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Company Trains the Autistic To Test Software
Aspiritech, a Chicago based non-profit company, has launched a program to train high-functioning autistic people as testers for software development companies. The company says autistics have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work. Aspiritech is not the first company to explore the idea of treating this handicap as a resource. Specialisterne, a Danish company founded in 2004, also trains autistics. They hire their workforce out as hourly consultants to do data entry, assembly line jobs and work that many would find tedious and repetitive.
Dave had mild Aspergers. We got him to do the hassling as he couldn't sense the irritation of the people he was calling.
Ever since that report came out a few years ago, it has been "trendy" to walk around proclaiming "I'm a geek and have some weird OCD traits, so I totally have aspergers!" I'm sure it is sometimes legitimate and meaningful, but for the most part I suspect it is the geek version of a guy going around telling people how edgy and brooding and complex he is. And when geeks aren't going around self-diagnosing themselves as that, I'm sure doctors are all too often eager to do it for them for the same odd reasons they go around telling everyone (or used to, at least) that they have ADD and ADHD simply because they can't sit in a chair and not twitch a muscle for fifteen hours straight.
On the topic of Autism, I suggest everybody read "The Speed of Dark" by Elizabeth Moon. It puts the condition into a very approachable context that allows the reader to live through the eyes of an Autistic. It also has a great science/research back story that us geeks like.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
rely on autistics for tasks needing massive concentration and accuracy, I'll put all my trust in their hands.
The more I hear this sentiment echoed, the more I think they're the ones who came out right, and we're the ones who are broken.
I don't really know that I believe that. I mean no offense to those techies who do have actual psychological problems that they battle each and every day with what I say here. These problems do exist and can make life harder.
In my experience, younger techies seem to have this idea that they are really quirky or have some mental problem. It's almost a techie way of proving how cool you are. Heck, I'll even admit acted a little foolish in my early IT days to the point where I believed that I was all quirky and crazy.
As I got older I realized that I just have some slightly different preference. I don't sleep as much as most people I know, I like to stay up later and don't like to get up early, and I like to learn new things (not a very common trait in America these days, sadly).
A few Years ago I worked with two developers who were clearly OCD and had been diagnosed as such. They were the truly quirky ones...the guys walking around their cars every morning to check five times if their windows were up and doors were locked, washing their hands until the skin was raw...doing other truly bizarre things all the time. Seeing people who had actual psychological issues that they had to deal with daily made me think of some of my co workers who had declared themselves the "Craziest" or "Pretty OCD" or "Waaaay ADD" and I realized they rarely exhibited any symptoms and when they did so, it was when it seemed convienient to them...such as "It is really hard for me to get to work on time because of my OCD and ADD".
Perhaps the desire to be different or have people think you are stranger than you really are is a type of disease in itself but it seems more of a Prima Donna/Pay attention to me thing in many Techies.
Well, at the very least, it's pretty clear that they didn't come out wrong, but with a very useful skill set. I have similar sentiments about ADHD: if you're in a group of cavemen going out hunting, you want someone in your group who will notice all the little things that folks who don't have ADHD ignore because that's not what they're focusing on. So if I have a task that involves looking around for anything unusual or interesting, I want someone with ADHD along, because he or she will find things I'll miss.
In fact, any "disorder" that is as common as high functioning autism or ADHD often indicates that it's not a disorder at all, but more a personality type that the rest of us have decided was annoying to deal with. For instance, autistic people are the most likely to announce that the emperor is walking around naked, which is extremely inconvenient for anyone who is selling clothing that everyone claims they can see but no one can.
I am officially gone from