Project Based Employment

Project Based Employment by Lap Gong Leong

           Autism to Work programs are a work in progress. These large companies often require high functioning, college educated men and women who can fit stereotypes and company whims. Autism to Work programs operated by major corporations are can only utilize a fraction of talent that they claim to desire because of requirements that are arbitrary and desultory. While these rules seem reasonable, i.e., requiring applicants to be college graduates or to be technically proficient, they risk perpetuating unemployment because few autistics (as of now) can graduate college or achieve other traditional credentials. The result is a potentially bifurcation of the autistic population, with extraordinarily gifted Level 1 autistics gaining most from work programs and the rest continuing to suffer from underemployment and unintentional prejudice.

           There is no reason why Microsoft, JP Morgan, or any emerging company should be forced to hire autistic people of unrelated talent. America’s labor market allows anyone to hire and fire anyone for any reason. Conversely, trying to create an affirmative action or a public works program for autistic people is likely to fail as it would incite resentment and generate zombie businesses that would depend on election results. The autistic community, already so dependent on the charities and state funds, would be farther away from profitable businesses that are willing to employ the median Autistic person.

           However, there are some things we can learn from past big government projects that employed men and women that are usually deemed unessential to an industrialized economy. The New Deal is known for its physical construction projects and its much-applauded Civilian Conservation Corps. What’s less known is Federal Project Number One, an overarching project that made work for unemployed creative workers who were not inclined or able to participate in hard graft.

While subsidized arts (Theatre, Writing, Music, Art) were under constant attack for being a frivolous luxury, it would employ tens of thousands of unemployed artists who lost their jobs with societal trends and general poverty. However, despite employing over 40,000 writers at its peak, these programs would be abolished because of politics. Fiscal conservatives successfully convinced Congress that the projects were subversive attempts at introducing rehabilitating communism.

           Today’s political climate as well as personal political biases keeps politicians from reestablishing comprehensive grand projects. However, projects can still be the vehicles that employ autistic people of all stripes. Instead of companies that demand a certain type of autistic work on certain schemes, grand or small projects have the potential to employ more autistics and disabled people with multiple activities. For example, instead of consulting a trained historian to write a general history of a prestigious university (such as John H Boyer’s excellent tome on the University of Chicago), an Ivy League School could ask autistic writers to write a series of books and articles on University presidents, storied departments, affiliated think tanks, certain controversial scholars, or the university town. A corporation could do the same with company history, company products, the company’s interaction with its city, an architectural opinion on the headquarters, and a critical view of the company’s present operations. Projects could be as political or apolitical as they want to be. Some projects could aim to be totally charitable, and disability focused while others aim to be completely focused on product and profits. The pure advantage of project-based employment, like Federal Project Number One, is accessing a deeply disenfranchised and alienated labor pool that often have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. Autistic people who lack the stereotypical brilliance and the otherworldly cerebral outlook that people expect out of them are often left patronized by a society that believes it wants to see all autistic talent rather than an extremely small subset.

Like a World’s Fair or a trade show, project-based employment is the chance to show the world an entire universe of perspective and output that doesn’t chime with people’s popular conceptions of Autism. The cultural and business products that can be made will not only show the more profound and debilitating side of Autism, but the timely fruit of a lifetime of overcoming challenges.

           How great would it be to read almanacs and travelogues written by autistic writers? Why shouldn’t we expect the first classical opera co-written by autistic and disabled artists? Instead of pining for companies to kindly let us in,

we should make our own work for our own prosperity. 

_______________

Resources:

The Takeaway, Politics With Amy Walter ( May 15, 2021... New Deal-Inspired Program Would Pay Writers to Document the Pandemic Earlier this month, Congressman Ted Lieu of California introduced a bill that would create a 21st Century Federal Writers' Project.) Listen at 38.20.

Art Of The New Deal: How Artists Helped Redefine America During The Depression

In The 1930s, Works Program Spelled HOPE For Millions Of Jobless Americans

___________________

[Each week, I join Lap Gong Leong, a colleague in weekly conversation; Lap is an emerging writer and commentator on a wide range of topics including politics, education, film, science fiction, and building a prosperous and free society for all. His analysis and critique aims to break through the logjam of conventional ideas and wisdom, especially as it relates to the careers and lives of individuals with Autism. We are pleased to share the 10th piece of writing from our recent exchanges.

About Lap Gong Leong, a graduate of Borough of Manhattan Community College in Liberal Arts, "I am in the process of transferring to a four-year university. However, the lack of Autistic aids for many individuals, including myself has incentivized me to work for myself."] A resident of NYC, Lap also divides his time between Hong Kong and Singapore.