Why we look for famous people with autism and what's wrong with it

Thousands of people are searching for “famous people with autism” on Google and I feel ambiguous about it. As a father to an autistic child, I can understand parents looking to reassure themselves that for their children the sky is the limit. The neurotypical society (including me as apart of it) has done a very ‘good job’ embedding in our minds that autism = people who can’t fulfill themselves and their dreams, and it’s only natural that we’d look for inspiration that breaks this perception. It needs to be broken. I can also understand autistics who are looking for inspiration for the same reason. Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld, Albert Einstein, Daryl Hannah and more (whether they were really diagnosed is another question) are indeed an inspiration. But I wanted to note two problems with these popular lists.

The people in these lists are mentioned because of their professional accomplishments, but these lists don’t discuss how hard it is for autistics to make a career. So I will. Unemployment rates among autistics are the lowest when compared to other adults with other disabilities (is autism a disability or just different and why don’t researches compare neurodivergent stats to neurotypicals’?!). Only 15% of autistic adults are employed during the first year after high-school (comparing to 54% of adults with other disabilities). While 63% of autistic adults were employed at-least-once sometime after high-school, the status of people with other disabilities is much better with 91% of employment. During the first two years after high-school, only 50% of autistics were employed or practiced education (other disabilities range from 69%-94%). When you look at the first 6 years, only 55% were employed at some point (again, the lowest rate). Surprisingly, by the way, Aspergers’ and high functioning autistics (which are really just people who are closer to neurotypicals) were even less employed. In addition, autistics earn far less (at-least 28% less) than other disabled groups. When we (parents to autistic children and autistics themselves) look up to famous people with autism for inspiration (in a professional context) without mentioning the real employment problem, we perpetuate it. The two are connected. We also underestimate autistic celebrities’ accomplishments in light of the above barriers. How can we set high hopes without discussing the barriers?

And there is another dissonance. When you search for ‘jobs for people with autism” or ‘jobs for people with Asperger’s syndrome” you find all types of lists consisting of jobs that fit autistics. Programming, commercial art, animal training, accounting, technician, gardening and more are just a few examples that repeat themselves in these lists. What you don’t find too often are acting (like Daryl Hannah, Dan Aykroyd, and Anthony Hopkins), entrepreneurs (like Bill Gates and Satoshi Tajiri), film directors (like Stanley Kubrick), Musicians (like Mozart) and leaders such as Greta Thunberg. See the problem? We look for inspiration among famous people, but at the same time, we limit ourselves and our children who read these optional profession-suggestions to choose what society thinks is fit. 

I believe that we need to work hard together with our children to discover what they really love, and then help them believe they can make a living of it. Because they can. I don’t ignore the challenges. All I say is that we need to understand autistics is a group of people in which different people can do different things. All sorts of different things. Refer your children to look at people like Greta Thunberg, Chris Bonello as well as other notable celebrities, and tell them these people probably chose to do what they love and care about, and so should them.