) completed an adaptation of Holland’s career interests inventory (Liao et al., 2008) on O*NET, receiving 3 of 6 possible career interest classifications (Table 1).

Results: Autistic students did not differ from non-autistic students in career goals (Table 2). When gender, age and autism were entered as predictors of career goals in binary logistic regressions, only being older predicted specific and high-status career goals (ps < .04). Autistic students received Enterprising classifications less frequently (32%) than non-autistic students (55%, Table 1). No other interests differed by autism status. Gender predicted social (favoring women), conventional and realistic (both favoring men; ps < .04) career interests.

Conclusions: Autistic and non-autistic college students expressed similar career aspirations. Autistic students expressed less interest in enterprising careers. Contrary to popular representations of autism, many autistic students expressed social career interests. This finding aligns with recent evidence that autistic people in Germany are most likely to work in “health and social sector, teaching and education” fields (Frank et al., 2018). Use of career interest inventories early in college may help autistic students identify skills (e.g., time management, adapting to unspoken expectations at work) that they may need help developing to obtain jobs well-matched to their interests.