Understanding Autism: Beyond Processes and Routine

Actually, this is not correct. Autistic people have the same wide range of aptitudes and interests as the general population. There are autistic people who excel at development of new technology, in the creative industries and in coding. None of these are amenable to processes. Coding is an area where autistic people are believed to excel, but coding is more about problem solving than processes.

It is possible to not like change but also be good at creative thinking and creative problem solving. The real issue here is to understand why so many autistic people don’t like change and thrive on routine and sameness. Difficulty with change stems from difficulties with processing incoming information such as:

1. Difficulty with processing visual information, which makes changes in the environment difficult to deal with. For people with this difficulty a small change can mean that the room has completely changed because the overall impression of the room has changed.
2. Slow processing of oral information, which means that the the person cannot keep up all the information they are being expected to process. The result is that only some of the information gets processed. Keeping things the same, or almost the same reduces processing load and makes it easier to cope. Warning about changes so there is time to process the implications also makes it easier to cope. For example, if the person goes horse riding, they can learn to cope if they get a different horse each time, or if they are going on a hack instead of having a lesson because these are things that happen at the riding school. However, if something unexpected happens such as a completely new instructor without warning, or if they are used to having one to one lessons and someone they don’t know is joining their lesson, then they may struggle to cope. Similar issues can occur in the workplace if a person is expected to do a new task without sufficient time to process what it is and how it is different to other tasks. A bit of warning can make all the difference in these situations.
3. Delayed processing, which is similar to slow processing in that not enough information is processed in real time. However, in delayed processing, the information is processed later. This delay can lead to the person remembering more information, but it does mean that extra time is required to understand a new task or new situation. This can lead to teachers believing a child is not learning because they cannot do set tasks immediately after the information has been given. But then teachers are surprised that the information has been retained several months later.
4. Failure to filter irrelevant information: some autistic people struggle to filter essential information from unimportant information. This can lead to information overload reducing the amount of information can that can be processed. Sometimes, information that is not important is processed at the expense of essential information.

It is important to note that processing of incoming information is independent of internal reasoning, thinking and being creative. So it is possible to have challenges with processing incoming information while having normal or fast internal reasoning, and thinking. Sometimes despite processing challenges, autistic people surprise with the depth of their thinking and reasoning.

Therefore even when an autistic person has difficulties processing information, other skills and aptitudes vary just as much as within the general population. Just because someone appears ‘slow’ does not mean that they are not intelligent.

Some autistic people like processes; others avoid them

It is important to recognise that there are autistic people who love processes, and who have good attention to detail. These people can thrive in jobs that others don’t like because they find them boring and repetitive. If such a job matches an interest, then the autistic individual will be very happy in such a job and an asset to their employer.

However, it is wrong to push all autistic people into these kinds of jobs.

There are autistic people who struggle badly with processes, but who thrive on creative problem solving of a kind that are not amenable to processes. Many of these individuals develop skills that are highly sought after by employers.

Other autistic people do like processes, but only those they have devised themselves to help them do their job efficiently. Processes devised by other people often don’t work for them because they don’t suit how they think.

Of course, many professional jobs include a mixture of processes, problem solving and/or pattern recognition. Think of doctors, surgeons, vets, engineers, detectives, and journalists for example. Autistic people are found in most if not all of these professions.

It really is the case that autistic people have just as wide a range of interests and aptitudes as the general population.

Issues that cause difficulties with processes

Sometimes the specific autism of an individual makes it difficult for them to handle processes in certain circumstances:

1. Incompatibility with thinking style: A process may be incompatible with how the individual thinks. For example; Imposing a big picture to detail process on someone who thinks detail to bigger picture often leads of inefficiencies and frustration. Enforcing a process when the the person can see a quicker more direct route to the solution is likely to result in frustration. Trying to impose processes for data gathering on people who don’t naturally think linearly often results in push-back and non-compliance. If you are getting resistance against any process, it would be worth investigating if the problem is to do with how individuals think and if the process can be adapted.

2. The process makes no sense to them: Some autistic individuals need to understand a concept as a whole. If something does not make a coherent whole then these individuals will struggle or not be able to engage with the process because to them it is arbitrary and makes no sense. HR processes can fall into this category if an individual has no understanding of the law that is behind their creation. Understanding anything that is simply presented as a list of apparently unconnected statements can be problematic.

3. Unexpected Changes: Processes that change unexpectedly and seemingly without good reason can be a problem. For example, suddenly imposing additional or different safety precautions (such as protective clothing) on someone who has been doing the job for years can appear to be completely unreasonable and unnecessary to that person. If that person struggles to take in information, explaining why can be challenging. If it appears arbitrary, the person is likely to forget to apply the change.

4. Other challenges: A process may challenge the person in an area where they struggle. For example, dealing with spreadsheets can be difficult for people with dyslexia and/or eye tracking issues. Some autistic people find form filling difficult because they misunderstand the questions. Or the process to get something done may mean entering an area that challenges the sensory issues of the person.

Supporting cognitive diversity in the Workplace

Difficulties with processes are not exclusive to Autism. Within the general population, there is a wide range of thinking styles and preferred approaches to both processes and problem solving. Employers can benefit from embracing these individual differences to improve both efficiency and wellbeing of staff. Doing this will then make it easier for the manager and the whole team to accommodate someone with autism, ADHD, or related condition.