How We Plan To Change The Lives of Thousands of Neurodiverse Adults Through Our Data Science For Neurodiversity (DS4N) Academy

In our society today, approximately 85-90% of all adults on the autism spectrum are either unemployed or underemployed despite their intellectual capabilities, academic credentials, or skill sets.

As an adult on the autism spectrum myself, I find this statistic to be completely unacceptable, especially when it has been proven that adults with autism and other neurodiverse conditions can thrive in the workforce with the right support and mentorship systems in place.

This is why I have recently start up my newest autism and neurodiversity empowerment start-up called The ASD Company , in which we are helping navigate individuals with autism and other neurodiverse conditions to meaningful employment, opportunities, and lives.

The Power of Autism, Neurodiversity, and Technology Employment

Through my previous experience being the CEO and Founder of Coding Autism , I discovered that individuals on the autism spectrum thrived in technology related roles when provided the right instructional model and support system given their intrinsic characteristics such as the following

• Meticulous attention to detail
• Preference for repetitive tasks and systemized thinking
• Ability to hyperfocus for long periods of time
• Comfort and compatibility with introvertive roles such as data science, coding, and cybersecurity
• Out of the box thinking
• Strong engagement and knowledge in specific areas of interest

Meanwhile, in the United States today, there is a high demand for technology professionals within the technology sector. In fact, according to CompTIA, there are roughly 400,000 job vacancies via job postings online from technology employers. The median salary of these jobs is approximately $94,000, which is 125% higher than the national median wage.?

In laymen's terms, individuals with autism and other neurodiverse conditions such as ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, etc are positively and naturally equipped with characteristics that align exceptionally with those demanded by jobs in the technology industry, which can make these individuals incredibly high producing and successful technology professionals.

Even major technology companies have started to discover the exceptional talent that individuals with autism and other neurodiverse conditions bring to the technology industry. Companies such as Google , SAP , Hewlett Packard , DXC Technologies , and Microsoft have rolled out autism and neruodiversity hiring initiatives to source autistic coding talent for full-time and lucrative coding positions.?Even non technology companies such as Deloitte , Goldman Sachs , and Bank of America have started to develop neurodiversity hiring initiatives to hire neurodiverse talent for technology related roles within their organizations.

Although these corporations are starting to develop neurodiversity hiring initiatives within their organizations due to the major successes that they are having with neurodiverse and autistic talent, many of these companies have had trouble scaling these programs given that there is a lack of neurodiverse talent trained in coding, data science, cybersecurity, and other sophisticated technology skill sets. In other words, these major employers and corporations want to hire neurodiverse talent, however they have had trouble finding trained candidates to scale their neurodiversity programs.

This is where The ASD Company comes in to play.

Introducing Our Data Science For Neurodiversity (DS4N) Academy In Partnership With Correlation One

To help bridge the gap of providing high quality neurodiverse technology talent to the major employers and corporations who have an interest in scaling their neurodiversity hiring programs, The ASD Company has partnered with Correlation One , a leading online data science academy that specifically focuses on training underrepresented groups in data science, to create a neurodivergent data science academy called Data Science For Neurodiversity (DS4N) to help bridge the gap of providing highly skilled data analysis/science professionals to employers who are interested in hiring and developing neurodivergent talent forces.

Through DS4N, we will be facilitating a 50-person neurodiverse data science academy, in which every student who participates in the 14-week rigorous online data science academy will be trained COMPLETELY FREE! This will enable us to source the best of the best neurodiverse talent as we anticipate hundreds if not thousands of students who will apply for DS4N.?

In order to facilitate DS4N, we are currently seeking corporate / major employer partners that will sponsor the DS4N academy, in which major employers / corporate partners can sponsor between 10-50 students, each of whom will be vetted, assessed, and trained in data science with a soft skills component. Corporate partners will also have the ability to interact with the students of DS4N during the training process as well as hire graduated students directly from the academy.?

Notable Highlights of Correlation One & The ASD Company's Track Record

As a point of reference for Correlation One & The ASD Company's track record of program facilitation, I have provided a few high level bullet points below.

• Through Correlation One's proprietary Data Science For All (DS4A) program , which is the framework for the Data Science For Neurodiversity (DS4N) program, Correlation One won Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Award.
• Within the last several years, Correlation One has trained over 3000 minority/underrepresented students through the DS4A program, in which approximately 60% were black, 57% were female, 30% were hispanic, 15% were LGBTQ, and 4% were veterans. This has also helped Corporations achieve their D&I requirements within their organizations.?Correlation One is on track to train 10,000+ students within the next few years.

• Roughly 96% of all DS4A graduates have secured full time employment in data science roles at major corporations within 18 months of program graduation. Roughly 84% secured full-time employment within 6 months of program graduation.
• The DS4N program is powered by The ASD Company , in which the CEO and Founder (myself) is on the autism spectrum and has facilitated a coding academy for adults with autism called Coding Autism. ???
• Existing sponsors of their DS4A program include an impressive list of companies such as Citadel, Point 72, EY, Walmart, Target, Johnson & Johnson, and much more.

How The Data Science For Neurodiversity (DS4N) Academy Will Help Change The Lives of Thousands of Neurodiverse Individuals

In the United States today, there is a high demand for technology professionals within the technology sector. In fact, according to CompTIA , there are roughly 400,000 job vacancies via job postings online from technology employers. The median salary of these jobs is approximately $94,000, which is 125% higher than the national median wage.?

According to Course Report , CompTIA , Cio.com , and other reputable sources on technology employment, the highest demand technology jobs are currently the following.?

1.) Software Engineers (Front end and back end, UX/UI, etc)?

2.) Data Science Professionals?

3.) Cybersecurity Professionals?

4.) Quality Assurance Professionals?

5.) High Tech (Machine Learning, AI, Web3, etc)?

Given the major demand of technology professionals, many new companies called “coding academies” such as Flatiron School , App Academy , and Brain Station have emerged to help train our workforce in coding to where they can secure full-time employment within the technology industry shortly after completing their respective coding academy. Additionally, several free online coding platforms such as Coursera , Freecodecamp , and Codecademy have emerged which have exploded in growth by individuals looking to transition their careers into becoming coding professionals.?

According to Course Report’s Outcomes & Demographic Report , 79% of all coding academy graduates received full-time employment within the technology industry, in which graduates with a college degree earned a median $67,000 salary (~60% salary increase) while non college degree graduates earned a median $62,000 salary (~56% salary increase). Majority of these coding academy graduates did not have any coding experience going into their coding academy education.

When adults with autism are currently struggling with 85-90% unemployment and underemployment, the DS4N academy provides these individuals along with other neurodiverse individuals with an opportunity to learn Data Science at a high level over our 14 week curriculum all completely free for the student. Once the neurodiverse student completes the DS4N program, they are in a prime position to secure employment within the technology industry shortly after graduation at a salary level that can put the neurodiverse student in a financially independent position with promising career growth opportunities.

Although the first program is for only 50 students, if the academy is successful and more employer partnerships come on board to sponsor the program the DS4N academy has the capability to expand to have multiple cohorts take place at a given time given the fully online component of the academy and train thousands of students within a short time period. Correlation One as a company has trained nearly 4000 students in only a few years and is on track to train over 10,000 students in the next 3 years, which is also an indicator of the scalability of the DS4N program.

Call To Action For The Data Science For Neurodiversity Academy

In order to align with our goal of facilitating the first Data Science For Neurodiversity (DS4N) academy this Summer, we are looking to have 1-3 corporations make sponsor commitments to DS4N prior to April 30th 2023.

If you are a major employer / representative of a corporation with an interest in either scaling your currently existing neurodiversity hiring initiatives or developing a neurodiverse talent force within your organization, feel free to reach out to me directly by email at [email protected] to learn more about how your company can benefit from the DS4N academy and what a sponsorship in the academy would look like.

In the upcoming weeks, we will also be opening our application process for the DS4N academy to student learners with autism and other neurodiverse conditions. If you would like to be notified of the launch of the application process as well as additional details regarding the DS4N program, feel free to reach out to me directly by email at [email protected].

Additionally, if you would like to share this article and information about the DS4N academy to anyone in your personal network, you are more than welcome to share the article on LinkedIn or connect anyone with me personally to learn more about this initiative. The more exposure that DS4N gets in the neurodiversity and technology community the better!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read this article and learn more about our upcoming DS4N academy powered by The ASD Company and Correlation One . I am looking forward to seeing the impact that DS4N will make in the neurodiversity community and beyond!

All the best,

Oliver Thornton

CEO and Founder of The ASD Company

Adult w/ Autism